Italian acetate
Common Hours
The house line — quiet shapes, honest price
Our own line: eight shapes we re-order because they suit most faces and survive most lives. If your budget stops here, your options don’t feel like it.
$95 – $145 · frame only
The dispensary
Frames chosen by opticians. Lenses explained like you’re an adult.
No wall of 600 near-identical frames, no mystery lens packages. Six lines we stand behind, price bands on the shelf, and a lens menu that tells you when the cheaper option is the right one.
Frame lines
Six lines. Plain bands. No till surprise.
Bands are frame-only; lenses are priced separately below, so you can do the whole math before anyone reaches for a tray. Outside prescriptions welcome — filled without a surcharge or a sigh.
Surgical stainless steel
Norrland
Scandinavian minimal, nearly weightless
Thin-drawn steel fronts with screwless hinges. The frame you forget you’re wearing — which is the whole idea.
$210 – $260 · frame only
Japanese beta-titanium
Fieldnote Titanium
Engineered, flexible, hypoallergenic
Beta-titanium temples that flex and return. For strong prescriptions and people who are hard on glasses but tired of replacing them.
$260 – $340 · frame only
Hand-finished French acetate
Atelier Malo
Small-batch colour and heft
Tumble-polished acetates in colours the big labs don’t run. Each batch is small; when a colour sells out, it’s usually gone.
$295 – $385 · frame only
Acetate + nylon sun lenses
Solst
Sun frames, prescription-ready
Proper sun protection that takes your prescription. Every pair ships with polarized lenses; all of them block UVA/UVB fully — that part isn’t a premium feature.
$175 – $265 · frame only
Flexible TR-90
Kite + Co. Kids
Bend-don’t-break frames for ages 3–14
Frames built for playgrounds: flexible fronts, spring hinges, grippy temple tips. Includes one no-questions replacement in the first year.
$85 – $125 · frame only
The lens menu
Every option, priced — with the honest read.
The right column is the part most optical shops keep to themselves. We’d rather you skip a coating than distrust the whole bill.
Lens type
Every lens we sell includes anti-scratch hardening and a standard anti-reflective coating. Those aren’t upgrades here.
| Option | Price | What it does | The honest read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single vision | from $115 | One prescription across the whole lens — distance or reading. | What most people under 45 need. The “from” price is a real lens we actually dispense, not a teaser. |
| Progressives — standard | $240 | Distance to reading in one lens, no bifocal line. | A good everyday progressive. Expect a few days of adaptation — that’s normal, not a fitting error. |
| Progressives — premium digital | $340 | Digitally surfaced with wider clear corridors and less edge “swim.” | Earns its price if you wear them all day or struggled with progressives before. If standard works for you, we’ll say so. First pair comes with a 60-day non-adapt exchange. |
Thinner materials
Lens thickness depends on your prescription — thinning is physics, not vanity, but only past a point.
| Option | Price | What it does | The honest read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-index 1.60 | +$60 | About 20% thinner and lighter than standard. | Sensible from roughly ±3.00. Below that you’re paying to fix a problem you don’t have. |
| High-index 1.67 | +$130 | Noticeably thinner for stronger prescriptions. | Worth it from about ±5.00, or sooner in rimless frames where edges show. |
| High-index 1.74 | +$210 | The thinnest widely available material. | We suggest it above ±7.00 and rarely otherwise — at moderate prescriptions the difference over 1.67 is hard to see. |
Coatings + treatments
Coatings are where optical shops traditionally pad the bill. Here’s what each one actually does.
| Option | Price | What it does | The honest read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium anti-reflective | +$40 | Easier-to-clean, more smudge-resistant top layer over the standard AR. | A convenience upgrade. The optics are the same as the included coating — we’ll tell you that before you pay for it. |
| Blue-light filter | +$40 | Filters a slice of blue-violet light from screens. | The evidence that this reduces eye strain is weak, and we say so. Screen breaks and good sleep habits do more. We sell it if you want it — informed. |
| Photochromic | +$120 | Lenses that darken outdoors and clear indoors. | Genuinely useful if you’re in and out all day. Know the limits: they barely darken behind a windshield and take a minute to clear indoors. |
| Polarized sun tint | +$90 | Fixed dark tint that cuts glare off roads, water, and snow. | The right call for a dedicated pair of prescription sunglasses. UV protection is already in every lens we sell — you’re buying glare control, not safety. |
After you buy
Glasses are a relationship, not a transaction.
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Adjustments — free, forever, on any frame
Including frames you bought somewhere else. Drop in; it takes minutes.
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Two-year manufacturing warranty
On every frame we sell. Kids’ Kite + Co. frames add one no-questions replacement in year one, because playgrounds.
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60-day progressive non-adapt exchange
If premium progressives don’t work for your eyes, we remake into standard progressives or single vision and refund the difference.
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Your prescription and PD, handed over
They’re yours. You get them without asking — even if you’re buying online elsewhere. We’d rather earn the sale than hold the number hostage.
Need a prescription first? Book an exam — or bring your outside one straight to the dispensary.
Next available this week
Start with the exam — the frames will still be here.
A current prescription makes every lens decision easier. Book online, then let Priya pull three frames you didn’t know you wanted.