Most Americans probably do not realize that almost all eyeglass frames sold in the U.S. are imported from overseas markets, mainly China. In a future blog post, we will explain how this came to be, but today, there are only a handful of small factories making eyeglass frames in the US, Brook being one of them.
Since the eyewear manufacturing industry is so limited in the United States, we needed to import specialized manufacturing equipment from Europe to build our frame factory in Pittsburgh, PA. Our manufacturing experts worked with consultants from Europe to teach the team the processes and techniques required to produce the frames. We also recruited two of the best American eyewear designers to create our frame collection. Along the way, our production team developed improvements to traditional eyewear manufacturing processes that are unique to our facility.
Each Brook frame is made from a material called cellulose acetate. This is a plant-based, plastic-like material that is cut from long sheets. Since there are so few frame manufacturers in the US, acetate of the grade required for our frames must be imported from Italy to ensure high-quality assurance. Fortunately, our Italian acetate suppliers are considered to be the best in the world not only in terms of the quality, but also due to their bold colors and designs.
Our team is proud to be piece of a small group of companies that are bringing back eyeglass frame manufacturing to the United States. We hope that someday, frame manufacturing will once again thrive in the US.