Warby Parker
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| Private | |
| Industry | Eyewear |
| Founder | David Gilboa, Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, Jeffrey Raider |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Website |
warbyparker |
Warby Parker is an American brand of Chinese-manufactured prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses founded in 2010. Warby Parker sells online and has a limited number of showrooms in the United States. By designing glasses in-house and selling only directly to consumers, the company lowers the cost of its glasses by a significant amount.
The designs for the company's frames feature vintage-inspired style. The company has retail stores in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston, and has showrooms in Philadelphia, Oklahoma City, Chicago, Miami Beach, Charleston, Nashville, Dallas, and Richmond, Virginia.
History
The company was founded in 2010 by Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa, and Jeffrey Raider,[1] and is headquartered in New York City. The name "Warby Parker" derives from two characters that appear in a journal by the Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac.[2]
The company was started in the Venture Initiation Program of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where the founders all studied.[3] The company received $2,500 seed investment through the program and launched in February 2010.[3] Shortly after launching, the company was featured on Vogue.com,[1] and in GQ, which called it "the Netflix of eyewear".[4] In May 2011, Warby Parker raised its first round of funding totaling $2.5 million. In September 2011, the company raised a Series A round of $12.5 million.[5] In Fall 2012, it raised a $37 million Series B round,[6] with an additional $4 million announced in February 2013 with noted investors American Express and Mickey Drexler.[7] Warby Parker shipped more than 100,000 pairs of glasses in 2011, and had 60 employees.[8] By the end of 2012, the company grew to over 113 employees.[9]
Shortly following its extension into retail stores, Warby Parker announced the company's intention to build its own point of sale (POS) system. One feature planned for Warby Parker's custom POS is to charge the customer when their product is shipped instead of when it is first ordered in-store.[10]
Glasses, sunglasses, and other products
Warby Parker designs glasses in-house and sells directly to customers to avoid retail markups.[11] A lower price, generally $95,[12] is possible because glasses are designed in-house, eliminating licensing fees that can be as much as 15% of the wholesale cost on a pair of glasses. Warby Parker does not sell glasses through third party brick-and-mortar retailers, whose markups can double or triple prices.[13]
Along with the low cost, the company is known for selling frames that have been praised by ELLE,[14] Esquire,[15] Vogue,[1] GQ,[16] and others. The company primarily sells eyewear online and through its New York City headquarters. It also maintains a limited number of showrooms located in boutiques through the United States. Warby Parker's Home-Try-On program allows customers to choose five frames from the website, which they receive to try on at home for five days, free of charge. Customers can also upload a photo and try on frames virtually.[11] In addition to eyeglasses and sunglasses, one of Warby Parker's signature offerings is a monocle, which is available with a prescription lens.[17]
Donation program
For every pair of Warby Parker glasses purchased, the company pays for the production of a pair of eyeglasses for the non-profit organization VisionSpring, which VisionSpring in turn sells either directly to consumers or companies.[18] In July 2013, Warby Parker announced that it had distributed 500,000 pairs of eyeglasses to people in need.[19] Warby Parker is a certified B Corporation with areas of excellence in Accountability and Consumers.[20] The company is 100% carbon neutral.[21]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bahrenburg, Genevieve (February 22, 2010), "In Focus: Warby Parker Eyewear", Vogue
- ↑ "Warby Parker Co-Founder Says Initial Vision Was All About Price", The Wall Street Journal, July 18, 2012
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Corbyn, Zoë (September 24, 2012). "Take one start-up, add expertise and grow with care". The Financial Times. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
- ↑ Wong, Danny (November 29, 2010), "GQ Calls it the Netflix of Eyewear", The Huffington Post
- ↑ McMhana, Ty (September 22, 2011), "Stylish Eyewear Maker Warby Parker Tries on $12M In Funding", WSJ.com
- ↑ Primack, Dan (September 9, 2012), "Warby Parker raises $37 million", CNN Money
- ↑ de la Merced first=Michael J (February 24, 2012), "J.Crew Chief and American Express Invest in Warby Parker", The New York Times
- ↑ "At Warby Parker, the power of branding is easy to see", Gigaom, March 26, 2012
- ↑ The 2012 Warby Parker Annual Report
- ↑ Del Ray, Jason, "An Unlikely Startup Enters the Point-of-Sale Business: Warby Parker", All Things D
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Mitroff, Sarah (September 12, 2012), "With $37M, Warby Parker Sets Its Sights on More Than Just Eyeglasses", Wired.com
- ↑ Pack, Amy. (June 11, 2012), "Warby Parker's Vision for Growth", CNBC
- ↑ Berfield, Susan (June 30, 2011), "Hip Eyewear: Warby Parker's New Spectacles", Bloomberg Businessweek
- ↑ Levinson, Lauren (October 15, 2012), "Sophia Bush Poses for Warby Parker x Pencilse of Promise", Elle.com
- ↑ Soller, Kurt (April 20, 2012), "Exclusive: Warby Parker Launching Prescription Shades", Esquire
- ↑ Sebra, Matthew (February 12, 2013), "Exclusive First Look: Warby Parker's Hayworth Collection", GQ.com
- ↑ Redick, Scott. (May 16, 2012), "When Big Ideas Come From Small Companies", AdAge
- ↑ Zax (October 5, 2012), "The VisionSpring Model: Creating Markets and Players Instead of Empty CSR", Forbes
- ↑ Cushing, Nathan "Warby Parker donates 500,000 glasses with help of Need Supply Co.", rvanews.com
- ↑ "B Corp Directory: Warby Parker", bcorporation.net
- ↑ Zelman, Josh (February 24, 2012), "In Focus: Warby Parker Eyewear", TechCrunch