MADE IN LUBBOCK

The Story Behind Arbor Eyewear

In the birthplace of some of the most famous glasses in history, a la Buddy Holly, a Lubbock eyewear manufacturer is buzzing with activity. The workshop, equipped with precision machinery and skilled hands, turns raw materials into handcrafted frames worn across the country.

According to Arbor Eyewear founder Rick Taylor, that’s a rare thing in the United States.

Taylor launched Arbor Eyewear in 2017 with five frame designs and a vision – to build a brand around quality craftsmanship and meaningful impact. What started as a small collection has since grown into a nationally distributed eyewear brand with deep roots in West Texas.

From Global Travel to Local Manufacturing
In the early days of the company, producing eyewear meant looking overseas. Taylor traveled extensively, visiting factories across China, Japan, and Italy to study how eyewear was made and determine whether the industry was the right fit.

Those trips quickly became part of the rhythm of the business.

“I was gone two weeks every quarter,” Taylor recalls. “Every time I was sitting on a 17-hour flight to Hong Kong, I kept thinking, how nice would it be to do this here instead of traveling halfway around the world?”

That idea began to take shape in 2020. With optometry offices temporarily closed during COVID-19, Taylor suddenly had time to rethink the company’s long-term strategy. He traveled to Italy to train on eyewear manufacturing equipment and began exploring what it would take to bring that technology back to Lubbock. By the end of the year, equipment was arriving, and an empty facility was being transformed into a working production space.

Today, that facility represents something uncommon: one of four in the country producing fully American-made eyewear frames at scale.

The company now sells frames in optical shops across nearly every state, with particularly strong demand among retailers looking for American-made products. Because eyewear manufacturing in the United States is so rare, many customers are surprised to learn the frames are produced in West Texas.

“It’s fun to tell people we’re from Lubbock,” Taylor says. “In the early days, people would ask where that was. Now more and more people know it, and they’re excited to see businesses growing here.”

How Eyewear Frames Are Made
Inside Arbor’s production space, the process begins with sheets of cellulose acetate, a cotton-based material widely used for premium eyewear. The material arrives in large, colorful sheets sourced primarily from Japan and Italy, known for producing some of the highest-quality acetate in the world. Those sheets are then cut into slabs, milled with CNC machines, and shaped into frame fronts before undergoing hours of finishing and polishing.

The result is a product designed to last. Taylor often reminds his team that eyewear is something people rely on every day.

“People wear their glasses 12 hours a day for years,” he says. “There’s almost no product other than maybe your phone that you use that consistently. So, quality really matters.”

Why Lubbock Works for Manufacturing
Lubbock has proven to be an ideal place to grow the company. From a logistics standpoint, its central location allows Arbor to ship efficiently to customers on both coasts. Just as important, Taylor says, has been the people.

“We try to give people skills they can take anywhere,” he says. “Whether they stay here or move on, they’ve learned something technical that helps them grow in their career.”

As the company has grown, Arbor Eyewear has also built a dedicated team in Lubbock. Employees are trained to operate specialized machinery, work with digital CAD design software, and learn the technical aspects of eyewear manufacturing. For Taylor, creating those opportunities is an important part of building the business.

“We love Lubbock. It’s a great place to have a business,” he says. “We’ve found great employees here, people who want to stay, learn, and build something with us.”

Inside Arbor Eyewear: A Few Fun Facts
Beyond the craftsmanship and manufacturing process, there are a few unique details that make Arbor Eyewear stand out.

Arbor Eyewear is also built around a mission of giving back.
When Taylor and his wife adopted their daughter, they decided to incorporate that experience into the company’s purpose. Through Arbor’s “Tree + Three” program, the company plants a tree for every frame sold and donates three percent of sales to organizations that support adoption

Frame names are inspired by nature and Texas.
Arbor’s acetate frames are named after trees, while metal frames are named after rivers. Another collection draws inspiration from cities across Texas.

The best-selling frame is named after a Texas town.
One of the company’s most popular frames is called Katy, named after Katy, Texas.

Taylor still wears one of the very first frames created.
A style called Aspen was among the company’s earliest designs and remains one of his personal favorites.

Other favorite frames include Green and Post.
Both are named after Texas towns and are part of Taylor’s regular rotation.

A Lubbock frame is still waiting to happen.
Despite being headquartered in the city, the company hasn’t yet released a frame named “Lubbock.” Taylor says he’s waiting until the perfect design comes along.

Even the colors have names.
Every frame color and material combination gets its own name, adding another layer of creativity to the design process.