Fitz Frames envisions a future in Ohio

The Youngstown Business Incubator has a new tenant. It's Fitz Frames, a California-based startup that found Youngstown, Ohio had the additive manufacturing expertise it needed to get its business up and running.

Fitz Frames makes customized, 3D printed glasses for children. The idea was inspired by founder and co-CEO Heidi Hertel's own life.

Hertel has three children, two of whom have worn glasses since they were toddlers. She said she always found herself "disappointed" with the process of shopping for their glasses.

The choices are limited at retailers, so it can be difficult to find a frame in the style and color a child likes. And glasses for children tend to be designed for wide age ranges, even though there can be significant size differences between a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old.

"It's really hard to check all of those boxes off in one single pair of glasses," Hertel said.

And fit is particularly important for children's glasses, she added, because if glasses don't feel good, children aren't likely to wear them. And if they don't wear them and they can't see properly, performance in school and sports is likely to suffer.

"It makes it hard to be a kid," Hertel said.

Fitz Frames aims to make glasses that fit well and that children like. And it wants to make the process easy for parents.

To that end, part of Fitz Frames' business model includes an app for selecting and ordering glasses. Parents will take a photo of their child, which is used for measurements for the glasses, and help them with a virtual try-on process. Fitz Frames offers prescription glasses, as well as sunglasses and blue-light glasses. There's an option to buy a single pair or a subscription plan for a full year.

Where Youngstown comes into play is the manufacturing process.

After the glasses are ordered, Fitz Frames will 3D print the frames at its new space in the Youngstown Business Incubator. The lenses are being supplied by a Youngstown company and once everything is assembled, the glasses will be delivered directly to customers.

When Hertel, who has a background in political consulting and fundraising, was starting Fitz Frames, she wanted to make the glasses in the U.S. However, she was told that it would be "too hard, too expensive and just not possible," especially if she wanted to offer a variety of sizes and styles.

"3D printing just became the optimal solution, so we're really, really excited about it," Hertel said.

Now, the frames, lenses and even the packaging are made in the U.S.

Fitz Frames has been running beta tests from the floor of its printer manufacturer and is still in the prelaunch phase, though that will change soon. The app is scheduled to launch in the Apple Store in mid-July, Hertel said. An Android version is expected to launch soon, as well, said co-CEO Gabriel Schlumberger. Schlumberger has a background in startups, particularly those at the "intersection of physical products and digital," he said. He's also the parent of a glasses-wearer.

The company has so far raised a seed round from friends, family and institutional funders, although Schlumberger declined to share specifics on the amount.

Fitz Frames will remain based in L.A., but its manufacturing operations will be in Youngstown. Hertel got to know Youngstown through its lens manufacturer, and soon learned the city had become a hub for additive manufacturing.

The Youngstown Business Incubator, where Fitz Frames is located, has been a "great resource," Schlumberger said, helping to bring the company up to speed on the 3D printing industry and make connections in that space. The Youngstown operations were up and running by early July.

Currently, Fitz Frames has about seven employees, having brought on two people in Youngstown, one of them an intern, and it plans to hire more as it grows. Schlumberger said the need is most acute for children's glasses, but the company could expand into adult glasses in the future.

"There's huge advantages to being in our facility in Ohio with a really qualified and excited and dedicated workforce who know a lot about manufacturing," Schlumberger said.

It's not every day that the Youngstown Business Incubator attracts companies like Fitz Frames that have gotten national press in publications such as Fast Company, said Barb Ewing, CEO of the incubator.

As the company builds out and becomes more successful, she said that could raise awareness of Youngstown and the greater Northeast Ohio region as a center for additive manufacturing. That could attract more 3D printing companies to the region.

"This is a differentiator for us," Ewing said.