Kevin Hundert's family has been in the glasses business since the 1970s. In June, he launched Made Eyewear, a Los Angeles customizable eyewear company - the first of its kind - in which mix-and-match options include bright pink frames and oversize cat-eye shapes.
San Francisco's Steven Kilzer doesn't need corrective eyewear, but wishes he did. In 2010, he created Capital Eyewear, which offers handmade wood frames crafted in his SoMa workshop.
And then there's Zenni Optical in Novato, which sells, on average, 3,500 pair a day, making it one of the largest online purveyors of eyewear in the world.
These companies are just a few in a growing legion of online retailers who are ushering in a new era for glasses, in which prescription eyewear is bought online for less than $200 and glasses are a personal style statement.
No longer simply a medical device, glasses - curse of fourth-grade four-eyes, requisite in the "before" segment of '80s-era makeover scenes - are finally having their fashion moment. They are accumulated and curated, switched according to the occasion, and used to represent whom you are, prescription or not.
"We think of eyeglasses as a fashion accessory, and that's why we started Warby Parker," says co-founder Dave Gilboa of the New York e-tailer known for offering trendy frames for less than $100. Glasses, it would seem, are no longer just for geeks. They're for movie stars (Jennifer Aniston), sports heroes (Dwyane Wade) and plain old San Francisco hipsters. There's often a fine line between "nerd" and "hipster," sartorially speaking, but few characters are more far removed stylistically than Steve Urkel and basketball star LeBron James, who perplexed menswear bloggers when he appeared last spring in bold frames during Miami Heat press conferences.
"Ten years ago, you would never see Michael Jordan at a press conference wearing glasses," says Gilboa.
As one of the few adornments worn on the face, they're literally the first thing people see.
"The style of glasses you wear says a lot about how you want to represent yourself to the outside world," Gilboa adds.
According to the Vision Council of America, 64 percent of U.S. adults wear prescription glasses, and people spend on average $266.15 on each pair. Last year, all optical retail sales in the U.S. (excluding exams) amounted to $27.49 billion.
What took so long?
Just why it's taken this long for glasses to grab the spotlight is a chicken-and-egg conversation: Did frames become more popular as prices dropped, or did demand from consumers inspire more stylish options?
Observers credit both the sagging economy and technology. When the estimated 177 million Americans who needed vision correction could no longer afford $500 for workhorse frames every two years, prices went down. And online retailers lowered prices further by eliminating the middleman and the need for a storefront.
"Entrepreneurs are finding efficiencies in the supply chain and manufacturing process that bring the same or similar quality product as those $300 Prada frames for a fraction of the price," Made Eyewear's Hundert explains. "Where some lens labs charge $300 or $400 just for the lenses, we charge $5. So we took a $500 product and made it $89." At Zenni Optical, price was the motivating factor when the company formed in 2003. Prescription frames start at a double-take price of $6.95 (including the lens), plus $4.95 for shipping.
For Capital Eyewear's Kilzer, keeping prices reasonable (his locally designed and manufactured frames start at $180) was just as important as keeping the production domestic. "There's just no reason glasses should cost $600," he says.
At the same time, demand for bold, statement-making frames has increased - call it the "Mad Men" effect, in which retro styling is de rigueur.
"With two circles and two sticks, you can be super nerdy or super trendy," Hundert says.
Multiple pairs
Ten years ago, rimless glasses were all the rage, Gilboa says. Now, having an affordable alternative to "plain" glasses takes the risk out of a bright color or a bolder silhouette.
"Glasses have always been a great statement piece," Gilboa says, but they are no longer reserved for Woody Allen or Tina Fey.
Like shoes, it's now normal to accumulate multiple pairs for various occasions. According to the Vision Council, more than 35 percent of U.S. eyeglass-wearers now own more than one pair.
"Just as there are specific shoes and clothing for work and play, there are specific looks in glasses to complement them," says Susan Berryman of See eyewear, which has two locations in San Francisco. At Warby Parker, some customers even buy six at a time, and some have more than 20. The company introduces 14 collections a year, Gilboa says.
"Some people fundamentally view glasses as something they should change daily," he says.
One example is bespectacled stylist Brad Goreski - known for his role in "It's a Brad, Brad World" and "The Rachel Zoe Project" and for styling clients like Demi Moore and Rashida Jones, who recently partnered with Glasses.com on a curated selection of eyewear. Goreski's personal glasses arsenal includes as many as 40 pairs, but he saves about eight for regular rotation. He prefers a tortoiseshell frame for day, and for evening, something larger and glossy.
At Warby Parker's increasing number of retail locations, Gilboa made sure that there were only full-length mirrors. "We think you should view glasses as part of your entire image, and they should match the rest of your style," he explains.
San Francisco gets framed
In July 2011, when Warby Parker opened its first external showroom - a "shop in a shop" in the Perish Trust near Alamo Square - it was no accident that they chose San Francisco. "San Francisco has been a fantastic market for us because it has a great mix of sophisticated shoppers and hipsters who appreciate fashion and quality at a great price," says See's Berryman. "We sell out of our bolder shapes and colors first in this market and New York City."
Although there's no real data to prove the glasses personality of the bay, there are some theories.
"San Francisco has more creative types - a lot of designers and entrepreneurs and people who are increasingly focused on beautiful design and style," Gilboa says. "It's one of our strongest cities." Capital Eyewear's Kilzer agrees. "San Francisco is a place where new ideas are accepted. You can basically wear the most ridiculous pair or the most straitlaced you can find, and someone here is going to be into it," he says. And few could argue that here, "geeks" lead the pack.
"Today, the stigma of being a nerd is gone. I think it's cool to be smart and creative and intelligent," Gilboa says.
In what may by the ultimate vindication for four-eyes everywhere, each retailer reports that customers are increasingly ordering glasses without a prescription - meaning their function is purely as an accessory.
"It's too much for me, personally," Klizer says of wearing Capital's signature wood frames without a prescription. "But there are a lot of people who order those, and I'm always impressed with that."
And finally, on the opposite side of the function-versus-fashion spectrum, there's Google Glass, which despite its appearance in September Vogue, doesn't necessarily scream high fashion. But rumor has it that Google is courting Warby Parker to inject a bit of style into its "frames of the future."
So, you know, you won't have to look so geeky.
Eyeglass from online retailers, clockwise from top left: See Eyewear, $329; Made Eyewear, $89; Zenni Optical, $19; Zenni Optical, also $19; Avocé, $99; See Eyewear, $329; Rivet and Sway, $199; Capital Eyewear, $270; Warby Parker, $95;
Photographer: Russell Yip. Model: Alana S. / JE Model Hair/Makeup: Erika Taniguchi / beautybyerika.com
Maghan McDowell is a Burlingame freelance writer. E-mail: style@sfchronicle.com
via fashion - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHPlz22hF9q29BpOmyvSWxI5M8j7A&url=http://www.sfgate.com/style/article/New-passes-at-glasses-fashion-in-a-blink-4924474.php
0 意見:
張貼留言