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Thursday, May 24, 2012

FASHION

Nerd Chic: Retro Glasses are the New "It" Accessory

Warby Parker founders

Warby Parker Founders, clockwise from top left: Andrew Hunt, Jeffrey Raider, David Gilboa, and Neil Blumenthal.

Four eyes. Nerd. Square. You’ve heard all the insults. Wearing glasses was decidedly uncool for a long time. In fact, until recently, contact lenses and “invisible” rimless eyeglasses frames were the weapon of choice for anyone with less-than-20-20 vision. And let’s not even mention the price tag associated with a brand-new pair of eyeglasses. $400 dollars or more to look like a nerd? Talk about taking all the fun out of accessory shopping.

But the times they are a changin'. Perhaps inspired by the '60s-era "Mad Men" craze (or maybe driven by our national obsession with Superman’s alter-ego, Clark Kent), thick-rimmed, retro eyeglass frames are now favorite fashion accessories for celebs (think Scarlett Johansson, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake, who's launching his own designer eyeglasses collection) and hipsters alike. (On eBay, sales for eyeglasses are up 20% from January 15-21st compared to a week-long period a year ago.)

Warby Parker

  • 2010 Collection Lookbook

    Photo Credit: all images courtesy of Warby Parker

  • Begley (available Feb. 2011)

  • 2010 Collection Lookbook

  • Fillmore

  • 2010 Collection Lookbook

  • Wiloughby

  • Winston (available Feb. 2011)

  • 2010 Collection Lookbook

  • Zagg

Among the leaders of this vintage eyewear revolution is Warby Parker, an online eyewear company offering several dozen styles of retro-chic glasses, all for less than $100.

Like all great business ideas, Warby Parker started with passion, experience, and a lot of late nights. Co-Founders Neil Blumenthal, David Gilboa, Andrew Hunt and Jeffrey Raider, came up with the concept—which was originally merely an academic exercise—while sitting in a computer lab between classes at Wharton School of Business. Neil Blumenthal, who already had five years of experience working in the eyeglass field for the nonprofit Vision Spring, selling low-cost glasses in developing countries, realized the huge price discrepancy between what designer eyeglasses are sold for and what it costs to manufacture them. In sharing his observation with his friends, “We realized we could design glasses that we love, produce them on the same exact manufacturing line that the high-priced glasses are made on and sell them at a much lower price, bypassing the middlemen, such as the large licensing companies,” Neil Blumenthal said.

As the group investigated the opportunity further, they decided to invest their savings and launch the Warby Parker eyeglasses business.  On February 15th 2010, while still taking classes, the Warby Parker team opened up their virtual store.

This business received multitude of accolades, including from Vogue.com and Daily Candy, just days after launch. “Within three weeks, we hit our first-year sales targets,” Gilboa said. “Within four weeks, we had sold out of our top-15 selling styles.” No longer a small academic endeavor, the team began working on the business full-time at Neil Blumenthal’s apartment when they were not in classes. The only barrier? Sleep.

Now, less than a year later, Warby Parker has hired 18 more employees and resides in a spacious office in Manhattan. 

On the Warby Parker eyeglasses Website, customers can upload an image of themselves to a facial recognition program and “try on” retro eyeglasses to find the vintage frame that best suits their face. Or if they're not satisfied with a virtual mock-up, they can instead opt for an actual try-on program, through which they're sent five frames of their choosing, free of shipping and prescription lenses. They can take five days to try on the glasses and request the pairs they want to purchase.

The company has teamed up with Manhattan retailer Steven Alan to showcase its glasses, and has recently collaborated with fashion designer Suno to design retro eyewear for the designer brand's Fall 2011 clothing collection. There is even talk of a retro sunglasses line. And if sheer style isn't enough, for every purchase made, Warby Parker donates one pair of glasses to someone in need.

Warby Parker in Guatemala

Neil Blumenthal and David Gilboa in Guatemala, working on their "Buy a pair, Give a pair" program

The Warby Parker team is particularly excited that retro eyeglasses are no longer reserved for those who wear pocket protectors. “We believe that glasses are the ultimate accessory,” David Gilboa says. “It is crazy to us that people don’t have as many glasses as they have shoes or handbags.”

Vintage treasures and antique styles are a constant source of inspiration for Warby Parker. Co-CEOs Blumenthal and Gilboa (Hunter and Raider are active board members, but are no longer involved in day-to-day operations) rounded up a few items on eBay that they felt spoke to their aesthetic.

 


Vintage Poster

Warby Parker's eBay Finds

 

 

Vintage Glasses

 

 

Antique Lens Cutter

 

 

Antique Opera Glasses

 

 

Antique Pocket Watch

 

 

Vintage Trunk

 

 

Vintage Cufflinks

 

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