Posted in Eye Blog, Eyeglasses, Optical
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By Alexandra Brandt
This very interesting and humorous video has been making its rounds on the Internet (if you aren't able to watch it right now ' and I do highly recommend watching it ' I'll summarize the contents below):
So the gist of the video is this: most of the brands you recognize for glasses ' and most that you don't recognize ' come from the same corporation, Luxottica. From your high-end Prada frames to the inexpensive ones in mall opticals. This means that they are often the exact same quality ' coming from the exact same factory ' for wildly different prices. And no matter where you go, chances are the brands you see in optical shops are Luxottica brands.
We definitely have some things to say about this! First: the video is telling the truth. Luxottica does own a large percentage of the eyeglasses brands out there, and they do sometimes charge 4x the amount of money from one identical frame to another, depending on the brand in question. Even independent optical stores ' those not affiliated with the familiar mall chain stores and therefore technically not controlled by Luxottica ' are often still compelled to play by their rules, but not what you might think. It's because they also have to pay too much for those brands (more than the cost to make them should dictate). Both you, the consumer, and we, the independent sellers, are victims of this pricing.
But one thing the video does not talk about is what to do about this problem.
In , Cascadia Eye stopped playing by those rules entirely. Inspired by other independent stores like Eyes on Fremont in Seattle, our optical shops have been transitioning nearly all our brands to ones that are designed and created completely independent of Luxottica. In fact, I wrote a blog post about it ' the decision to go independent even inspired our doctors to change the name of our practice!
Most importantly, Cascadia Eye is not controlled by Luxottica.
And even more changes are in the works. Our CEO and administrator, Sheri, wanted to address the valid points raised by the above video, and show what we are doing about them, now and in the future.
A further note on point #4: we've seen blog articles that say some independent sellers ' optical shops like ours, not affiliated with chain stores ' will get frames for $15 and then sell them for $150. Because Luxottica's model does this, apparently even independent opticals will do the same. If this is indeed true, that has never been our model. Our expensive frames come to us already expensive'sometimes needlessly so. This is why we are actively seeking new sources for our frames, ones that cut out the middle-men so we can offer you frames you can afford.
Expect more about this in the coming months, including changes to our online store. We're excited for this transition! For more information about eyeglasses, you can learn all about eyewear here.
The truth about Luxottica has also been driving many people to use online sources for eyewear. Leading online glasses retailers are happy to use that point to encourage people to shop for their glasses online, with sometimes misleading claims.
However, as eyecare professionals, we urge you to proceed with caution on this ' especially if you have a prescription of anything other than simple single-vision.
If you would like to learn more, or if you would like to schedule an appointment at Cascadia Eye, please contact us today. We are happy to answer any questions you might have!
We often take the most basic things we enjoy for granted. We are able to enjoy improved vision through wearing glasses today because of the innovation of others throughout history. Some of the first spectacles were simply glass magnifiers that were held by hand.
While glass was once used to manufacture lenses and metal was mostly used for frames, materials that are lighter, more versatile and easier to work with now mean that the glasses manufacturing process is now faster, cheaper and can be automated. Bone, ivory, leather and even tortoise shells were once commonly used to make frames to house lenses.
The glasses manufacturing process may need human hands at specific points but much more of it is now automated, meaning your glasses can be manufactured and sent to you a lot faster.
Glasses are believed to have originated from Italy and were first seen during the 13th century. They were mostly worn by monks and gradually became more popular as the technology improved during the Renaissance.
Salvino D'Armate and Allesandro della Spina, an Italian monk are often credited for inventing glasses in around , however, many people believe that glasses had an earlier origin.
Most glasses frames are either made of a plastic or metal material. Plastic glasses are usually made of zyl (also known as zylonite, acetate and cellulose acetate). Plastic glasses frames can also be made from polyamide, nylon, polycarbonate, carbon and Optyl. Metal glasses are made out of monel, titanium, stainless steel, flexon or beryllium.
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Most plastic frames are made from acetate. Acetate is light, durable and is derived from bioplastic cellulose acetate. This is a natural material compound that is extracted from the fibres of cotton balls or wood pulp.
The cellulose acetate goes through several processes, including organic synthesis, where the purified cellulose is mixed with acetic acid. This creates the compound we then call 'cellulose acetate'.
In this phase, the cellulose acetate is easy to manipulate, and dyes can be added to the compound depending on the end desired style and the cellulose acetate is then cut into thin sheets of acetate. This process is also known as routing.
The front of the lenses are cut from the acetate using machinery, although in some cases, some handy work is done. The process includes heating to create the curvature of the frames so that the lenses can sit comfortably.
A metal rod is sometimes inserted into the core of the temple for reinforcement. You can sometimes see the core if the frames have some level of transparency.
The time taken to make a pair of glasses depends on the volume of production. Making a large volume of glasses is done by batch production and is much quicker than making a small volume or handmade frames.
The majority of glasses are manufactured in Europe and Asia. They are mass produced using a range of processes including manual , semi-automatic and automatic production processes.
Modern-day lenses for glasses are made to a prescription using a mixture of science, technology and art. The varying prescriptions and frame sizes means every lens has a different curvature.
To start with the laboratory technician will enter the optical prescription of a pair of glasses on a computer which then prints out a copy of any additional information required in the manufacturing process of these lenses.
The technician then selects a plastic lens blank suitable for the prescription and places it in a prescription tray with the frames and the customers order.
The blanks are marked at the 'optical center,' using a lensometer/focimeter. The optical center is the exact point that the patient will look through with their pupil and is the clearest part of the lens.
Each lens is then covered in a protective layer to keep it from getting scratched during the grinding and blocking stage. The lens is attached to the blocker using a heated lead alloy to hold it in place during the grinding process.
Each lens blank is placed in a generator or grinding machine which grind the back of the lens into the correct shape.
After the grinding process when the correct lens curve is generated, it is polished, bevelled and sterilsed using a variety of tools such as a fining (hand polisher) machine and soft sandpaper. During this process, the optical properties do not change. Modern machines have an auto-polisher integrated eliminating the need for a separate fining machine.
An edge grinder grinds each lens into the final shape and puts a bevel on the edge so that it fits perfectly into the frame. A lab technician will then fit and assemble the lenses into the frame by hand.
This is the final stage in which the lenses are dipped in UV treatment and given a tint if desired before being placed in the customer's frames.
Common treatments include ultra-violent tints, scratch-resistant and reactive coatings such as a photochromic coating which causes the lens to darken when activated by UV light.
To ensure that each lens meets the strict quality control guidelines at Feel good Contacts, they are given a thorough inspection before delivery. Not only will a visual inspection be carried out to check for dust or damage, but a mechanical inspection will also be performed to check that each lens meets the correct specifications. During the quality control process both frames and lenses are checked.
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