Kite eyewear soars with new venture

New online eyewear and practice brand Kite hopes to shake up the eye care and retail sectors with a venture that has fused what it said were high levels of patient care with fashionable quality eyewear at an affordable price.

The brand was founded by Asad Hamir, the 28th member of his family to become an optician, in response to what he felt was an industry that had lost its mojo and a high street optician experience that was often uninspiring, impersonal and focused on driving sales rather than making patients feel good.

The design-led practice is located in the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, London and the company said every step of the customer journey had been carefully re-imagined. Eye exams in the Nidek-equipped testing rooms include retinal photography and the company’s 27 frame styles are designed in Britain constructed in Italy using Mazzucchelli acetate and feature a full suite of Carl Zeiss lenses in both its ophthalmic and sun models. Patients can use in-house technology to share frame choices and ‘selfies’ across social media and with friends and family.