What Does My Prescription Mean?
WHAT DOES MY PRESCRIPTION MEAN?
Up until the 1920's, eyewear was designed to be functional and practical, purely seen as a medical device to aid those who could not see properly.
Philip Oliver Goldsmith (founder of the eyewear designs Oliver Goldsmith) is thought of as the founder of fashionable eyewear. In 1926 he produced the first ever colourful spectacle frames - with some of these original designs now residing in The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, in the History of Fashion. This was the start of eyewear combining fashion and function, instead of being purely a medical device.
Fast forward to 2021, where at least 75% of the adult population uses some form of prescription visual correction (according to the Vision Council of America), and that doesn't include those who wear glasses purely for a fashion statement or only blue light filters.
Due to this huge demand for fashionable frames, there are now thousands of eyewear designers and brands globally. However, like anything that is popular, the quality of the frames you can purchase varies greatly, and this is mainly due to one factor - Mass Production versus Independent Manufacturing.
MASS PRODUCTION
You may have wondered why you have to pay a few hundred dollars for a frame comprised of about $25 worth of materials with a brand name stuck on the side of the temple. The answer to this is due to the fact that most of the designer frames on the market are owned and manufactured by a single umbrella company; Luxottica. This italian eyewear giant owns the rights to all the well known designer eyewear brands; Rayban, Chanel, Dolce & Gabana, Oakley, and Oliver Peoples to name a few. These frames are made in the most cost-effective way for the company, and are then priced at a point that is based around the brand stuck on the side of the frame, not the quality of the materials used. They are made to look expensive and fashionable, not for product longevity and lasting design.
INDEPENDENT DESIGNER
On the flip side of mass produced eyewear, is the world of independent frame designers. These designers hand-make their frames, and base their design philosophies around consistently high quality, long-lasting designs, and incredible attention to detail throughout the frame design and manufacturing process. The entire process from the design of the frame, to the curing of the material that is to be used, the cutting & assembly of the frame, and final quality checks can take up to ___ months. The polishing process itself usually takes 3-4 days of hand polishing the material instead of spraying it with a lacquer.
At Michael Holmes Premium Eyewear, we stock only independent designers who have this level of control over the design & manufacturing of their frames. The materials used in these frames are the highest quality zyl-acetate, titanium, or stainless/surgical steel - mostly from Japan. For designers such as Yellows Plus' Toshiaki Yamagishi, the entire process is completed under the same roof, in the 93 year old factory that has been passed down through generations in his family.
Eyes are the area of the face that is most important to facial recognition(4) and arguably the most noticed feature of our faces, so it is only right that we frame them with a pair of spectacles whose quality and longevity reflects their importance.
REFERENCES
Oliver Goldsmith; About Oliver Goldsmith. Accessed 27/08/2021. Reference here
Swanson, A. (2014). Meet the Four-Eyed, Eight-Tentacled Monopoly That is Making Your Glasses So Expensive. Retrieved 27 August 2021, from Reference here
Luxottica. (2021). Retrieved 27 August 2021, from Reference here
Public Library of Science. (2009, March 27). Face Recognition: The Eyes Have It. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 28, 2021 from Reference here