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Read: Are designer frames worth it?

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Every frame on this page is one we hold, in a drawer or on a board in one of our two shops. Eye See Optique is the online side of an independent optician with practices in Arlington and Dumfries, Virginia, part of Eye Rx. We do not carry a warehouse catalogue and will not pretend to. The frames here come from more than a dozen brands, and almost every one is a single piece. When it sells, it is gone. What you get in place of breadth is an optician's eye: each frame chosen by hand, checked over and measured before it went up.

Narrowing it down is the easy part. Work through the shop by brand, by size, by shape, by material or by colour. Every listing carries its numbers, the three usually printed inside a temple arm, eye, bridge and temple length, along with a close figure for the measurement across the front, which is what tells you whether a frame will sit on your face or hang past it. Eye sizes run from the mid thirties to the mid sixties. Most of the shop is acetate, with a smaller run of metal and a few that combine the two. Round is the largest group of shapes, then cat-eye, with square and geometric level behind it, and rectangular, oval and aviator after those. Prices start a little over three hundred dollars, sit near six hundred through the middle of the shop, and run past three thousand at the top. A good number are marked down and priced on sale.

We ship frames only. Eyeglass frames arrive with plain demo lenses or with none, and sunglasses arrive ready to wear with their own tinted lenses, which are not prescription either. Prescription lenses are glazed in Arlington or Dumfries, or by your own optician. Shipping across the US is free and insured. Returns run seven days with a 15% restocking fee, a frame that has had lenses fitted cannot come back, and a sale frame is a final sale.

Is every frame really one of a kind?

Almost. We buy in ones and twos rather than by the dozen, so nearly every frame here is the only one of that model and colour we hold. There is no warehouse behind this page: what you see is what sits in the two shops, from more than a dozen brands. When one sells, the listing comes down. That does mean a frame you are thinking about can go while you are thinking about it, and we would rather say so plainly than have you find out at the checkout.

Do the frames come with lenses?

Not prescription lenses, no. An eyeglass frame arrives as it sits in the shop, with plain demo lenses in the rims or with nothing in them. Demos hold the shape and let you judge the fit, and they are discarded when your own lenses are cut. Sunglasses are different: they come ready to wear with their own tinted lenses, though that tint is not a prescription either. Prescription lenses are glazed in our Arlington or Dumfries shops, or by your own optician wherever you are. The frame is what we ship.

How do I know a frame will fit me?

By the numbers, which every listing carries. You will find the eye, the bridge and the temple length, the three figures usually printed inside a temple arm, plus the measurement across the front of the frame. Compare those with a pair you already wear and like. That is the quickest honest check there is. Eye sizes across the shop run from the mid thirties to the mid sixties, so there is room at both ends. If your current frames carry no markings, measure straight across the front in millimetres. Ours is a close figure rather than an exact one, the eye size twice plus the bridge, so it leaves out the rim beyond the lens and reads a little short. A few millimetres either way is well inside what we can adjust.

What happens if it does not suit me when it arrives?

Ask us for a return within seven days of delivery and we refund the frame less a 15% restocking fee. Two things to know first. Once lenses have been fitted, or the frame has been adjusted to your face, it is yours and cannot be returned. And a frame bought on sale is a final sale, with no return. Shipping out to you is free and insured anywhere in the US. If you are unsure about the fit, ask us before you order rather than after, because that is the point at which we can still help.