Perfect example of why we choose not to carry a very popular sports sunglasses brand. A customer just sent us his brand name frames to have us make prescription lenses for them. The frame is made in China. He probably paid a few hundred dollars for the famous name brand, but for a product that is made in China.
High quality frames for the optical industry are usually made in Italy or Japan. Some good quality frames come out of Taiwan. But China is probably the lowest quality in our industry. This is fine. We sell frames made in China. But typically the frames we sell in China have lower prices points, usually under $100. But at the price point he paid for these, they shouldn't be made in China. (We should note that we don't carry any low quality products--the products that we carry that are made in China are at least mid-level quality brands).
If you want cycling or running glasses, the first place we point you is Rudy Project. You'll get top of the line quality. Yes that comes at a price. But at least you are paying for what you are getting, top quality frames.
Or if you want to sacrifice high quality for price, we have those products too. We just try to carry brands that have good price to quality relationships. If you have a frame that is made in China, it should have a price that reflects the quality made in China. Versus if you have a high price point on the frame, the reason for that price should be because the products costs are of higher quality, thus requiring the higher price point. It should be a high priced product where you are paying more for the brand name instead of the quality of the product.
It should also be noted that we don't sell mass produced prescription lenses made in China. Again, the quality of this product is so low, an the optics are so poor that if you are using them for any sporting activity, your reaction time will be slowed by the amount of distortion in the lens. Prescription lenses are probably made to industry "tolerance" which means the prescription can be off a certain amount and still be acceptable.
We had a customer ask us to match a price from a company selling prescription lenses for $10. If the lenses cost $10 there is a reason. This is a low grade, probably acrylic lens (not up to optical grade standards in the US), and mass produced in China with low quality control. Again, you usually get what you pay for. We only sell high quality brand name lenses like Essilor or Zeiss. Thus, we can insure you are getting a high end quality product, with high level quality control, prescription lenses that are made to the exact prescription (no tolerance), and minimal distortion.
