Res/Rei by eye size: a fit guide to an Italian acetate brand that names its frames

Res/Rei is an independent eyewear brand based in Treviso, in the north-east of Italy. Its own site says it plainly: "Our journey starts in Treviso, Italy." The brand's story page carries a timeline that begins in 2012, which makes it young by Italian standards and old enough to have settled into a way of working.

What makes the frames physically different is the acetate, and what the brand does before the acetate is cut. Res/Rei's site describes a holistic approach: "We design our frames and our acetate." That second half is the unusual part. Most brands choose a pattern from a supplier's book. Res/Rei draws its own, and says it takes its inspiration "from furniture to photography, from architecture to cinema movies."

You can see the consequence in the eighteen frames we have in stock. Every one is acetate, and most carry two colours or two patterns at once. Lily is red-purple over blue-brown havana. Hella is green over brown havana. Pyramid is pink over black. The listings describe the effect as two materials or two patterns put together with the join left showing, rather than blended away.

The second physical difference is depth. Acetate is cut from a solid plate, then milled and polished, so the colour sits inside the material instead of on top of it. A rim cut this way has its pattern running through the full thickness. Turn one edge-on and the pattern is still there in the cross-section.

Prices are level across the range. Every Res/Rei frame we hold is $590, eyeglasses and sunglasses alike, and none carries a reduced price. All eighteen are new and sealed.

Fourteen are eyeglasses and four are sunglasses. The eyeglasses come with demo lenses fitted, the clear placeholders that hold the shape until a prescription goes in. The four sunglasses arrive with their own tinted lenses: gradient brown in Nocturne, gradient dark brown in Begonia, and photochromic lenses in both Vivo frames, orange in one and turquoise in the other.

Res/Rei does not number its frames. It names them, and the names are not decoration. They tell you which family a frame belongs to.

The brand's site divides the range into seven collections: Sculptures, Gentlemen, Architects, Diamonds, Eclipses, Flowers and Essences. It calls them "product families, each shaped by a distinct inspiration, ranging from design to art and fashion."

Four of those families are in our stock, and once you know the pattern the names stop being arbitrary.

Flowers is the largest group here. Botanic, Begonia, Lily, Lush, Hella and Vivo all sit in it on the brand's own site, which describes the collection as inspired by nature, with rich colours and soft curves. Eight of our eighteen frames come from it — Lush and Vivo each appear twice — and the shapes bear the description out: rounded cat-eyes, softly squared fronts, no hard corners anywhere.

Sculptures is next, and supplies six frames across five names: Glow, Loop in two colours, Nocturne, Pyramid and Cheops in red. The brand describes this family as inspired by Italian sculptors, with "changes in thickness, curved surfaces and fading colours" and three-dimensional work on both the front and the back of the frame. That is why one of our two Loops is a gradient, grey fading to pink, and it is why Cheops and Pyramid carry the names they do.

Gentlemen supplies two: Maestro and York II in brown havana and grey. This is the brand's men's family, and its site says each model carries a five-joint hinge and a decorated metal core inside the acetate. Both of our Gentlemen frames also have the longest temples in the stock, at 145mm and 150mm, which is not a coincidence.

Eclipses supplies one model in two colours: Flare, in pink and black and in blue and green. The brand describes that collection as inspired by the movement of astral bodies, with fronts that reveal bright colour.

So a Res/Rei name tells you the family it belongs to, though not the shape: Sculptures alone covers an oval, two rounds, a square and two cat-eyes in our stock. The colour name after the dash tells you the rest. Glow — Red. Lush — Blue / Green. The table below lists all eighteen with their measurements.

Eighteen frames, six eye sizes: 47, 50, 51, 52, 53 and 54mm. That is a narrow band, and it is worth saying what it means. Res/Rei, at least in the stock we hold, is a medium-size brand. There is nothing under 47mm and nothing over 54mm.

The 51s are the centre of gravity. Seven of the eighteen sit there: Glow in red, both Loops, Botanic in dark havana, purple and red, both Flares and Cheops. If you have worn a 50 or a 52 comfortably in another brand, this is where to start.

Above that, 53mm holds four — Lush in brown havana, Lush in blue and green, Lily and Hella — and 54mm holds two, Pyramid and York II. Six of our Res/Rei listings carry a Wide tag, and those are the six.

Below the middle, 47mm holds three: Maestro in light grey and brown havana, and both Vivo sunglasses. Then 50mm holds one, Nocturne, and 52mm holds one, Begonia.

Eye size alone does not tell you how wide a frame sits, because the bridge counts once and the eye counts twice. Add the eye size twice and the bridge once and you get the approximate distance across the front. On that measure our Res/Rei stock runs from about 119mm to about 128mm.

The narrowest fronts are about 119mm: Botanic, at 51–17, and both Vivo sunglasses, at 47–25. Those two arrive at the same width from opposite directions, a larger eye on a narrow bridge and a smaller eye on a wide one.

The widest is York II, at 54–20, which is about 128mm across. Begonia is close behind at about 127mm, and Pyramid at about 126mm.

Most of the range clusters between about 120 and 123mm. Glow, Maestro and Cheops are all about 120mm. Both Loops and both Flares are about 121mm, Lush in brown havana and Lush in blue and green about 122mm, and Nocturne about 123mm.

These figures are approximate. They ignore the thickness of the rims and the small amount the front curves away from the face, so treat them as a way of ranking frames against each other rather than as a measurement of your head.

All eighteen are acetate. Not one metal frame, not one combination.

Res/Rei's own site says acetate is the main material it uses to manufacture its frames, and that the process "starts from a cotton flock." It also says acetate is "much more sophisticated" than plastic and made from natural sources. That is the brand's language rather than ours, but the physical claim behind it is straightforward: acetate is a sheet material, and frames are cut out of the sheet.

That is the part worth understanding, because it changes how a frame behaves. A plate of acetate is cut, milled and polished. The colour and the pattern are in the plate, so they run through the full thickness of the rim. A moulded frame has its colour applied to a surface; a cut one has its colour throughout. The listings for these frames make the same point in different words, and it is why an acetate rim reads as having depth.

It also means no two plates are identical. The listing for Begonia in gradient havana says the colour is never exactly repeated, and so does the listing for each Vivo. That is a property of the material rather than a sales line. Each of these frames is one of a kind in the ordinary sense that a particular run of pattern went into it, and we hold one. When it sells it is gone.

Acetate has weight. An acetate frame usually sits heavier on the face than a metal or titanium one, simply because there is more material in it. What the listings do say is that acetate has weight to it, and that it holds an adjustment once an optician has set it. What you get for the weight is that acetate holds an adjustment. Warm it, bend it, and it stays where an optician puts it. A frame that can be set to a face and then keeps that setting is worth more day to day than a few grams saved.

On construction, the brand's site says its Gentlemen models carry a five-joint hinge and a decorated metal core running inside the acetate. Our two Gentlemen frames are Maestro and York II. That is a feature of those two models rather than of acetate in general. Acetate temples are adjusted with heat, and a metal core gives a set temple more to hold its shape against.

Six shapes across eighteen frames. Cat-eye is the largest group with six, then square with four and round with four, then geometric with two, and one each of oval and rectangular.

The cat-eyes are Botanic, Cheops, Lily, Hella, Begonia and Pyramid in pink and black. A cat-eye lifts the outer corner above the line of the eye, and the usual reason to choose one is to add width and height at the temples. It flatters a face that narrows towards the top and gives a round face some angle. These six are not all the same strength of cat-eye: Botanic, at 51–17 with a 38mm lens, is a modest one, while Pyramid at 54–18 is emphatic.

The squares are Maestro, Nocturne in pink and brown havana, and both Lush frames. All four are described in the listings as softly squared rather than sharp, which is the useful kind. A square front gives a soft or round face some structure without the hardness of a true rectangle. Lush in brown havana has the deepest lens of the four, at 44mm.

The rounds are both Loops and both Vivos. Round frames soften an angular face and a strong jaw. The two Loops carry the tallest lenses in the whole stock at 47mm, which makes them properly round rather than round-ish. The two Vivos are sunglasses at 47mm across the eye, the smallest eye size we hold in the brand.

The geometrics are the two Flares, both faceted fronts, one in pink and black and one in blue and green. Faceted means the front is cut in planes rather than curves, so it catches light differently as the head turns. They suit someone who wants the frame noticed.

Then one oval, Glow in red, at 51–18 with a 38mm lens, the shallowest lens in the stock alongside Botanic and the quietest shape here. And one rectangular, York II, at 54–20 on 150mm temples, the largest frame we hold in the brand.

None of this is a rule. The shape that suits you is the one that looks right in the mirror. Shape charts are a starting point rather than an answer.

Three numbers decide whether a frame sits, and eye size is not one of them.

The bridge comes first. It is the gap between the lenses, and on an acetate frame with no nose pads it is the only thing holding the frame up. Our Res/Rei bridges run from 16mm to 26mm, a wide spread for eighteen frames.

The 16s are the narrowest: Lush in brown havana, Lush in blue and green, and Hella. All three are a 53mm eye on a 16mm bridge, which is a wide lens set close together. Botanic is next at 17mm.

The widest bridge is Maestro at 26mm, then Vivo in burgundy and Vivo in pink at 25mm, then Nocturne and Begonia at 23mm. A wider bridge sets the lenses further apart and lets the frame sit lower and further from the brow.

If you have a narrow nose, a 16 or 17mm bridge will hold better than a 25. If the bridge is too wide the frame slides; if it is too narrow it perches and marks. This is the most common reason a frame that looked right in a photograph does not stay put on a face.

Temples come next. Sixteen of the eighteen are 140mm, which is the standard length and fits most adults. Two are longer: Maestro at 145mm and York II at 150mm. A 150mm temple suits a larger head, or an ear set further back. On a small head it will run past the ear and want shortening at the bend.

Lens height is the third, and it is the number most people never check. Ours run from 38mm to 47mm.

The shallowest are Glow and Botanic at 38mm, then Cheops at 39mm. The deepest are Loop in grey and purple and its gradient grey-pink twin, both at 47mm, then Lush in brown havana at 44mm. In between sits a large group between 40 and 42mm: Nocturne, Pyramid, Begonia and York II at 40mm, Flare in pink and black at 41mm, and Maestro, Lily, Hella, Lush in blue and green, Flare in blue and green and both Vivos at 42mm.

Lens height governs two things: how much of your face the frame covers, and whether a progressive lens has room to work. The second of those deserves its own chapter.

We sell frames. We do not sell prescription lenses online, and nothing on this site fits a lens. Every Res/Rei eyeglass frame in this guide arrives with demo lenses in it; every Res/Rei sunglass frame arrives with its own tinted lenses. Glazing happens in our Arlington or Dumfries shops, or at your own optician.

Three things to check before you buy a frame for a prescription.

The first is lens height, if you wear progressives. A progressive lens needs vertical room: distance at the top, intermediate in the middle, reading at the bottom. How much room depends on the lens design, and your optician will tell you the fitting height the one you have been prescribed needs. In practical terms, the two Loops at 47mm and Lush in brown havana at 44mm have the most depth in this stock. Glow and Botanic at 38mm and Cheops at 39mm have the least. If you are unsure, ask for that number before you choose a frame rather than after.

The second is lens power. A strong minus prescription is thick at the edge, and the thickness shows more in a wide lens than a narrow one. A strong plus is thick in the centre. Neither rules a frame out, but a 53 or 54mm eye asks more of a lens than a 47mm one, and a rim with some body to it conceals an edge better than a thin one. Acetate rims have body.

The third is where your pupils sit relative to the frame. A front that is too wide puts your pupils inboard of the optical centres of the lenses, and on a strong prescription that is felt rather than seen. This is why the across-the-front figures in chapter three matter more than eye size on its own. Our Res/Rei range runs from about 119mm to about 128mm. Nine millimetres is enough to change how a lens works.

Take the frame, or its measurements, to whoever will be glazing it before the lens is ordered. That is a conversation worth five minutes and no money.

Everything in this guide is $590. Eyeglasses and sunglasses, 47mm and 54mm, the same. There is no reduced price on any Res/Rei frame we hold.

All eighteen are new and sealed. None is a return, a display piece or a sample.

Eighteen frames across fourteen model names. Four names appear twice in different colours — Loop, Lush, Flare and Vivo — and the other ten appear once each: Glow, Maestro, Botanic, Nocturne, Lily, Hella, Pyramid, Begonia, Cheops and York II. We hold one of each frame. When it sells it is gone, which is true of every frame in the shop.

We ship frames only. Lenses are not shipped, and are not sold from this site. If you want the frame glazed by us, the frame and the prescription meet in Arlington or in Dumfries.

If you are buying without trying the frame on, the honest advice is to measure something you already own. The numbers are usually printed inside one temple: eye, bridge, temple length, in that order. Find a frame you like the fit of, read its numbers, and compare them against the table in this guide. If your current frame reads 50–20–145, then Maestro at 47–26–145 will sit differently on you — smaller lenses set further apart by a much wider bridge, on the same width across the front — and York II at 54–20–150 will sit wider across and longer to the ear.

Pay attention to the bridge before anything else. Eye size is the number everyone quotes and the one that matters least once a frame is actually on a nose.

Our returns terms are set out on the site, and worth reading before you order rather than after.

And if none of this settles it, come in and put one on. A frame on a face answers in ten seconds what a table of measurements takes a page to approximate. Ring ahead if you want a particular model waiting on the counter.