In my column this month, I stray from my usual topics, optical technology and education, to talk about personal frame style. More specifically, what message does our personal frame style convey to our customers?

Eyeglasses and sunglasses should be more than a visual aid. They can flatter our face, frame our eyes and tell the world so much about who we are and what makes us tick. Sadly I see so many in public and in the trade wearing utterly unremarkable frames. Why shy away from making a statement with color or fun shapes, sporty looks or cutting-edge style? Are you an athlete wearing rimless frames that blend in and age you? Why wouldn’t you wear a streamlined sporty look that communicates who you are and what your passion in life is? Are you into design but no one would guess from your glasses? Being bold and trendy with our eyewear can inspire customers.

Brick-and-mortar stores look for ways to differentiate their in-store experience from online competitors, and when our eyewear shows our inner artist, our fashion sensiblity or our design sense, customers know they’re in the right place and can trust us to help them express themselves with their eyewear. Yes, it will take a bit of investigation to uncover the right look for customers to express themselves through their eyewear, but who doesn’t love solving a mystery? We all win when a customers hears, “I love your glasses, where did you get them?” The practice gains new customers, and current customers become loyal forever. Another benefit of turning eyewear from functional to fabulous and expressive is that your customers will relate to eyewear as a fashion accessory and update them more frequently to stay current with style trends. Trust me, we don’t wait two to three years to update our fashion accessories nor do we have only one of any accessory. How many pairs of shoes, how many belts, necklaces, earrings, rings, hats do you own? I grant you that shoes are paramount, but eyewear should be too.

Check out our free CE titled “The Art of Multiple Pairs” at 2020mag.com/ce, where Alessandro Baronti, president & CEO, De Rigo Rem, explains that our purchase decisions are heart based, not head based. Since heart equals emotion, we want to purchase those things that make us feel something. Just as a beautiful pair of shoes lights up my world, so does a beautiful pair of glasses.

• Deborah Kotob
Pro to Pro Director
[email protected]