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GRO Launches to Reclaim the Definition of Luxury Eyewear Something always gets lost when a product is mass-produced. With Chinese factories engaging conveyor belts, multiple layers of acetate sheets and a cookie-cutter approach to creating 80 million pieces of eyewear annually, the results are less about distinction and personalization and more about efficient production. But luxury has never been about efficiency. And in this, GRO, a new luxury eyewear collection handmade in Italy, stands out amongst the many luxury eyewear brands with designer names and Chinese manufacturing.
The process of creating GRO eyewear starts with the intuitive and technical understanding of a design team that lives, breathes and dreams eyewear daily as opticians in a 40-year-old optical boutique store. The creation process culminates with production using the finest materials available in the eyewear industry by a team of Italian artisans who adhere to the strictest definition of luxury manufacturing. To examine the fine craftsmanship and functionality of a GRO frame is to understand why it commands a luxury price.
PRODUCTION GRO eyewear is hand produced in an Italian factory, where every section of the frame is cut, assembled and polished by the hands of dedicated eyewear artisans. Edges are faceted with a distinguished three-dimensional style that speaks to a detail only hand manipulation can achieve. Colors blend carefully to produce a majestic kaleidoscope of color effects to suit any style demands. And because each frame is hand produced, no two frames ever carry the exact same cut or color pattern. GRO is personalization at its finest. GRO frames are durable, with a high gloss and transparency engineered through exclusive use of organic Mazzucchelli (mat-su-keli) acetate, the best zyl known to eyewear manufacturing. Mazzucchelli acetate consists primarily of organic, renewable cotton fiber and wood pulp, yielding frames that feel more natural to the touch than other acetates. The procedure for creating GRO eyewear can take upwards of sixty days or more, as artisans labor over the process of turning pulverized cotton flakes into a transparent paste to hand blend with organic colored powders and acetate. The paste is then fed into rollers to create sheets, with additional sheets in varying colors layered on top as the rolling process continues. The rolled sheets are then turned into multi-leveled patterned cubes, which are then cut again into acetate sheets ready for the next production process. Yet this next step may take weeks or months to begin as the most durable acetate requires time to cure.
The finished results are frames that are hypoallergenic, lightweight, and resistant to warping, even after multiple years. Because of the arduous production process, GRO frames can be buffed back into their original luster after many years of ownership. Each frame also yields a subtle nuanced distinction from sister eyewear within the same style and color formulation, adding yet another level of personalization to ownership.
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DESIGN Yet GRO’s high quality manufacturing isn’t the only thing that separates the luxury eyewear line from other designer brands. GRO is also the creation of a design team with a combined 150 years’ experience within the optical industry.
GRO “grew” out of the 40-year-old Rims & Goggles optical boutique in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1975 by Rosemary Grow, Rims & Goggles has earned a reputation for being the best place to find independent eyewear brands not part of the Luxottica family. With GRO’s launch, Rosemary’s daughter and GRO founder, Penna Omega, takes her mother’s legacy a step further by producing eyewear that maintains the independent allure for which Rims & Goggles was founded.
The mostly-women and one man GRO design team is composed of the Rims & Goggles licensed optical staff. Each designer brings into the creative process her experience working with customers to find the right colors, style and fit to match that customer’s face, personality and lifestyle. The team’s regular scouting sessions in Paris and Milan play an important role in ensuring the GRO collection is current and on trend, while retaining a classic appeal to keep a frame’s design fresh as trends evolve. Designs are sketched within the Rims & Goggles back office, then sent to an Italian manufacturer to produce samples. Samples are then tested on Rims & Goggles customers to assure both a flattering fit and functionality before being produced in higher quantities. This process guarantees anyone looking for new eyewear will always find something that works for them and their lifestyle within the GRO collection.
STYLES The GRO Collection includes five core styles: the Stacey, Khaleesi, Jack, Edward and Ron. Each style is available as ready-to-wear sunglasses and by special order as ophthalmic eyewear, made to measure within the Rims & Goggles boutique. Every purchase includes a personal recommendation to a GRO-approved local optician for proper frame adjustment. Ophthalmic eyewear starts at $325; sunglasses start at $375.
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Q & A with GRO Founder, Penna Omega
Where did you grow up and why aren’t you there now? I actually DID grow up here in Mill Valley. I moved to Los Angeles for college and stayed there to work in the entertainment industry doing Art Direction and design.
What path brought you to your company? I literally grew up within the optical industry when my parents opened the business when I was 5 years old. After my mother’s sudden passing in 2006, I decided to turn my design and fashion experience back to eyewear. What 3 significant drivers that motivated you into your current profession? My parents entrepreneurial example is engrained within my being.
Being raised by a single mother who always loved what she did and had such a passion for fashion, people and life. She never took a “sick-day” and never complained about her life/career.
Being a single mother by choice to an amazing child and wanting him to see me happy and fulfilled so he can learn by my example to be that way in his own life. What was your biggest success professionally? Why was it a big success? Taking over a business that had a larger than life leader (my mother) was challenging. I knew I could not replace her, so I decided early on that I would honor her by focusing on my talents and allowing the opticians to do what they do best. By doing that, we were able to discover hidden strengths that made us even more successful. What accomplishments are you most proud of? Taking the business to this next level and launching our own line has been by far the most exciting time for us.
What’s the one problem you are best at solving for your customers? Helping them to see themselves as beautiful and empowering them. Our clients say often that we are the only place to come for amazing eyewear. They say they’ve never seen our color combinations before and often tell their friends to come see us. Our customers range from children to the oldest living Olympian. We are servicing the grandchildren and great grandchildren of our first customers from the 70’s. What are you most passionate about professionally? I’m passionate about the design process. Frame shapes, colors, materials and love having customers in mind for each design. We even name some of our frames after our customers! Where can we find you when you’re not working? At the pool or beach with my son Bodhi. Traveling is also a big part of our lives. How do you want to be remembered? As a loving, creative and dependable friend & Mother.
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LA SCALE
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