EyeBuyDirect Glasses: From 100 Frame Styles Online to Cat-Eyes and Clear Acetate

In 2006 a website went live with a catalog of just 100 frame styles. That company says in its own twentieth-anniversary release that it has since sold more than 30 million pairs of glasses and served over 8 million customers across 40 countries. A hundred frames on a screen turned into a habit for a lot of people.

 

Roy Hessel, a former venture capitalist, started it, and it has always been online-only. What makes EyeBuyDirect glasses interesting to me is the structure underneath. Current CEO Sunny Jiang describes a company that owns the entire process, from frame design and craftsmanship to manufacturing, and Wikipedia notes that most of the glasses are designed and custom-made in-house. When one team owns the drawing board and the factory, a frame can go from a sketch to a shape you can add to a cart without a long chain of middlemen.

 

The cat-eyes are where I would begin. In my fashion dreams she is walking to a Monday meeting in the Charlize in tortoise, a 128 mm acetate frame that reads warm against a camel coat. The Garance and the Ines are both black gold metal, thin and a little formal, the ones I would wear with a white shirt and a good watch. The Cassie in ivory tortoise is softer, and the Notting Hill in ivory and tortoise is the one for a gray knit and dark denim. The Hepburn in clear blue is the showpiece: the brand describes it as a retro horn-rimmed shape in a clear finish, made from acetate with spring hinges.

 

Before you decide, check two numbers: the total width and the bridge. Widths run from 124 mm on the Hepburn to 136 mm on the Garance, so compare them with a pair you already own.

Round frames are the easiest place to see how much range one brand can hold. The Quill in tortoise is acetate, 128 mm across, and it has the bookish look I would wear with a turtleneck and wool trousers all through October. The Primrose in tortoise is narrower at 124 mm.

 

Then the colors open up. The Bubbles in navy and the Delaware in matte black are plastic, and both look like a pair you would grab on the way out the door. The Greta in clear pink is a soft acetate round, the one I picture with a cream cardigan and a pleated skirt. The Hollie in clear mixes plastic with a metal rim and is the widest at 142 mm. The Haiku in golden metal is the quietest, a thin wire circle for someone who wants the glasses to disappear into the outfit. If you want to keep going, Versace Glasses for Women: Squares, Cat Eyes and Aviators, Sorted by Face and Outfit is the one I would read next.

 

There is also some history worth knowing. The brand added a try-on tool in 2007, which let people drop a frame onto their own photo, and I like that a round frame is exactly the shape that tool is good for. A circle either suits your cheekbones or it does not, and a screen tells you in a second.

 

My fitting test is simple: look straight at a mirror and check that your eyebrows stay visible above the rim and your lashes do not touch the lens. The Lindsey in burgundy, with its plastic and metal mix, is the one I would try beside a camel coat.

 

What I would skip: the widest rounds if your frames tend to slide, since a larger circle needs a snugger bridge.

Square frames have a built-in seriousness, which is why I like them in colors that argue with it. The Latte in clear pink is a 122 mm acetate square that looks almost like sea glass. The Escape in matte pink is a rectangle, a little more graphic, and I would wear it with a navy blazer and flat boots.

 

Tortoise runs through this group, and each version has a different job. The Sebastian is acetate with a metal detail at 136 mm, so it is the most architectural. The Ashby and the Tower are plain tortoise acetate squares, 130 mm and 131 mm, the sort I would keep in a bag for the days a screen makes my eyes tired. The Haley in purple tortoise is plastic and slightly unexpected, good with a black coat. The Bristol in matte black is the clean office rectangle at 134 mm. The Lior in clear green is plastic and the brightest of the lot. I went deeper on a related idea in Tom Ford Glasses for Women: Cat Eyes, Squares and Pilots Worth Trying On.

 

A brand that designs most of its glasses in-house, and owns the process from design to manufacturing, can make a full range of rectangles.

 

Here is the test I would use: hold a straight-edged frame up and check that the top rim follows your brow line instead of cutting across it. Then turn your head quickly and see whether the temples stay put.

 

What I would skip: a matte black rectangle with a sharp corner if your face already has strong angles. Choose a softer square, like the Latte, so the shapes do not compete.

Clear and tortoise are the two finishes that go with almost everything in a fall closet, and the brand handles them in a few quiet ways. The clear ones are mostly cat-eye. The Nala and the Charlotte, both in clear pink acetate, are the gentlest, and the Brittany in clear blue is cooler and a little more modern. The Farah in clear purple is plastic and the most playful, good with a gray sweater.

 

The Hepburn we met earlier belongs in this conversation too, since the brand's own copy describes it as a retro horn-rimmed shape set against a clear finish. The same page notes the acetate and spring hinges, the detail I look for first.

 

Tortoise gets more rounded here. The Gable in ivory tortoise and the Passion in tortoise are both acetate ovals, 127 mm and 130 mm, and they feel like the glasses of someone who reads on the train. The Chambers in tortoise is made of alternative materials, an oval at 133 mm, which makes it the one to look at if you want something outside the usual acetate. The Ellipse in tortoise is a geometric shape at 138 mm, the widest and boldest.

 

For care, I would rinse acetate with lukewarm water and a drop of soap, then dry it with a soft cloth, since clear frames show every fingerprint. In my fashion dreams the Gable lives on a desk beside a stack of paperbacks.

 

What I would skip: pale clear frames if you want your eyewear to hold the whole look, since they are made to blend in with your face.

Every sunglasses pair in this group comes with gray lenses, which is a practical choice: gray keeps colors looking true, so it suits an October walk as well as a beach day.

 

The Sun Charlotte in tortoise is the cat-eye in the group, 121 mm of acetate, and I would wear it with a trench. The Cinematic in ivory tortoise is a cat-eye too, but at 131 mm it is bigger and a little more dramatic. The Milla in black is the sharp cat-eye, the one for an all-black outfit and a red lip. The Winona in black is an oval at 134 mm, and I picture it with a white tee and denim. The Sherry in tortoise is a square acetate frame, and the Frankie in tortoise is a rectangle made of alternative materials, so they suit anyone who likes a straight line.

 

For color, the Merrick in red is a thin metal oval at 127 mm, a bright accent that goes with a navy coat. The Courteney in burgundy is a plastic rectangle, richer and calmer, good with brown leather.

 

The brand even designed floating sunglasses for people who spend time in or around water, made with a low-density material so they stay afloat, according to Jiang.

 

Before buying, hold the pair against a window and look through the lenses at something far away. If the frame edge pulls your eye, move to a lighter one.

 

What I would skip: the widest frames if you will wear them under a hat.

I would begin with the shape that matches your face, then pick the finish. For me that means one tortoise acetate frame, because the Charlize, the Quill and the Ashby all behave like a neutral, and a second pair in a color that makes you smile, whether that is the Greta in clear pink or the Merrick in red.

 

Check the total width, read the material line, and look for spring hinges before you commit. The brand owns the process from design to manufacturing, and the numbers on each frame tell you what you are getting.

 

I like to imagine the hundred styles from 2006 still on a shelf somewhere, and the one I would reach for is always the tortoise round.