Monday, April 23, 2012

Made in China

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. 

Monday, April 9, 2012

April Newsletter

Here at A Sight for Sport Eyes we specialize in custom make prescription sports goggles. From swimming, biking, basketball, football, to snorkeling we have a product for everyone from no corrections to high power corrections. Unsure what may work best for you, give us a call we can walk you though ordering and make recommendations specifically for our seeing needs. 
It's a Vuarnet day today

Vuarnet was a booming brand name from the time it was first released in the 1970's and still is today due to the reputation of high quality make and style. Over the last couple years Vuarnet sunglasses were hard to come by in the United States.  Vuarnet is a product made in France and it had gone through several distributors in the last 7 or 8 years.  It has been completely out of the US the last few years.  Recently, Alain Mikli International acquired 75% of Vuarnet's parent company, Sporoptic Pouilloux in 2009 the Vuarnet line was updated. This year (2012) Vuarnet re-launched their eye wear collection and made the Vuarnet product once again available in the united states.  And they are here to stay.  Since Alain Mikli is not a US distributor but rather an owner, all the problems that the different distributors had (warranty issues, going in and out of the US, etc.) are gone.  The product will carry the high quality of the Alain Mikli brand along with great customer service.

Because Vuarnet is  a recent comeback brand for us here at A Sight For Sport Eyes we currently do not have the product up on our web page. To check out the 30 new styles divided into three segments- lifestyle vintage, dynamic (sports oriented) and extreme sports go to www.vuarnet.com

We can take phone and chat orders only right now.  Look for Vuarnet to launch online with our new website redesign sometime next month. To place an order now, give us a call at 888-223-2669.  (note some styles are currently still on backorder but any preorders will have the same discount)


Order in the month of April and receive 10% off your Vuarnet purchase. 

 
Citilynx

The Citilynx lens is an exclusive only to Vuarnet and is new to the collection. This lens was designed to offer visual comfort. The Citilynx lens is a category 3 protection mineral with high quality scratch coating plus heat and abrasion resistance. Interior anti-glare coating increases visual comfort and a two toned blue silver mirror coating reflects the rays of the sun from above and below.

RX-able?

Yes the Vuarnet line still remains prescription available. However, Alain Mikli (new owner) does not have the "Authentic" Vuarnet prescription program set up now. It is something they expect to add in the future. But we continue to use our local lab to make "Vuarnet like" lenses to replicate the lens as close as possible.  However, glass is only available in the PX-2000 and PX-3000 and Citilynx lens colors.  The Skilynx lens can be done in Trivex (same optical clarity, lighter weight, just not the scratch resistance of glass--but scratch coating can be added).  

For more information about prescription Vuarnet give us a call at 888-223-2669 or reach us on our chat located on our web page.