Warby Parker

Warby Parker Inc. is an American manufacturer and retailer of prescription glasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses, based in New York City.

[3] Warby Parker designs its products in-house and sells them directly to consumers through its website and stores.

The company orders its own materials, such as acetate, from Italy and then manufactures frames at the same Chinese factories as competitors such as Luxottica.

[4] The company was founded in 2010 in Philadelphia by Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa, and Jeffrey Raider while they were students at Wharton School as JAND, Inc., an acronym for the names of the founders.

In April 2015, the company raised $100 million in a funding round led by T. Rowe Price, valuing it at $1.2 billion.

Warby Parker's "Home-Try-On program" is a strategy used by the company in which its customers select five frames from the website, which they receive and try on at home within a 5-day period, free of charge.

[24] As Warby Parker's revenue started to grow, the company began opening brick-and-mortar showrooms across the country.

Following the opening of its retail stores, the company announced its plan to build its own point of sale system,[25] which was implemented by 2015.

[33] The company received B Corp certification soon after its founding but let the status lapse, choosing against reincorporating as a Benefit corporation.

The interior of a Warby Parker retail store at Washington Union Station
Vintage-style Warby Parker sign at a retail store on 82nd and Lexington Ave. in NYC