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We all know that kids generally aren’t the best at taking care of nice and delicate items. It is no different when it comes to prescription glasses, which happens to be a nice, delicate and very fragile item. Glasses can be stepped on, lost, broken, half missing, scratched, twisted, or bent so the thought of spending money on expensive designer eyewear would make most parents cringe.
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Designer Glasses For Kids
But that doesn’t mean that you can’t have at least one nice pair of glasses that you might be able to use for family photos, attend special events, or any other occasion where you might want your child to look their sharpest.
In a previous article, we had outlined 10 Places To Buy Kids Eyeglasses Online, but that article talks about online retailers in general and today we are going to show you the best places to find designer glasses for kids, as well as give you tips on finding the perfect pair.
1. Best Overall | SmartBuyGlasses
VISIT SMARTBUYGLASSES
SmartBuyGlasses has one of the best selections of designer eyewear for kids out there. You are going to be able to find designer brands such as Ray-Ban Jr., Nike, Guess, Bolle Kids, Lacoste, New Balance, Vogue and many more. They have a virtual system to help you see what the glasses would look like on your kids.
The best thing about SmartBuyGlasses is their return policy and warranty. They offer a 100-day no questions asked return policy, as well as a 24-month warranty on their frames for any manufacturer defects.
2. FramesDirect
VISIT FRAMESDIRECT
To be completely honest FramesDirect actually has a better variety of designer eyewear for kids when it comes to brands. They carry a huge selection of designer eyewear that includes Converse Kids, Guess Kids, Juicy Couture, Nike, Oakley, Ray-Ban Jr. and many more. They used to have a virtual try-on system, but it is currently offline at the time this article was written, and they are currently developing a new, cutting-edge version of it according to their website.
The reason why FramesDirect comes in as the runner-up is due to their complicated return and exchange policy, in which they also make the customer pay for return shipping on everything that isn’t their fault, and only return half the cost of the lenses at times.
3. Eyeglasses.com
VISIT EYEGLASSES.COM
We really like Eyeglasses.com because they have a great selection of lenses, and they are a company that values quality, therefore, their products always come out spot on. However, as far as kids glasses, they don’t exactly make it easy to find. There is no specific link that goes to kids glasses, and in order to find any, you have to use the search bar on the top.
They do however have a great selection of designer eyewear for kids including brands such as Oakley, Vogue, Converse, Lacoste, Nike, Ray-Ban Jr. and much more. They offer a 30-day no questions asked return policy, as well as a manufacturer warranty on all their frames for manufacturing defects.
4. Eyeconic
VISIT EYECONIC
Although Eyeconic has a fairly limited selection when it comes to kids designer prescription frames or just kids frames, in general, carrying less than 100, they are one of the most trusted online retailers as they are run by health insurance company Vision Service Plan Vision Care. They carry brands such as Nike, Lacoste, Flexon, Kilter, Ray-Ban Jr., but if you have kids that are older and could fit into adult glasses, they have a nice selection of designer eyewear there in adult sizes as well.
They have a virtual try-on to help you see how the glasses are going look. They also offer a 30 day no questions asked return policy in case you need to refund or exchange for any reason.
5. EZContacts
VISIT EZCONTACTS
EZContacts carries quite a large selection of designer eyewear for kids. You are going to be able to find brands such as Calvin Klein, Converse, Fossil, Guess, Juicy Couture, Lacoste, Ray-Ban Jr, and much more. EZContacts does not have a virtual try-on system like many of its competitors.
They do however offer a 30 days satisfaction guarantee when you order prescription eyewear through them and you can exchange or return or glasses for any reason within 30 days.
Picking out the lenses for your kids
One of the drawbacks of purchasing prescription glasses on the internet is the lack of the ability for you to be able to sit down and talk to an optician about the pros and cons of the various options that you are able to get on your kids’ prescription glasses. But this is why we are here, and we will do our best to explain all the various options you may be faced with when you are purchasing your kid’s glasses online.
- Lens Material – Whenever you are taking a look at the different lens material options that you can get for your kid’s glasses, always make sure that you are purchasing Polycarbonate or Trivex lenses unless directed otherwise by your eye doctor. Polycarbonate and Trivex lenses provide your children with the most impact-resistant lenses to give them the best protection.
- Anti-Reflective Coating – One common misconception that should be cleared up is that anti-reflective coating is NOT just for driving at night. While reducing the glare while driving at night is one of the many benefits of having an anti-reflective coating it isn’t the only one. Having an anti-reflective coating would help improve the vision and clarity through your kid’s glasses, as well as improves the overall appearance of the lenses.
- Photochromic Lenses – Photochromic lenses are a great choice for kids as children can be active indoors as well as outdoors. Instead of switching between glasses and sunglasses, the photochromic lenses can provide your kids with better comfort by reducing the glare from the sun.
- Blue Light Protection – With technology being more involved in kids daily lives from the television and tablets they use at home to the tablets and computers that are used in schools, kids are constantly exposed to artificial blue light emitted from these devices. Recent research has shown that blue light could be causing irreversible damage to your eyes. Which is why having a pair of glasses for your kids with blue light protection is extremely important.
What to have ready before ordering glasses online
Ordering prescription glasses online is a bit different than going to your local retailer. With the lack of an optician to help you, there are a few things that you should have a basic understanding of before you make your online purchase.
- Prescription – Have a valid copy of your prescription ready. Having the prescription for the glasses you are going to order ready, could help reduce the processing time on your glasses. If you do not have a copy of the prescription ready that you can upload, many online retailers will be able to validate your prescription with your doctor’s office, but that just adds on a few days to your processing time. Reputable online retailers will not sell you a pair of prescription glasses without a valid prescription. If they are willing to sell it to you without a valid prescription, you should proceed with caution.
- Understanding Frame Measurements – In order for you to order the frames that are going to correctly fit your child you should have a basic understanding of how frame measurements work. Check out this article for more detail on frame measurements.
- Have PD Measurement – This is a very important measurement that is going to be needed when you order your kids glasses online. This measurement is the distance between your eyes from the center of one pupil to the center of the other pupil. This measurement can usually be obtained from the doctor’s office that did the eye exam. If not you can always measure your child’s PD measurement yourself. Take a look at the video below by Zenni Optical on how to measure a pupillary distance.
As you can see, the pupillary distance is a very simple measurement, but it is a very important measurement for your glasses and can affect how well your child sees out of their glasses.
After the glasses arrive
After the glasses arrive, always make sure to ask your child if they can see better and if the glasses are comfortable. Children have a tendency to not mention to you if anything is wrong if you don’t ask.
You can ask questions such as Do your eyes hurt? Are they comfortable? Are they too tight or loose?
If the frame is loose, or too tight your local optical office should be able to adjust the glasses for you. Some places charge for adjustments, and some do adjustments for free. If your child complains about their eyes hurting, or they are not able to see well, contact your doctor’s office as soon as you can to set up an appointment for a recheck. Most of the time doctor’s offices offer free rechecks for a certain amount of time from the day of the exam.
Takeaway
As with anything that is eyewear related, always be sure to shop around. Whenever you find a frame that you want to purchase, you can check the other retailers as well to see if they carry the frame. If there are other retailers that carry the same frame, then you can compare lens options. Shopping around will ensure you get the best prices when purchasing your kid’s eyewear.
Where do you currently purchase your kid’s prescription glasses? Have you ever thought about purchasing them online? Let us know below! If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to leave them below and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
RELATED POST FROM EYE HEALTH HQ
Hello there. These are absolutely the best recommendations for anyone looking out to buy designer glasses for their kids. I like as you have done here, stating the criteria to picking out the lenses for kids.
Thanks for sharing the 5 Best Places to Buy Designer Glasses For Kids and the tips on what to have already Before ordering glasses Online.
Keep sharing.
Hi Huy, thanks for your post. My son wears glasses and frequently breaks them so this site will come in very handy. With private health here in Australia I can get glasses for him at ‘no gap’ meaning I don’t pay for them as such. The trouble is they are not the best quality and there is a limit. I was wondering if you had any recommendations for glasses with the stringest frames – which is what he usually breaks – right on the nose bridge.
Paul
Perfect timing considering we were just talking tonight about how we need to take our grandson back to the eye doctor. The problem is always the frames because they cost so much money. The cheaper ones are usually pretty ugly. I book marked the blog so that I can come back to it after his appointment.
Hello Huy, What a long way the world of eye glasses for children has come. It was such a pleasure for me to read this wonderfully informative article about the 5 Best places to buy designer glasses for Kids.
As a woman of 74, and having worn glasses since the age of 8, it was great to see that the children now don’t have to wear the beastly ugly glasses with wire loops for around the back of the ears, that I had.
The children today have the opportunity to wear really upmarket glasses from all these amazing brands and I am so pleased that I had the good fortune of reading this article and seeing what is available now.
How good too that so many companies have a return service and that you have also advised parents how to measure between the pupils of the eyes to make sure that their child’s glasses are fitting correctly.
Thank you for this article, it made me feel so happy to realize how many companies are doing so much to make the wearing of glasses a pleasure for children. By wearing smart up to date glasses they will feel confident that they can see well and also look good.
Hi Jill! Thank you for stopping by! Things have definitely changed for the eyewear industry over the years, Technology has come a long way in the optical world and there are so many options for children to choose from when it comes to frames.
Take Care!
It is great to see that there are so many great options with different glasses to order online if that is the route that you decide to go with. Are you able to use your insurance when ordering online? You didn’t mention anything about that and most local eye doctors accept insurance to help with the cost. Also, if you purchase glasses online, how do you make sure you have a proper fit? You provide information for measurements, but even with having the the eye doctors doing the measurements, it seems that is most cases there is some adjustments that are needed around the eyes. Will your eye doctor adjust your glasses if you don’t purchase your glasses from them? Otherwise, how do you get a proper fit? Great information on the blue light for protecting your children’s eyes.
Hi! Thank you very much for this detailed post concerning the things needed to buy designer glasses for kids online and the list of the 5 best places to buy.
I really like the aspects you outline of each one of these places. I was surprised to read that FramesDirect has a complicated return and exchange policy. Thank you very much for the warning.
And I appreciate the video explaining how to perform the PD measurement.