GLASSES: THE BEST, MOST AFFORDABLE BRANDS

Zadie Smith. Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images

I have been meaning to do this round-up on the site for so long because, as someone who could rarely afford new glasses or would have to use all my birthday wishes to access new frames, the glasses industry has really turned itself around in the last few years in terms of accessibility. There’s still a long way to go to fully include those who need thicker lenses and varifocals but hopefully these more affordable options can help more people find a more attractive offering at a decent price. All of these brands sell online too, but we have mentioned stores if they have (because sometimes it’s nice to have a try-on session, especially when glasses are so personal).

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1. IOLLA

IOLLA launched in 2015 and has stores in Scotland but a large offering online, too. Every frame is designed in-house and made from acetate.

Price point: £75 for prescription glasses and sunglasses. Thinner lenses at no extra cost (up to 1.74 index).

Varifocals? £70 extra (£145 for frames)

Eye tests offered? NO (take your prescription with)

Virtual try-on? YES

Home try-on? NO

Any charity or sustainability credentials? Iolla work with Orbis charity and are very transparent about their production methods and factories (read more here). They also offer ‘refresh’ services allowing you to keep every pair for longer.

Fun trivia: They produced the glasses for Tommy Shelby (played by Cillian Murphy) in Series 5 of ‘Peaky Blinders’.

2. BLOOBLOOM

Bloobloom’s ethos is to offer great quality ethical prescription eyewear (sunglasses and eye glasses) with a transparent pricing structure (their mark-ups and production costs are shown throughout the site).

Image: Bloobloom

Price point: All frames, including single vision lenses are £95. Extras are at an additional cost, such as blue light filter. Lens thinning is included in this price, varifocals cost an additional £100 as they are custom-made (they also take a few days extra to make).

Home try-on? YES up to 5 pairs (only currently available in the UK) with free delivery and returns.

Eye tests offered? YES, and for free in their London stores.

Any sustainable or charity credentials? The site is very transparent about their mark-ups and are part of their own a ‘pair for pair’ scheme. You can also take in your old frames to be recycled in their stores.

‘Virtuoso‘, one of BlooBloom’s most popular styles

One critique I have when browsing was that in the ‘womens’ section of glasses (which probably isn’t necessary, anyway) there are glasses called ‘Ballerina’ and ‘Dancer’ which don’t exist in the men’s section – but that’s probably just me being pernickety. Other than that, this brands ticks all the boxes!

Fun trivia: They have a ‘pay what you can’ scheme, so if you order a second pair, you choose between three price points.

3. ACE & TATE

Ace & Tate are a Dutch company, selling eyewear via their stores (including 7 in the UK) and online. I have bought a few pairs from this brand and can highly recommend.

Price point: Glasses and sunglasses are available with prescription from £100. Varifocals, however, cost £300 (but you have 30 days to try).

Lens thinning? It’s offered for prescriptions above +/- 4 and up to +/-10 and it makes them thin enough to wear with their popular metal frames. It does, however, come at a extra cost (£50). These lenses are light, too, so they’re less likely to slide!

Virtual try-on? YES.

Eye test offered? YES, free in stores. They also offer an online prescription checker to check the prescription of your current pair.

Home try-on? Not available currently.

Any sustainable or charity credentials? Ace & Tate have recently achieved BCorp status. They also have a recycled glasses range and a Depop shop selling the brand’s pre-loved, fully refurbished glasses: Reframe by Ace & Tate (prices from £68 with prescription, which can DM them).

Fun trivia: they also sell contact lenses, with packaging made from 100% recycled plastic.

4. Firmoo

Firmoo was founded in 2009 with a mission that ‘eyewear should be trendy, not spendy’, offering professional eyewear at an affordable price. They have their own factories and all glasses are tested and certified.

Home try-on? NO

Virtual try-on? NO but they offer tutorials for ordering online.

Eye tests offered? NO as they are solely online.

Price point: Glasses are priced on the website from £24 including standard prescriptions and scratch free coated lenses. Tints, blue light blocking, thin spheric lenses and other extras can be added from £7. Delivery costs £5 & your glasses will arrive within 13-22 days.

Any sustainable or charity credentials? None that we could find on their site.

5. CUBITTS

Cubitts was founded in 2013 from the kitchen table of a flat on Cubitt Street in King’s Cross, London – aiming for modern yet timeless style.

Price point: Core collection frames are £125 which includes a single vision prescription up to around +/- 4 with additional coatings and thinning that can be added. They offer 4 different sizes for glasses from S – XL, these incorporate lens width, temple, bridge, rim & height measurements, making them ideal for many different face shapes & head sizes. They also come with a complimentary frame service after a year where they will give your glasses an ultrasonic clean, polish, hinge service & refitting.

Eye tests offered: YES, in one of their UK stores and cost £40 or £25 with a purchase.

Home try-on? NO

Virtual try-on? YES and you can order glasses online with free 30 day no-quibble returns.

Charity and sustainable initiatives? You can donate your old frames which they will be serviced and then donated to someone in need through their eye health partners in Ethiopia and Kenya. They also work with The Planet Mark to monitor and reduce their carbon footprint.

Fun trivia: All their frames are handmade traditionally and are put through fifty stages of production over a period of six weeks, including four separate stages of polishing.

6. SPECSAVERS

This iconic British brand is probably one visited by most glasses wearers over the years (my last test was here just a few months ago!). Specsavers obviously have a huge offering instore and online but they have a new launch – ReWear collection – which focuses more on sustainability (each frame in the collection is made from discarded water bottles and bio-based acetate).

Glasses from the ReWear collection

Price points: The ReWear range is priced at £89 (including standard lenses) and is part of the Buy One Get One Free offer. The 2 for 1 offer applies to glasses across the site at a price starting at £69. Add-ons will increase the cost: varifocals are an add-on costing between £39 – £194 extra.

Eye tests offered? YES, in store. It costs between £20-£25. You can also get an OCT test (checking for glaucoma and other eye issues) for an extra £10. Sometimes employers can cover the cost of an eye test if needed for work purposes.

Virtual try-on? YES

Home try-on? NO

Sustainable and charity initiatives? The ReWear collection has accreditation from Global Recycled Standard and Control Union which develops services around the sustainability of industry supply chains.

7. BIRD EYEWEAR

This imagery is from a project I worked ON with Bird this summer (my current (gifted) aviators are from Bird) – read the original post here. They’re one of the first eyewear brands to be certified B Corp and a family business using certified woods, bio-based acetates, renewable cork & recycled aluminium.

Price points: Starting price for prescription glasses is £134. Extra coating (anti scratch, anti glare etc) come as standard.

Eye tests offered? NO as it’s an online brand.

Virtual try-on? YES.

Home try-on? YES, it costs £1 to try up to 4 pairs at home, which they donate to Solar Aid.

Sustainable and charity credentials? They are BCorp certified, they use eco dissolvable mailers and recycled aluminium in some of their frames. They also have a long-term partnership with Solar Aid.

Fun trivia: Their cleaning cloths are created entirely from old recycled plastic bottles, the glass’s cases are hand made from eco-cork and they use 100% recycled and compostable packaging.

8. BAILEY NELSON

Founded in Bondi Beach in 2012, Bailey Nelson pride themselves in offering top quality glasses and exceptional eye care for fairer prices. All glasses and sunglasses are hand-crafted and designed in-house.

Price points: Prescription glasses with standard lenses cost from £105 and varifocals from £215. Free shipping on orders over £20.

Eye tests offered? YES in-store, for free. They currently have two London locations.

Virtual try-on? YES

Home try-on? NO

Sustainable and charity initiatives? There is nothing on the site regarding this, and I couldn’t get through on the phone to any of the stores!

9. LENSOLOGY

Lensology is potentially a very cost effective way to get new glasses or replace your existing lenses. You send them the frames & they add the prescription lenses – great if your existing frames need a new prescription, or you’ve found a pair of frames you love somewhere else (a lot have recommended TK MAXX for example). They provide a secure freepost box for you, you give them your prescription & they will fit the new lenses & send them back to you. They also offer a frame MOT service if your old frames need a bit of love.

Price point: The basic lenses cost from £24 including return postage. Varifocals start at £64, thinning lenses with an index up to 1.74 is much more expensive from £184.

10. Peep Eyewear

Peep sells vintage and preloved glasses and sunglasses which you can customise with lenses. A lot of the stock is deadstock vintage and a great way to make your glasses choice sustainable. They also offer Peep Polish where they refresh and restore your glasses frames.

Vintage 80s frames via Peep

Price point: Standard frames start from £48. Single vision lenses start at £39, varifocals from £99.

Eye test offered? NO

Virtual try-on? NO

Home try-on? YES but technically you buy them (up to 3 frames for up to 7 days, UK only) to try on and then get free returns.

Sustainable and charity credentials? You’re already doing your bit by buying vintage but on top of this, for every pair sold, they plant a tree. They offer the chance to recycle your old pairs and their glasses cleaning cloths are made from 100% recycled PET plastic bottles.

11. Izipizi

Izipizi is a French brand focusing on stylish ‘off the shelf’ reading glasses. Not as cheap as those £2.99 ones my mum used to pick up at the local library but they’re very chic and still reasonably priced. Stocked in The Design Museum and Selfridges, they also have a stand-alone store on Carnaby Street and can be bought online.

Price point: Between £30-£40.

Home try-on? NO

Virtual try-on? NO

Eye test offered? No but they have a handy printable eye test on the their website if you’re not sure which you need.

Sustainable and charity credentials? Izipizi have completed a carbon audit to see how they can improve and between 2017 and 2020, they successfully moved from 47% air supply in their transport methods to 5% for their classic collections (and they are hoping to get to 0% this year).

Fun trivia: They also offer kids and baby glasses.

12. Polette

Polette is a Dutch optical brand adding extra flair to affordable lenses. Think glitter frames and bold statement eyewear – you can afford to have a bit more ‘fun’ at these prices, after all.

Price point: Lenses from £10, progressive from £60 (I’m guessing this means higher prescription lenses?!), including free anti-reflective, anti-scratch and UV400 treatment. Frames start from £5.

Eye tests offered? YES, free instore (they only have one London location).

Virtual try-on? YES.

Sustainable and charity credentials? They have a range of eco-acetate frames available (bio based and made from plant seeds) and claim that 100% of their acetate frames will be completely sustainable.

13. Kimeze

Kimeze is a bit more of a high-end brand but one I wanted to include as it is a unisex eyewear brand launched this year and the world’s first range of opticals and sunglasses of its kind for black and brown facial features. Launched by sisters Clare and Christina Kimeze.

Imagery shot by Ekua King and styled by Candice Bailey.

“Until now, most eyewear has been designed for Caucasian facial features, and there has been a fit for east Asian features around since the 80s, but nothing is designed for black facial features – until now. We are an aspirational fashion forward brand in the accessible luxury space”.

All glasses and sunglasses are handmade in Italy using premium materials and prices start from £185.

Clare and Christina Kimeze: the women behind the brand