Diary of a Spectacle Designer: Online pitfalls

Whenever an eyewear brand like mine moves to sell its frames online directly to customers, there’s always a bit of an international rumpus as the other brands and opticians gossip and complain at the treachery of it all.   

Usually, this drama takes place at tradeshows. ‘Did you see that XYZ brand has started selling online?’  reps will be heard saying. ‘Apparently they’ve lost half their customer base and it’s a disaster,’ another will say. Half the time, I’m sure these conversations, often with my own reps, are aimed at me so that I don’t decide to do anything as stupid as selling TD Tom Davies frames online.