As a petite woman who wears glasses, I’ve written at length about my struggle to find glasses that fit narrow or small faces properly. With only a few companies who own the vast majority of eyewear brands, most frames are available in a limited range of sizes, and petites often get relegated to kids’ glasses or a boring selection of simple black frames.

Since eyeglasses are such an important part of how we present ourselves to the world, I have long lamented this issue and have tried to offer some tips and tricks on how to deal with it. But it’s still a source of frustration in my life every time I need a new pair of frames.

Custom glasses: My experience with Atelier Cariboo

So this past spring, after my prescription changed yet again (sigh, getting older sucks), I set about my search at my usual spots. I ended up finding a pair of JF Rey Petite frames from my regular optician that I absolutely love, and had made into my everyday eyeglasses. But I stalled out in my search for a pair of updated sunglasses frames. The oversized sunglasses trend is still going strong, and try as I might, I couldn’t find anything I liked enough.

Then, I stumbled upon Atelier Cariboo, which advertised custom-made frames at prices competitive to boutiques.

Custom, you say? I was intrigued.

However, I wrote it off at first, assuming that custom-made eyewear had to be so expensive that it would be completely out of the realm of possibility for me. But then I thought about it and decided, what the hey, why not at least go check out what they offer. After all, my prescription is so complicated that even a non-custom pair of glasses costs me a fortune. If I’m investing all that money into a pair of glasses, I might as well choose something I like.

So I reached out to Cariboo via their website and set up an appointment with the owner, Loïc, at his home-based studio just a few blocks from where I live. Loïc, originally from France, has been living in Quebec for about 8 years. With a day job as an optician for one of the major boutiques, Loïc wanted to do something more creative, and hit upon the idea of creating his own custom frame designs. Thus, Atelier Cariboo was born.

For right now, Atelier Cariboo is run as a home-based business. Loïc hopes to upgrade to his own storefront in the next while. But currently, he invites prospective customers to make an appointment at his home-based studio, or, alternately, he’ll pay you a visit if you live nearby.

At my first appointment, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Loic asked me a few questions about my prescription (in my case, a complex progressive one), my personal style, and what I was looking for in a pair of glasses. Then he opened his cases and started bringing out samples for me to try on.

There were lots of samples. So many samples. A veritable dizzying array of options for styles, colours, and sizes. To be honest, it felt very overwhelming.

And if you don’t like any of the sample frames, Loïc can pick up his sketch pad and pencil and work with you to design something entirely custom and unique. The prices for custom designs are a bit higher, mind you. It seems almost impossible to me that someone wouldn’t be able to find something that works for them from the seemingly endless options available. But for highly creative people looking for bold unique frames, the sky is the limit.

One of the challenges with having so many options was that many of the samples are in the wrong size and colour. While Loïc can custom make the frames in the size and colour of your choice, I actually found it hard to envision what something would look like in my size while trying on a far-too-big sample.

After trying tons of options, I fell in love with this very unique, bold pair of frames that I thought would make great sunglasses. They were too large for my face, and I was unsure about the colour, but I loved the shape.

Loïc took my measurements and calculated that I’d need about 2 sizes down: The samples were a 52mm eye width, and he determined the 48mm would fit fine. He also took measurements for the bridge and the earpiece, as those can be customized too.

Then, once the frame style and size were chosen, it was time to pick a colour. For this step, Loïc provided a tray of colour samples, as well as his own personal opinion about some options that might work better than others.

And then I basically just held a bunch of options up to my face to choose one:

Honestly I found this to be the hardest part. I knew some colours that might work better than others for me, but it was challenging to envision what the frames I picked out would look like in a different colour. I ultimately picked a red tortoiseshell colour that I hoped would be a bit bolder than the sample light brown, but not too jarring against my skin tone.

Loïc has a software app that could simulate the final selected design in the right size and colour, but not every frame or style is available on it, and I found it only approximated things. Ordering the frames sight unseen is a bit nerve-wracking, especially since all frames are made to order. Even once I found what I thought I wanted, I was a little hesitant to actually order the frames. What if I didn’t like them? As with ordering anything custom — say, a made-to-order dress design — sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith.

The ordering process

All the production takes place in France right now. So the lead times are about 3-4 weeks. Loïc is hoping to move to local production in the future, but for now, he contracts with a French company that die-cuts and hand-makes every pair of frames.

As luck would have it, Loïc was actually travelling to France right after our initial appointment, to get some new samples made of a new design collection. So he was able to have my frames made at the same time, and bring them home with him, cutting about a week off the production time. If you’re in a big hurry for glasses, this can be a downside, versus buying ready-made frames in a store. But I wasn’t in a big rush, so it was fine by me.

Once the frames arrived, I went back to try them on. And they were absolutely perfect:

Big, bold, great colour, but perfectly fitted to my face. I’d always wanted to pull off “oversized” glasses but they all tended to overwhelm me. Well, not these. They were a bit thick and large for everyday regular glasses, granted, and I might’ve ordered something a little more classic. But for sunglasses, they were just what I’d hoped they would be.

Loic gave me a tinted plastic lens so I could get an idea of what they would look like once the lenses are in place:

And with that, we reviewed the various lens options for my prescription and set about taking all the usual measurements. I have a fairly complicated progressive prescription. Cariboo works with a French company called Volcane for lenses; they aren’t cheap, but they’re high quality, comparable to, say, Hoya or Essilor. We decided on the lens type, tint, and features.

Once ordered, the lenses take another ten days to two weeks or so. I deliberately delayed ordering my lenses because I wanted to ensure my new prescription was correct first and that I’d fully adapted to my regular glasses before ordering the sunglasses. But in theory it’s possible to order both the lenses and frames at the same time and have the completed glasses ready in a few weeks.

The final glasses

The final glasses, once ready, were hand-delivered to me by Loïc at my home. He made an appointment, set up his gear on my kitchen table, I tried them on, and Loïc made live minor adjustments on the spot.

And how did they look? Well, you tell me! Personally, I absolutely love them. They’re bright, bold, creative, and they fit me like they were made for me. Which, I suppose, is because they were.

Atelier Cariboo: The verdict

Pros:

• Fully custom frames are made to measure; can be ordered in any size, style, and colour. This is particularly great for those of us petites with small faces, since we can order pretty much any style imaginable and it can be made in a size that’s small enough to fit.
• Highly personalized service. Loïc has a lot of experience, both as an optician and as a designer. It’s quite like getting a personal stylist for your wardrobe.
• Tons of design options. The designs are unique, bold, modern, and stylish. No boring frames here.
• Surprisingly affordable. Prices for custom frames are actually pretty reasonable for what this is. Sure, they are not cheap, but they’re on par or even a bit less than what it would cost for similarly high-end lenses at a boutique. They’re comparable to most designer frame prices in stores.

Cons:

• The amount of choice can be overwhelming. It’s often difficult to envision what the final frame will look like in the right size and colour. It can be much easier to try on frames in store and accept or reject them as-is, rather than trying to imagine what they will look like once customized.
• Custom frames are final sale. If your frames come in and you don’t like them, in theory, since they were made to order, you can’t change your mind. In practice, Loïc struck me as very committed to customer satisfaction, so I think he’d probably work with you to find a solution. In my case, I loved the frames once they arrived, so it wasn’t an issue. But it’s something to consider, since ordering them sight unseen can require a leap of faith
• They aren’t overly expensive, but they aren’t cheap either. If you have a simple prescription and are used to getting inexpensive glasses at an online discount retailer or someplace like Costco, the price of these might come with some sticker shock. This is less of an issue for those of us with complicated prescriptions who are accustomed to paying steep boutique prices, but this probably won’t appeal to the most budget-conscious readers.

Overall:

I’m so happy with my unique custom sunglasses from Atelier Cariboo. The whole experience from start to finish was top notch, and I think it’s particularly valuable for petites or people with small faces who struggle to find frames that fit.

Note: As a reminder to my readers, all reviews on this blog including this one are non-biased, unpaid, and non-sponsored. I didn’t receive any discounts or other incentives for this review; it’s 100% my honest opinion. As a policy, I don’t accept paid placements on this blog.