Sam Pellerito, CEO of Frameri.
​
CINCINNATI—Frameri, the company that created the interchangeable frame and lens system, is on the lookout for expanding beyond its Cincinnati roots as the recently appointed chief executive officer Sam Pellerito settles into his new role at the helm.

Pellerito, who co-founded Frameri with Konrad Billetz about four years ago, moved into the top job in March after Billetz left the company to become a co-founder and co-chief executive officer at the startup company Offset Solar in North Carolina. Pellerito previously held various management posts at Frameri, “everything from director of optics and fulfillment to director of business development,” he told VMail in a telephone interview earlier this week.

Pellerito said the next likely location for a standalone Frameri showroom is Dallas – “which should be running before the New Year” — and that the company also is looking at locations in trendy neighborhoods in both Chicago and Brooklyn. In looking at prospective locations, Frameri is focusing on areas where “we have some brand equity” and customer recognition, he noted. The company also wants its showrooms to be in areas with various social events and a community-oriented population, such as the Deep Ellum neighborhood near downtown Dallas where the next Frameri showroom is expected to debut.

In addition to its showroom in the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood here, Frameri has distribution partnerships covering 28 optical retail practices in 15 different states, Pellerito said. Under the partnership arrangements, the optical retailers stock Frameri products, lenses and frames. All of these locations also are listed on Frameri’s website. The company also has a partnership with Hoya Vision Care that began in 2016. This arrangement calls for Frameri frames with Hoya lenses to be available for sale at independent eyecare practices across the U.S., as VMail reported. This partnership is “going pretty well,” Pellerito noted. “Hoya is a great company.”