Lawyer takes another view

The Life: Colette Griplas had a job that many would envy but she wanted out. And she knew was onto a good thing when the glasses she designed herself were stolen while she was wearing them on holiday in Brazil.

Colette Griplas moved from Sydney to Dubai to set up Specs Addict, which sells prescription glasses online. Satish Kumar / The National

Many people would envy Colette Griplas's previous job.

As a contracts lawyer for Fox Studios in Sydney, she spent four years mingling with stars of big-budget movies such as Australia, an epic directed by Baz Luhrmann.

She insists the work was a lot less glamorous than it sounds.

"At the end of the day you are just sitting there writing contracts and dealing with very difficult actors who have very big demands," says Ms Griplas, 31, who likes Hugh Jackman but is less of a fan of his Australia co-star Nicole Kidman.

So when she received compliments on a pair of glasses she designed herself she thought she was on to a good thing. That suspicion was confirmed when the cat's-eye specs - which had a bright red front and different coloured temple "legs" - were stolen right off her face while she was on holiday in Brazil in 2009.

To cut a long story short, the incident led to her leaving her job and home country last year to set up Specs Addict, an online prescription glasses platform based in Dubai.

Why Dubai?

"It was really a decision based on the fact that I was looking for an environment that was supportive of young entrepreneurs. Australia really isn't," she says.

Stories in the Australian press painted Dubai as a place that was much more welcoming for start-ups. Plus, Ms Griplas's silent partner, who works full-time as a lawyer, was based in the emirate.

"It wasn't really until I got here that I saw how strong the [entrepreneurial] community was," says Ms Griplas.

Specs Addict is still partly an Australian business. It has a .com.au web address, a team of sales reps in Sydney and Melbourne and much of the digital marketing has been focused on Australian Google space.

Yet many of the physical launches take place in Dubai, where the company also has an active market.

"Something I have really come to see what is great for us is with the cultural modesty here of the women, but also the men, glasses are such an important part of someone's look here, particularly the women," says Ms Griplas.

The business has made more sales to Emirati women than expat women, and Ms Griplas is keen to pursue the market further.

Ms Griplas says SpecsAddict is selling more than 200 pairs of glasses worldwide a month.

Specs Addict's frames and prescription lenses start from US$160 (Dh587).

The company has customers in the United Kingdom and across Europe thanks to its business model, which offers free shipping, which means nowhere out of bounds.

The business can afford to offer free shipping because it is a "lean ship" itself, according to Ms Griplas, who designs the glasses herself and has them made here.

"That's why we are able to offer such competitive pricing because we basically cut out the middlemen and sell directly to the consumers. And we're not paying licensing fees. When you buy Prada glasses, you're paying five times the cost price because you are basically paying a licensing fee," she says.

She admits that it would have been cheaper to have the glasses made in China, but doing so would have come with a whole other set of problems.

"We end up paying more here than we would in China but less in Australia and it lets me see a lot of Dubai," says Ms Griplas, who visits the factories to oversee production.

"I get to see lots of different aspects of Dubai, a very glamorous side with different events, but I get to see the other side of Dubai as well with workers in factories here. I'm really fortunate in that respect."