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In 1977, Alan and Cynthia Shapiro founded Europa eyewear out of their garage and the result shaped American eyewear design forever. Their son, Scott Shapiro has continued this pioneering tradition by making the biggest statement in American eyewear this century: real, luxury eyewear that is made in America with his new line, STATE Optical Co.
It takes about 75 steps to manufacture one pair of STATE acetate eyeglasses; about 50% of these have to be done by hand. Each of those steps takes place in the STATE Optical factory in Vernon Hills, Illinois. The designs are created in Northern California by head designer, Blake Kuwahara.
In a very short amount of time (the collection just launched in 2015 at Vision Expo!) STATE has already amassed a huge following. This spring, Shapiro has major plans at Vision Expo East where he’ll be launching a wider variety of frames in the STATE optical portfolio, as well as the debut of the STATE Sunwear collection! Head to booth G823 to see the new collection first hand, and you can schedule a personal viewing by contacting Scott’s team here: contact@stateopticalco.com
