Manufacturing
Eight stages between a sheet and a finished frame.
None of this is unusual — it is how acetate eyewear has been made for decades. What varies between factories is how much time each stage is given. Below is the sequence we work to.
Process
The production sequence.
Every frame passes through all eight. Skipping one does not save time so much as move the problem further downstream.
- 01
Sheet selection
The acetate sheet is chosen for colour, pattern and thickness, and checked for defects before any of it is committed to a run. Rejecting a sheet here costs a sheet. Missing a fault costs a production batch.
- 02
CNC cutting
Fronts and temples are machined from the sheet on CNC equipment. This is where the geometry is set — rim profile, lens groove, hinge seat — and where the tolerances that everything downstream depends on are actually held.
- 03
Shaping & hand finishing
Machined edges are worked back by hand. A frame straight off the cutter is dimensionally correct but not yet comfortable; this stage gives the rim and bridge the profile that sits properly against the face.
- 04
Core wire & temple preparation
Metal core wires are set into the temples so they hold an adjustment rather than drifting back. Temples are then prepared for the hinge specified for that programme.
- 05
Assembly
Fronts and temples are brought together, hinges fitted and the frame aligned as a complete unit. Alignment is checked against the model specification, not by eye alone.
- 06
Multi-stage polishing
Frames are tumbled with polishing media through successive stages, then finished at the buff. This is the longest part of the process and the one that most visibly separates a considered frame from a rushed one.
- 07
Branding & marking
Logo printing, laser engraving and temple markings are applied — model reference, size and any market-required marking laid out to the format the customer has approved.
- 08
Inspection, cleaning & packing
Each frame is checked, cleaned and packed to the specification the destination market requires. Export documentation is prepared alongside the packing rather than after it.
Quality control
Checked at five points, not one.
Inspecting only the finished frame tells you what to reject. Inspecting through the process tells you what to correct — which is the difference between scrapping a batch and shipping it.
- Incoming sheet
- Colour, pattern consistency and surface defects checked before cutting.
- In-process
- Dimensional checks at cutting and after assembly, against the model specification.
- Alignment
- Front symmetry, temple splay and hinge action verified on the assembled frame.
- Finish
- Polish quality, edge condition and marking legibility inspected under consistent light.
- Pre-packing
- Final visual check and cleaning immediately before the frame is boxed.
Detail
Where the work shows.
The parts of a frame that are hardest to get right are also the parts a buyer inspects first.
- The edge of the rim — whether the transition from front face to inner profile is clean, or slightly rounded over from an over-long tumble.
- The bridge underside, which is handled constantly and rarely photographed.
- The temple tip, where core wire and acetate meet and any gap eventually opens up.
- Marking legibility — a size marking that has half-polished away looks like a shortcut, because it is one.
Manufacturing in Ahmedabad, Gujarat since 1985. For questions about capacity, lead times or minimum order quantities on a specific programme, contact us directly — those depend on the model and the run, and we would rather quote you accurately than publish a number that does not apply to your order.
Let's work together
Discuss a production run.
Send us the model, quantity and delivery window you are working to. We will come back with what is achievable and what it depends on.