Base-8 instinct

Rory Brogan visits the Eye Index laboratory in St Ives and discovers the basis of the company's success - niche prescription
work from rimless to clear 8-base

What links quality frame companies Alain Mikli, Philippe Starck, IC Berlin, Lindberg and Minima with the town of St Ives in Cambridgeshire?

The answer is that they all use the services of specialist laboratory Eye Index for rimless and 8-base prescription eyewear and, even in the case of one Starck model, a particularly tricky combination of rimless and 8-base.

The company, set up in May 2002, had the strategy from the outset to be a specialist Rx house, explains director Tony Harris, co-owner with fellow director and head of manufacturing Andrew Kennedy. Both have been in the optical industry for over 20 years, with experience covering frame manufacturing through to Rx and sales.

'Some people think we're just a rimless firm as it came on the scene in such a big way and it is a specialised job,' says Harris.

While 50 per cent of the work is rimless, the scope goes well beyond this, thanks to the designs of companies like Mikli, with supras and complex full-rim eyewear, and the growing trend for clear 8-base prescription.

Then there are the more common 8-base Rx sport sunglasses, which have something of a seasonal demand during the summer and a further peak from November through to January, thanks to the skiing season.

'We have teamed up with companies with good technical-designed eyewear and have become an approved lab for Lindberg, for example,' says Harris.

To do so, Eye Index completed test jobs, as it has also done with Nike, whose new sunglass launches are all tested for their Rx suitability before the products are offered as Rx to practices.

As the tie-ups with frame firms have increased, and with that the workload, Eye Index made a 'significant investment' in surfacing and coating earlier this year.

One of the important factors, in addition to the equipment for handling 8-base, explains Harris, is the staff. 'From day one they had the expertise to do this type of eyewear.

'All are technically trained and experienced. We can do bread and butter stuff, but essentially we're in a specialist market,' Harris points out. 'We're doing 8-base with tinting, hard coat, mirror and AR coating in 1.59 polycarbonate, which is the correct material for the rigidity, with the added bonus of impact resistance for the active sport wearer.'

The latest development will be 8-base in 1.67 high-index polycarbonate, another string to a bow that includes 8-base polycarbonate in tinted progressives, a polarised option and in Transitions.

Harris suggests that the demand for 8-base eyewear in clear Rx form was created by Philippe Starck and Alain Mikli, and followed on from the trend for tinted Rx lenses.

There is also a healthy market for Chanel-style fashion wraps in Rx, people buying into the 'Victoria Beckham' look.
As for clients, Harris explains that many practices in the main UK city centres, including Belfast, feature as places where you expect to see good, different practices that market interesting eyewear.

'For a long time, consumers didn't realise they could get that type of eyewear in prescription form, but they've always wanted it and have had to go for more traditional designs. Now on the optical side, some practices are aware that there is a market for this. It gives good added-value and they're perceived as a practice that provides a specialist service,' explains Harris.

In terms of turnaround, it can be as quick as five working days, depending on treatments and can go up to 10 working days with complex prescriptions, mirror and AR coatings.

Kennedy, who runs the lab, describes the business as a 'compact surfacing lab of low-volume, high-value product,' which means that he and his staff devote considerable time to answering practitioner queries.

'We get called all day, not just on 8-base and rimless, but also for advice on other high-value products. Practices have their own cut, edge and fit but don't want to muck up a high-index job.'

Kennedy is adamant that rimless will remain very much in demand, with many manufacturers concentrating their design efforts on it, for example using minimalist fronts with chunky temples.

Eye Index itself is introducing a collection of bonded titanium rimless styles, that will be available in a complete glazed package. The solder-free Climax frames, in 12 options, do not require nuts, bolts, washers, screws or plastic plugs. They use one drill hole per lens only, with a 'unique' bonding fluid and are re-glazeable.