Frames Direct is an American online

eyewear Eyewear is a term used to refer to all devices worn over both of a person's eyes, or occasionally a single eye, for one or more of a variety of purposes. Though historically used for vision improvement and correction, eyewear has also evolved into ...

retailer owned by

EssilorLuxottica EssilorLuxottica SA is a Franco-Italian Vertical integration, vertically integrated multinational corporation, multinational holding company registered in Charenton-Le-Pont and headquartered in nearby Paris. It designs, produces and markets opht ...

. The company sells eyewear products such as eyeglasses, prescription sunglasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses through its website, www.framesdirect.com. Frames Direct sells designer and brand-name eyewear products with over 50,000 models. Founded in 1996, Frames Direct was one of the earliest online optical retail stores and the first to sell prescription sunglasses online.

History

Co-founders Dhavid Cooper, OD and Guy Hodgson, OD are both originally from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

where they moved from to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the 1980s. The two business partners had several

optometry Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...

practices in

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operating from 1986 until 1994 when they had an opportunity to sell their offices. After taking a year off, the two co-founded FramesDirect in 1996 and launched FramesDirect.com later that year. The company was headquartered in Houston until

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and

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

forced their customer service representatives to relocate to

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, and eventually the rest of the office followed. In 2010, Essilor, a prescription lens manufacturing company, acquired the majority stake in FramesDirect.com. Shortly after, Essilor partnered with FramesDirect.com to create and launch MyOpticalOnline.com, an online service that allows independent eyewear practices to sell their products online. The company has been recognized by the MassMutual Financial Group and U.S. Chamber of Commerce with a Blue Chip Enterprise Award, and in 2000, FramesDirect.com was a finalist for the

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Operations

Frames Direct sells over 250 brand name frames such as Ray-Ban and Oakley, which consumers can search for and purchase on their own at any time on the company's website. Consumers can purchase frames, prescription eyeglasses, prescription or plain sunglasses, and contact lens refills. After choosing the desired frames, the consumer goes through a three-step process to order lenses including choosing the lens type, lens thickness, and optional enhancement features. FramesDirect.com has a customer service team staffed by

optician An optician is an individual who fits glasses or contact lenses by filling a refractive prescription from an optometrist or ophthalmologist. They are able to translate and adapt ophthalmic prescriptions, dispense products, and work with acces ...

s that are available on the phone or over online chat.

Armed Forces Eyewear

Armed Forces Eyewear (AFEyewear) is a division of FramesDirect.com that provides additional discounts to military personnel and their families, the national guard, reserve members, veterans, and first responders. AFEyewear uses the customer's name and birth date to verify his or her active or former military status and then offers eyewear products with a 30 percent discount off the listed retail price. AFEyewear.com was merged into FramesDirect.com and is now offered as discounts via AFEyewear Member rewards.

References

{{Eyewear retailers Eyewear companies of the United States American companies established in 1996 Retail companies established in 1996 Eyewear retailers of the United States EssilorLuxottica