This week Marcolin, the U.S. distributor of Tom Ford, Tod’s and DSquared2, stopped in to show us the new sunglass lines from John Galliano and Tod’s.
At first we were a little skeptical.
We’ve been searching for some new eyewear lines to add at Urban Optiques for several months now, and what we’ve seen so far (outside of Francis Klein) hasn’t particularly impressed us.
We pretty much knew what we didn’t want: Yet another line of sunglasses from some giant corporate design center with yet another fashion designer’s name stuck on the temple with something akin to Super Glue as an afterthought.
There are tons of those brands out there, and outside of the designer logo itself, there’s really not much in terms of unique design to differentiate these eyewear lines from each other.
Tiger is out, Maria Sharapova is in.
And we’re overjoyed.
Last fall, TAG Heuer announced that tennis star and fashion-lover Maria Sharapova would be the new ambassador and muse for a women’s series of TAG Heuer Eyewear, adding a much needed feminine perspective to the Swiss company that’s most recognized for its luxury watches and racing-inspired eyewear.
While the announcement of Sharapova as an ambassador for TAG Heuer Eyewear preceded the scandal surrounding TAG Heuer’s other marquis spokesperson, Tiger Woods, there is no doubt that marketing execs in Zurich are breathing a sigh of relief that they decided to bring the 6′ 2″ Siberian tennis star on-board when they did.
Even better, we just got a glimpse at Urban Optiques of the fruits of the TAG Heuer-Sharapova Eyewear collaboration and we’re extremely happy to say that it’s the complete opposite of last year’s Lindsey Lohan-Emanuel Ungaro partnership.
Lens remakes are the bane of any optometrist’s existence.
Not only are they costly for both the practice and the labs, but they also create frustration with patients and clients who may have to endure one or more lens remakes before they are actually able to see clearly.
No one wants them and every optician and optometrist works hard up-front to avoid them.
However, they do happen every now and then.
Why?
Well, unfortunately, sometimes a lab will make a mistake and get the script wrong.
Sometimes what a patient thought was “clear vision” during the exam isn’t so “clear” when they actually put the finished glasses on.
Other times, we just need to “tweak” a prescription and lens a few times, especially for new progressive wearers or people with complex vision correction needs like prism.
In very rare instances, a person’s vision may literally change between the refraction and the delivery of the finished frame and lenses.
In all of these cases, we continue to work with the patient until we get the finished product right, and often we do this at considerable extra cost to Urban Optiques – both in additional lab rework fees and the staff’s time. It’s just part of the process of providing good vision care and an accepted cost of business for us (even though we want to minimize it.)
The good news is that when we actually perform the eye exam and refraction at Urban Optiques, we have an extremely low remake rate. There are few specific reasons for this, which I’ll touch on a bit later.
But first, let me tell you about a recent “mystery” at Urban Optiques around remakes.
When we think of Chloé, we think gorgeous French ready-to-wear fashion, handbags — and yes — beautiful eyewear.
Just in time for the Spring and Summer sun, we’ve received more than 20 new eyewear pieces from the Chloé 2010 Eyewear Collection, ranging from subtle and sophisticated, to bold, funky and avant garde.
Urban Optiques was the first eyewear boutique to carry Chloé in Southeast Michigan and we’ve moved so many Chloé frames in the past six months, that we decided to bring more, fresh stock in.
This is truly gorgeous eyewear that you’ll want to stop in to try on — especially the new narrower eyeglass frames that work on more petite faces and Chloé’s stunning line of sunglasses that will help you see and be seen … as well as protect your eyes from UV rays this summer.
Enjoy!
It’s not often that you get to wear a pair of $18,000 eyeglasses for an entire evening, but that’s exactly what we where able to do during Saturday’s FRED Cocktail Party and Trunk Show at Urban Optiques.
We snapped some random pictures of the team during the show wearing some of the most exquisite eyewear on the planet, thanks to Deborah Signorello, the National Sales Manager for Premiere Vision.
Premiere Vision is the distributor of both Tag Heuer and the FRED luxury eyewear collection, and Deborah helped us put on an amazing event last Saturday night.
It was our first show with FRED since buying the practice, but it definitely won’t be our last.
For those of you who attended, we thank you.
For those who couldn’t stop in, you missed something really special.
But there will be more chances in the future.