Glasses direct blog

Noticed something different about us http://beta.glassesdirect.co.uk? The jazzier look, the spring in our step… It’s all rather exciting here at Glasses Direct. It was time for a change, and we’ve spread our wings in time for summer with a fresh new look we hope inspires you.

Rest assured our values are the same. Our priority remains giving you excellent glasses and service, while helping you save money. That’s why our glasses still start at £15, and why you can now search for them five– yes five– ways:

- by gender (men’s, women’s, unisex)
- by price
- by material (plastic or metal)
- by lens type, and
- by brand.

About time, don’t you think? No more feeling pressurised to spend lots of money on a single pair of glasses in a claustrophobic high street optician’s for us, thankyouverymuch. Now we feel totally in control of choosing the clever little bits of plastic and metal that make a difference to our lives. And we hope you come to feel the same way too. We don’t think of ourselves as revolutionising the glasses market for nothing…

We’ve also revamped the How to Order glasses section, and added informative features about how to get your prescription, the history of glasses (more interesting than you might think), and more.

Have you seen our latest catalogue, too? It has – for the first time – a range of designer non-prescription sunglasses from CliC, Kangol, and Bollé among others. Plus the order form’s now simpler to fill in. You can order a free glasses catalogue here.

We hope you’re as happy with the new us as we are. We’re open to any and all ideas that might make us better. Send thoughts, sketches or moments of genius to
feedback@glassesdirect.co.uk.

It’s not always serious here at Glasses Direct – we know how to have fun and now you can join us. To celebrate the launch of our new retro fashion glasses range, we created an addictive game everyone can play. Your goal is to use your glasses to shoot down the letters before they get to you. Create a private league between your friends or compete in a public league for your chance to win a discount code across the range. Who said shopping and play don’t mix… start playing the retro invasion game.

Photo from endlessstudio

Have you ever wondered why glasses are so expensive? For a couple of bits of plastic or metal?

Part of the reason is the design & manufacture, although they’re small, they’re quite complicated things to make, plus the lenses have to be made in highly sophisticated laboratories that measure distances in thousandths of millimetres.

However, one of the biggest reasons is that opticians currently subsidise the low cost of eye tests and examinations by inflating the price of the glasses you actually end up buying with a massive markup.

It means they can get you into the shop, and then, once you’ve been through the test, you’ll often be passed to a salesman who isn’t a qualified optician, whose job is to sell you the most expensive pair of glasses they can.

This is the way it’s been done for years and years, which is why the industry has been so aggressive towards us when we’ve challenged this pricing model by offering more realistic prices for the glasses themselves. We can offer you a much better deal on glasses, and a lot of people in the industry don’t like that.

You should always get your eyes tested by a properly qualified optician – at least every two years – but before you buy something from the same store, make sure you check our prices online to see how much you could be saving.

Our aim is to give you the widest choice of glasses, and all the information and advice you need to make a decision, with none of the pressure you often feel whilst in a high street opticians.

We recently read an optical report, here at Glasses towers, which finished with the idea that companies who’s staff have uniforms may wish to extend their uniform to glasses.

This provoked an unexpected reaction with me – I found the idea incredibly difficult to stomach. I’d be happy to have to put on any item of clothing a company wanted me to wear – trousers, shirt hat, tie, jacket, socks, even pants if they were M&Ss finest. I’m totally happy to sacrifice individuality for a job, if that’s the nature of the job.

In fact sometimes is quite nice not having to think about what to wear.

However, when it comes to glasses I suddenly found the idea extremely difficult to accept.

It reminded me again what a unique relationship we have with our glasses.

• We wear them every day, yet often only change them every couple of years
• We begrudge spending money on them, yet they sit on our face, right in front of our eyes
• We’ll happily spend lots of money on shoes, lots of pairs of shoes, yet not many people notice them whereas glasses can change the entire way you’re perceived
• No-one else can wear them, they’re virtually unique to us
• Many people would rather not be wearing them at all
• Not many people would wear a different pair on consecutive days, yet we’d never think that about other items of clothing
• We never think “oooh, he’s wearing those glasses again, hasn’t he got any others?”
• They make people look intelligent, yet no other item of clothing does.

Going back to the idea of uniform glasses, the closest feeling we could come up with was if a company asked us to all have the same hairstyle.

Having said all that – if any companies are entertaining the idea, we’d love to chat…

Benetton glasses and frames are now a part of Glasses Direct growing range of designer glasses, exciting times! United Colors of Benetton’s instantly recognisable international style speaks out in every bit of their eyewear collection which is now sold exclusively at Glasses Direct. Benetton Glasses start at just £65 including free single vision lenses.

All throughout July, Glasses Direct will be offering free delivery on all orders above £40. When you buy your glasses from us, your order will be processed on the same day. Glasses are sent via standard Royal Mail packetpost, and the packages we use fit through most letterboxes. You do not have to be at home to receive your glasses. View our growing range of spectacles today.