We founded and built Independent Optical Lab from the ground up in 2019. After successfully establishing and operating IOL into 2023, we launched Collier Optical Lab in May 2023 as the newest boutique independent optical lab in the U.S.
Collier Optical Lab is the result of our desire to create an independent optical lab model operating apart from corporate and outside interests and totally different from the rest of the lab industry.
If you’re as passionate as we are about being and staying independent, join us!
Ben & Sarah Collier
More about us
Our favorite frame lines are Orgreen (Ben) and Etnia Barcelona (Sarah). We have 2 terriers who go everywhere with us and live to greet our sunglass shop customers, especially the mailman who always brings them a treat. We love finding good food and small boutiques with handmade products wherever we travel. We are entrepreneurs because we want time freedom and have too many ideas for new projects to ever be stuck working at a desk job.
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I’ve been an entrepreneur for well over a decade and have always been fascinated with manufacturing processes. In the lab, I most enjoy looking at the big picture of how to make things flow as efficiently as possible. I also owned a successful online store years ago and constantly dreamt about turning it into a brick and mortar. We found a wonderful space in High Point NC to put a little sunglass shop alongside the lab where we can support independent frame lines, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.
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I began my optical career with US Optical Lab in Syracuse, NY in 2009. I worked in the lab for a few years before moving to North Carolina to successfully build the mid-Atlantic sales territory for the lab. After seeing firsthand the negative impact of outside industry money and corporate consolidation on private practice and patient care, I decided the only sustainable way to ensure quality lenses for independent ECP’s was to start my own independent optical lab.