← The Thread
No. 03Warby Parker · 2010 onward5 min

They Deleted the Part Everybody Hated

Four students worked out that the worst thing about buying glasses was not the price. It was standing in a shop under a strip light being told what suited you.

Glasses cost hundreds of dollars for a piece of moulded plastic and two ground lenses, and they cost that because a very small number of companies controlled the frames, the lenses and, in many cases, the shops selling them.

Warby Parker launched in 2010 selling its own frames direct at $95 a pair. The price is the headline of the story and the least interesting part of it. The interesting part is the box of five pairs they sent to your house for nothing.

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