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The product is generic, but the incumbent competition charged exorbitant price for glasses frames and offered poor customer service. Charging more reasonable p

The product is generic, but the incumbent competition charged exorbitant price for glasses frames and offered poor customer service. Charging more reasonable prices is of course very replicable, and the mail order model has been replicated by other companies. The characterization of ignoring the sales staff is very at odds with my experience - the staff at their brick and mortar stores I've been to have been very helpful and capable.

heywire 8y ago
Wasn't Zenni Optical years ahead of Warby Parker in the reasonably priced mail-order prescription eyewear game?
- pm90 8y ago
  Zenni is pretty amazing but seemingly not well known. Many of my friends with kids buy many cheaper frames from them (kids tend to accidentally destroy glasses it seems)
- barbecue_sauce 8y ago
  In my experience, Zenni doesn't have as consistent an aesthetic across their product. Warby Parker is about paying for a "taste" proxy, rather than giving you a wide selection (much like Apple).
  - prklmn 8y ago
    Not to mention Warby Parker glasses are 2-14x more expensive than Zenni.
    - jonlucc 8y ago
      Which pays for a lot of marketing. That's not insignificant.
- gowld 8y ago
  Zenni never could manufacture accurate lenses for me. They are have a horribl trapezoid effect.
013a 8y ago
I've purchased three pairs of Warby Parker glasses, and a lifetime of "incumbent" glasses before and after that. All of WP's glasses I've owned were somewhere on the scale between "garbage" and "fine as a backup pair". Cheap plastic. Very poor fit. Lenses that easily scratched. Messed up prescription multiple times (thankfully their CS is pretty good). I'm thankful that my insurance allows me to own a "real" pair of glasses, which would normally cost ~$400, from my optometrist. Because the ~year that I experimented with WP was without a doubt coupled with the worst glasses I've ever worn in my life, and I've been wearing glasses since the first grade. I'll only ever be returning to them maybe for prescription sunglasses, and even then my optometrist often runs bundles with glasses (on insurance) + sunglasses for 50% off sticker. I respect that they're opening the market up for people who aren't lucky enough to be able to consistently afford better glasses. But I don't believe this is what we should want as a society; everyone should have access to great vision, and shouldn't have to resort to rebranded chineese knock-offs just to live their life to their best potential.
- hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
  As long as we're in anecdote world, I'll offer that I've had nothing but positive experiences with Warby Parker. To take your examples: 1. "Cheap plastic". Is there expensive plastic, really? I've owned much more expensive (but still plastic-framed) glasses and have never noticed a difference in quality. 2. "Very poor fit". Fair enough, I will offer though that I had a fitting at one of their brick-and-mortar locations and the glasses I got fit very well. 3. "Lenses that easily scratched". The details on their lens offerings are here, https://www.warbyparker.com/lenses https://www.warbyparker.com/lenses . Again, not a problem I have encountered. I don't doubt that there are better glasses than Warby Parker, but I'd bet that they're as good as if not better than basically everything up to the 90ish percentile range.
  - karmelapple 8y ago
    I’ll throw another anecdote on the pile that I really hoped WP would be great, but after multiple trips back to the store to get my glasses adjusted and even have new lenses put in, I won’t be going with them for my next pair. The cheap glasses from Zenni Optical I got years ago had better lenses with no problems, unlike Warby Parker. It’s the biggest disappointment in buying glasses in my 18 years of wearing glasses.
lucisferre 8y ago
I mean are they more reasonably priced? A quick comparison against similar Ray Ban glasses in my market (Canada) shows the Ray Bans are the better deal by $5. https://www.clearly.ca/sunglasses/ray-ban/ray-ban-rb3025-58?v=gold-green-mirror https://www.clearly.ca/sunglasses/ray-ban/ray-ban-rb3025-58?... https://ca.warbyparker.com/sunglasses/men/raider/gold https://ca.warbyparker.com/sunglasses/men/raider/gold
- skellera 8y ago
  Am I missing something? It’s a $75 difference from what I’m seeing.
  - Traster 8y ago
    The Warby Parker ones are 145 in the US, 220 in Canada (you can click for canada prices bottom left)
    - skellera 8y ago
      Ah sorry. Wasn’t considering the exchange rate. Thought that was a CA priced warby.
jdietrich 8y ago
The US optical market seems bizarrely uncompetitive. Here in the UK, you can buy good quality prescription glasses online or in-store for less than $60. You can get a serviceable pair for as little as $25. Warby Parker's pricing simply wouldn't make an impact over here. https://www.specsavers.co.uk/glasses/all-glasses?esp_category_filter_price=25%3a68 https://www.specsavers.co.uk/glasses/all-glasses?esp_categor... https://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/gender/male/price/19:59/?page=1&sort=demand-desc&rows=30&aspect=front https://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/gender/male/price/19:59/?pag...
- praneshp 8y ago
  There used to be a popular video going around about how one company owns 80% of the market, but that number is somewhat inflated. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/does-luxottica-own-80-of-the-eyeglass-industry/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/does-luxottica-own-80-of-t...
- vinay427 8y ago
  I've gotten prescription pairs for $12 before in the US. See other online services listed here such as Zenni Optical. Warby Parker is one of the most expensive among the non-traditional glasses producers.
nihonde 8y ago
I wish everyone could visit a store like Jins in Japan and experience the near-perfect end state in the retail eyeglass race. Lots of choices. Amazing service. On-site eye exam. Low prices ($50-100 per pair). Lots of locations. Most importantly, always a pleasant place to visit. I get two or three new pair every time I’m in Japan. I know there’s a Jins in SF (never been) but the Japanese retail experience never seems to translate well to the US.
- sho 8y ago
  Couldn't agree more. I used to buy all my glasses in Japan or Korea - the market there is mature and competitive. Over $100 would be considered "luxury". These days I go to Owndays, which has successfully expanded out from Japan - I usually go in Singapore. Most of their shops have common lenses in stock so they can make up the finished pair for you in under 30 minutes. Cost is SGD130-ish for 1 pair or under $200 for two. Quality is fine; if anything better than the expensive pairs I used to buy in Australia. I also can't understand how western markets persist in this profoundly distorted and uncompetitive state. Possibly consumer expectation? Even in this thread there's people claiming "cheap" glasses are worse, their expensive $500+ versions are better somehow. In my experience this is not the case at all and they are in most respects identical. Even if that were not the case, I would rather have numerous pairs of cheapish glasses than one super-expensive "perfect" pair - glasses are fragile and easily breakable by their very nature and until I'm a multi-millionaire I'll choose the RAIG[1] strategy every time. [1] Redundant Array of Inexpensive Glasses
  - nihonde 8y ago
    Given prices for decent frames in America, I can almost justify a trip to Tokyo just to stock up on new glasses.
village-idiot 8y ago
WP is not cheap. Costco is cheap.
- Kihashi 8y ago
  For the pair that I bought, they were around the same price, but WP had frames that I actually liked.

heywire 8y ago

Wasn't Zenni Optical years ahead of Warby Parker in the reasonably priced mail-order prescription eyewear game?

pm90 8y ago
Zenni is pretty amazing but seemingly not well known. Many of my friends with kids buy many cheaper frames from them (kids tend to accidentally destroy glasses it seems)
barbecue_sauce 8y ago
In my experience, Zenni doesn't have as consistent an aesthetic across their product. Warby Parker is about paying for a "taste" proxy, rather than giving you a wide selection (much like Apple).
- prklmn 8y ago
  Not to mention Warby Parker glasses are 2-14x more expensive than Zenni.
  - jonlucc 8y ago
    Which pays for a lot of marketing. That's not insignificant.
gowld 8y ago
Zenni never could manufacture accurate lenses for me. They are have a horribl trapezoid effect.

013a 8y ago

I've purchased three pairs of Warby Parker glasses, and a lifetime of "incumbent" glasses before and after that. All of WP's glasses I've owned were somewhere on the scale between "garbage" and "fine as a backup pair". Cheap plastic. Very poor fit. Lenses that easily scratched. Messed up prescription multiple times (thankfully their CS is pretty good). I'm thankful that my insurance allows me to own a "real" pair of glasses, which would normally cost ~$400, from my optometrist. Because the ~year that I experimented with WP was without a doubt coupled with the worst glasses I've ever worn in my life, and I've been wearing glasses since the first grade. I'll only ever be returning to them maybe for prescription sunglasses, and even then my optometrist often runs bundles with glasses (on insurance) + sunglasses for 50% off sticker. I respect that they're opening the market up for people who aren't lucky enough to be able to consistently afford better glasses. But I don't believe this is what we should want as a society; everyone should have access to great vision, and shouldn't have to resort to rebranded chineese knock-offs just to live their life to their best potential.

hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
As long as we're in anecdote world, I'll offer that I've had nothing but positive experiences with Warby Parker. To take your examples: 1. "Cheap plastic". Is there expensive plastic, really? I've owned much more expensive (but still plastic-framed) glasses and have never noticed a difference in quality. 2. "Very poor fit". Fair enough, I will offer though that I had a fitting at one of their brick-and-mortar locations and the glasses I got fit very well. 3. "Lenses that easily scratched". The details on their lens offerings are here, https://www.warbyparker.com/lenses https://www.warbyparker.com/lenses . Again, not a problem I have encountered. I don't doubt that there are better glasses than Warby Parker, but I'd bet that they're as good as if not better than basically everything up to the 90ish percentile range.
- karmelapple 8y ago
  I’ll throw another anecdote on the pile that I really hoped WP would be great, but after multiple trips back to the store to get my glasses adjusted and even have new lenses put in, I won’t be going with them for my next pair. The cheap glasses from Zenni Optical I got years ago had better lenses with no problems, unlike Warby Parker. It’s the biggest disappointment in buying glasses in my 18 years of wearing glasses.

lucisferre 8y ago

I mean are they more reasonably priced? A quick comparison against similar Ray Ban glasses in my market (Canada) shows the Ray Bans are the better deal by $5. https://www.clearly.ca/sunglasses/ray-ban/ray-ban-rb3025-58?v=gold-green-mirror https://www.clearly.ca/sunglasses/ray-ban/ray-ban-rb3025-58?... https://ca.warbyparker.com/sunglasses/men/raider/gold https://ca.warbyparker.com/sunglasses/men/raider/gold

skellera 8y ago
Am I missing something? It’s a $75 difference from what I’m seeing.
- Traster 8y ago
  The Warby Parker ones are 145 in the US, 220 in Canada (you can click for canada prices bottom left)
  - skellera 8y ago
    Ah sorry. Wasn’t considering the exchange rate. Thought that was a CA priced warby.

jdietrich 8y ago

The US optical market seems bizarrely uncompetitive. Here in the UK, you can buy good quality prescription glasses online or in-store for less than $60. You can get a serviceable pair for as little as $25. Warby Parker's pricing simply wouldn't make an impact over here. https://www.specsavers.co.uk/glasses/all-glasses?esp_category_filter_price=25%3a68 https://www.specsavers.co.uk/glasses/all-glasses?esp_categor... https://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/gender/male/price/19:59/?page=1&sort=demand-desc&rows=30&aspect=front https://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/gender/male/price/19:59/?pag...

praneshp 8y ago
There used to be a popular video going around about how one company owns 80% of the market, but that number is somewhat inflated. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/does-luxottica-own-80-of-the-eyeglass-industry/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/does-luxottica-own-80-of-t...
vinay427 8y ago
I've gotten prescription pairs for $12 before in the US. See other online services listed here such as Zenni Optical. Warby Parker is one of the most expensive among the non-traditional glasses producers.

nihonde 8y ago

I wish everyone could visit a store like Jins in Japan and experience the near-perfect end state in the retail eyeglass race. Lots of choices. Amazing service. On-site eye exam. Low prices ($50-100 per pair). Lots of locations. Most importantly, always a pleasant place to visit. I get two or three new pair every time I’m in Japan. I know there’s a Jins in SF (never been) but the Japanese retail experience never seems to translate well to the US.

sho 8y ago
Couldn't agree more. I used to buy all my glasses in Japan or Korea - the market there is mature and competitive. Over $100 would be considered "luxury". These days I go to Owndays, which has successfully expanded out from Japan - I usually go in Singapore. Most of their shops have common lenses in stock so they can make up the finished pair for you in under 30 minutes. Cost is SGD130-ish for 1 pair or under $200 for two. Quality is fine; if anything better than the expensive pairs I used to buy in Australia. I also can't understand how western markets persist in this profoundly distorted and uncompetitive state. Possibly consumer expectation? Even in this thread there's people claiming "cheap" glasses are worse, their expensive $500+ versions are better somehow. In my experience this is not the case at all and they are in most respects identical. Even if that were not the case, I would rather have numerous pairs of cheapish glasses than one super-expensive "perfect" pair - glasses are fragile and easily breakable by their very nature and until I'm a multi-millionaire I'll choose the RAIG[1] strategy every time. [1] Redundant Array of Inexpensive Glasses
- nihonde 8y ago
  Given prices for decent frames in America, I can almost justify a trip to Tokyo just to stock up on new glasses.

village-idiot 8y ago

WP is not cheap. Costco is cheap.

Kihashi 8y ago
For the pair that I bought, they were around the same price, but WP had frames that I actually liked.