The brilliant girls at the Optical Vision Site have shared optical resources about eye wear trends that show just how personal your frames can be! Your eye wear can say a lot about you, so make sure that you're utilizing all of your resources to help your patients find the perfect pair!
Game Changing Eyewear Trends: Optical Resources to Inspire You
Since Levi's introduced their custom Levi's back in 1993, retailers have been trying out the custom, or personal approach. Due to technology, online shopping, and consumer trends, retailers are looking to capitalize on the extremely profitable, customization, personalization, and Bespoke trends. Shoppers are becoming the designers for almost every single product from eyewear, shoes www.shoesofprey.com, sports equipment, jackets, cars, and even cereal www.mixmyown.com. Even Warby Parker offers a custom eyewear version. In other words, mass customization has become a key to consumer satisfaction and engagement. According to research by Bain & Company, this offers a significant opportunity for retailers. When 1,000 online shoppers were polled, they found that 25% to 30% are interested in purchasing items customized to their own particular taste.
The customization trend is not just about the sale, but it can be about brand development and growth as well. Look at Edward Beiner, Trunk Show featuring Custom Eyewear, and the continual building of his brand. It is about not necessarily stocking product, it is about customer service. Before you go and and rush out to customize the office: Lets look at the market first:
- Determine some ways you can customize the patient experience and what works for your office.
- Evaluate what your competition is doing online and in brick and mortar locations.
- Put together a plan for a custom eyecare experience.
Top Ten Ways to Customize The Patient Eyewear Experience
- Rimless and in any shape you so desire.
- Customize your eyewear by dying the frame (ClearVision showed us how at Vision Expo East)!
- DIY your frames with embellished decor.
- Special order Bespoke eyewear.
- Interchangeable temples or fronts.
- 3D Printed Eyewear.
- Contact Lenses - Yes, you can custom order any type of contact lenses.
- Eyewear Charms on the temple.
- Customize tints and mirror coatings.
- Embellish the lenses by etching or embedding crystals or Stormin Norman's Original Hint of Tint
Let's look at who is doing what with personalization and custom eyewear:
Individuals
- Rare Frames- makes custom eyewear from vintage pieces
- Indivijual - Design your own online
- David Kind
- Design Your Own Eyewear
- Urban Spectacles - Custom one of a kind wood eyewear
Eyecare Retailers Who Advertise and/or Provide Custom Eyewear
- Billy Brock (Fort Worth, TX)
- Coral Mazlin Designs (New Zealand) Eyewear designer
- Ed Beiner: He teamed up with Ottica Su Misura and did a trunk show. These are a couple of young kids in Italy who are handcrafting true Bespoke Eyewear. See the Video here.
- EB Meyrowitz (UK)
- Emilio Scolari 1922 (France) Jeweled eyewear in which you can mix and match the jewels and the frame.
- Eyes And Optics
- Eyewear Gallery (Memphis) Advertises Custom Computer Glasses. (Good example of why you should blog, this post shows up under keywords, custom)
- Expressions in Eyewear (Washington) offers custom Lens with embedded swarovski Crytals
- Grantville Eyeland (Canada) Bespoke Eyewear
- Habackers Bespoke Eyewear (Texas)
- JB Handmade (UK) creates Bespoke Eyewear
- Karir Eyewear (Canada) has created a custom eyewear collection appropriately named Karir Collection,
- Lee Allen Eyewear will create Bespoke Eyewear
- Maison Bonnet (France) Bespoke real tortoise Shell eyewear
- Oliver Goldsmith (UK) (wholesale and retail) offers Bespoke Eyewear
- Optical Arts Inc- Has a whole page to customizing your eyewear calling it Tattoos: Ink For Your Eyes
- Rapp Eyewear (Canada) Creates custom eyewear. Wholesale and retail.
- Solakzade (Japan) does several things, a purveyor of vintage eyewear, they will remake any vintage frame or jazz up any vintage frame you like.
- Specs Nashville (Tennessee)
Inserts As A Means of Personalization
- Croc Eyewear in 2012 offered custom inserts on their temples.
- Prada Eyewear in 2010 offered custom inserts that you can personalize the message on the temples.
- Tommy Hilfiger in 2010 released a capsule collection of interchangeable temple decor.
- Ficklets distributed by Rons Optical offers Eyeglass charms an easy way to customize eyewear. (Still Available)
Interchangeable Fronts and or Temples
- Adidas (2013) in Europe offered a custom version of interchangeable fronts and temples.
- Arnette (Encinitas, CA) interchangeable temples.
- Boxx Eyewear (Germany).
- Brillen Eyes offers 125 different temples, seen at Vision Expo East 2014.
- ClearVision Optical, interchangeable IZOD Eyewear Temples. The eyewear is made in Clear (and dye-able).
- Click 12 x Joint Project (2010) - 28 colors and Lens Shapes. All are interchangeable.
- Columbia Eyewear (2011) (L'amy) Offered interchangeable temple system.
- Contour Optics (Taiwan) Interchangeable temples.
- Dilem offers interchangeable temples.
- Eye Chi (Kansas) Found on Pinterest
- Grafik Optics offers a similar interchangeable fronts and temples with USB Port.
- iGreen Eyewear offters interchangeable temples.
- Jhane Barnes (2009) (Kenmark) interchangeable temples.
- Juicy Couture (2010) offered a capsule collection of interchangeable temples.
- Just Eye Fashion Interchangeable temples. Launched and seen at Vision Expo East 2014.
- Les Opticiens (France) Create your own eyewear.
- MonteCool just launched.
- Nendo (Japan) Offers swapable temple design with magnets.
- Nuke Optics (Crowd Sourced) Five different frames, four types of lenses and three different temples. Can create over one million combinations.
- OKO with HDA technology just launched an interchangeable temple line.
- Pantone Eyewear (2010) offered interchangeable temples and notepads.
- Sets Eyewear (Los Angeles, CA) also a give back company, has interchangeable temples.
- Sides Eyewear
- Swap Eyewear (Canada) Wholesale and retail. Offers fashion sliders that you can slip in and out of temples.
Personalize Your Eyewear
- Luxottica created a RayBan Re-Mix program that allowed buyers to personalize their RayBans (2014) See Video
Bespoke Eyewear (see What Is Bespoke Eyewear)
Note: Most wood eyewear companies can create Bespoke Eyewear. These are NOT all the Bespoke eyewear companies.
- Anglo American will make any frame for you
- Eyewear Design Alliance (Oregon)
- Roger Henley (Australia) Bespoke Eyewear
- Tom Davies (Bespoke Eyewear)
- You can even buy Bespoke Kits at Bespoke Glasses (UK)
- Ottica Su Misura (Italy) offers custom Bespoke Eyewear
Online Companies That Provide 'Custom' Eyewear (not included are 3D Printed Eyewear and novelty eyewear)
- Ateliere Eyewear (UK) made to measure eyewear.
- Canvas Eyewear (Indiegogo) Design your own eyewear online. Raised over $19,000 on Indiegogo.
- Crystal Eye Glasses is another online retailer that allows you to personalize your eyewear by adding crystals. First you choose your frame, then you choose your swarowski crystals and pattern to design your own.
- Frameri (Indiegogo) Able to interchange with many frames. They raised over $63,000 on Indiegogo.
- Made Eyewear Custom eyewear for custom people.
- Sidebar Eyewear (Indiegogo) Custom Eyewear with interchangeable temples.
- Slydz Eyewear
- Sneaking Duck-(Australia) Allows you to order online 3D printed eyewear.
- Uniqbrow Sunglasses (Spain) (also on Indiegogo).
Lenses
- Makezine did an article on designing your own Custom Lenses- Design Your Own Lens Shapes For Eyewear
- Adlens adjustable lenses that are definitely customizable for the occasion.
- Free Form and Digital Eyewear are meat to be 'Personalized'
- Custom Tints and Hint of A Tint from Stormin Norman.
Looking for what your competition is doing? Keyword search and put in your city and state. Custom eyewear, custom eyeglasses, custom sunglasses, custom sunwear, bespoke eyewear, bespoke sunwear, interchangeable temples, interchangeable sunglasses, interchangeable sunwear.
Resources:
- Bain- Making It Personal Rules for Success
- Trend in Product Customization;
- Retailing Trends- Best Practices- Chilli Bean Story
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