Crystal clear eyewear in Ace & Tate

The frames of the Dutch glasses brand Ace & Tate, a nod to the acetate from which their glasses are made, are proudly displayed on the walls of their new branch.

The shop, which is something between an art gallery and an optician, exhibits hip and affordable eyewear. It is temporarily located on the corner of rue Dansaertstraat and the Oude Graanmarkt/rue du Vieux Marché aux Grains, right in the heart of Brussels’s fashion district. They are still looking for a definitive location.

The windows have been arranged as inviting displays. Blue neon letters and pop art paintings, a reference to the surrealist Belgian artist Marcel Broodthaers that gives the shop a Brussels touch, liven up the space and give it a flair that you would not expect at an optician’s. They are usually serious sorts of places, full of frames, the one more classical than the next.

At Ace & Tate, by contrast, young, hip salespeople frolic around the shop, helping customers find a new pair of glasses in a relaxed and friendly manner. An average pair of glasses from Ace & Tate costs under 100 euro, thanks to clever marketing and an efficient production and sales strategy. The brand no longer considers a pair of glasses to be merely functional, but as an important part of a fashionable look.

Ace & Tate started as an online retailer with homemade designs, and they have continued this crystal-clear style of fitting, buying, and leaving in their shops. Customers pop in and out, try on some glasses as though they were a handbag or a hat, and can pick them up again a few hours later. It is quite fun, quickly picking up a pair of glasses in a hip gallery.

ma/lu/Mo > vr/ve/Fr: 10.00 > 18.30
za/sa/Sa: 10.30 > 18.30