Who this checklist is for

If you're sourcing progressive glasses for a clinic, a retail chain, or a private-label program, this is for you. Eight steps, start to finish. I've used a version of this framework across 200+ orders in the last six years, and it's the only thing that consistently kept us out of trouble.

One note upfront: I'm writing this from a procurement seat, not a clinical one. I don't dispense, I buy. So most of what follows is about specs, quotes, and contracts rather than lens optics.

Step 1: Define your buyer profile before you talk to a supplier

There are three buyer profiles in this category, and they carry different leverage:

  1. Wholesale reseller — you're buying finished progressive glasses to resell. Leverage comes from volume and repeat orders.
  2. Lab or clinic buyer — you're sourcing progressive glasses lenses in bulk and mounting them in-house or through a partner lab. Leverage is consistency, not volume.
  3. Private-label / own-brand — you need frames, lenses, and branding. Leverage is the length of the contract.

Get clear on which one you are before you send a single RFQ. I wasted the first two quarters of 2023 blasting the same RFQ to the same 12 suppliers and wondering why the quotes were all over the place. They weren't the problem. My profile wasn't clear enough.

Step 2: Lock the lens spec before you ask about price

This is where most sourcing mistakes start. If your spec is vague, every supplier quotes something different and the numbers stop being comparable.

For progressive glasses lenses, get this in writing:

  • Material (CR-39, polycarbonate, high-index 1.60/1.67/1.74)
  • Progressive corridor length (short / standard / long)
  • Addition (ADD) range you need to cover
  • Coatings (AR, scratch-resistant, blue-light, photochromic)
  • Tolerance spec (typically ±0.12D or better)

For progressive glasses frames, specify:

  • Material (acetate, TR90, titanium, stainless)
  • Frame A/B/ED measurements
  • Bridge and temple length
  • Hinge type

And for the progressive glasses prescription side: clarify whether you're sourcing Rx-fulfilled lenses (lab does the surfacing) or dispensing-ready blanks. Those are two different supply chains and they price very differently.

People assume suppliers drive price variance. Actually, spec ambiguity drives price variance—suppliers just price against it. Tighten the spec and the spread shrinks by half.

Step 3: Treat frame geometry as a lens problem

This is the one that trips up buyers who come from a general eyewear background. Progressive lenses need vertical real estate. If your frame has a B measurement under 28 mm, you're going to fight a standard progressive.

When you're sourcing progressive glasses frames, ask for the fitting height the supplier supports. Reputable suppliers publish this. The cheap ones don't, and that's a red flag you can act on.

We started tracking this in 2023 after a frame style that looked fine on the drawing came back with a 12% return rate—too shallow for the corridors we were using. That single line item cost us about $4,800 in remakes and outbound shipping.

Step 4: Apply extra scrutiny to rimless progressive glasses for women

Rimless is the highest-risk category in progressive sourcing, and the women's segment has specific issues worth calling out:

  • Mounting hole location and count directly affect lens stability. Two-point mounts on a progressive are asking for trouble.
  • Thinner lens edges on high-index material can crack at the drill points if the drilling spec isn't tight.
  • Smaller frame sizes are more common here, which compounds the fitting-height problem from Step 3.

When I compared our rimless return rate to our full-rim return rate side by side—same supplier, same lens spec, same coatings—the rimless line was running 3.4x higher. Not because rimless is bad. Because our specs were written for full-rim and copy-pasted into rimless without adjustment.

Step 5: Compare quotes on total cost, not unit price

Unit price is the number suppliers want you looking at. It's almost never the number that matters.

Build a TCO sheet with these lines:

  1. Unit price × quantity
  2. Setting or tooling fees (if any)
  3. Freight and duties
  4. Sample and rework costs
  5. Rush premiums
  6. Warranty claim processing
  7. Return shipping on defects

I built this calculator after getting burned twice on “all-in” quotes that turned out to exclude lens surfacing. The second time, the low quote came in $1,140 higher on a 300-unit order once everything was on the sheet.

Bottom line: if a supplier won't give you those line items in writing, that's your answer.

Step 6: Order samples before you commit to volume

A sample order isn't a formality. It's the cheapest way to test three things:

  1. Does the spec sheet match what actually ships?
  2. Are the coatings and edge quality acceptable in hand?
  3. Do their documents (invoice, packing list, cert files) match what they promised?

For non prescription progressive glasses, this matters even more. Without an Rx anchoring the order, you're relying entirely on the supplier's QC. If you skip the sample, you find out at the customer end.

For 30–50 units, sampling usually eats 2–4% of the project budget. It's the single best insurance policy in the whole process.

Step 7: Ask about the remake and return policy (the one people skip)

Almost nobody asks this before signing. Everyone asks after the first return batch lands.

What you want in writing:

  • What counts as a defect vs. a customer preference?
  • Who pays return shipping?
  • Turnaround time on remakes?
  • Is there a cap on remake volume per order?
  • Do they honor original pricing on remakes?

After tracking this pretty consistently over the past few years, I've come to believe a clear remake policy is worth more than a 5% discount. The buffer builds in automatically—you're not suddenly eating losses out of your margin every quarter.

Step 8: Document everything on the PO

The PO is the contract. If it isn't on the PO, it didn't happen.

Include:

  • Full lens and frame spec (Steps 2 and 3)
  • Quantity and unit price
  • Ship date and incoterms
  • Remake and return terms (Step 7)
  • Cert references (CE, FDA, ISO 8980-3 where applicable)
  • Named sign-off contact for quality issues

It took me about three years and 200+ sourcing orders to understand that progressive glasses sourcing lives or dies on spec clarity, not on supplier relationships. The relationships matter—but only after the spec is settled. Get the paperwork right and the relationship gets easier anyway.

Common mistakes to watch for

A short list, based on the same mistakes I keep watching buyers make:

  • Comparing suppliers on unit price only. Nine times out of ten, the cheap quote loses once freight, setup, and remake exposure are added in.
  • Skipping samples to save time. You'll pay for it on the back end.
  • Assuming non-Rx orders are simpler. They're not—they just move QC risk onto the supplier, and not every supplier handles that well.
  • Treating rimless as a normal frame style. It isn't. Budget more remakes into your forecast.
  • Not auditing invoices against the PO. I've caught over $3,000 in unexplained line items over two years just by reconciling every invoice line by line.

That's the whole checklist. Eight steps, one TCO sheet, and a habit of putting everything in writing. Suppliers who push back on the paperwork are the ones you probably don't want anyway.