Loading…

WP Stories.

Learn about how we’re trying to have a positive impact.
Stories / The Farmers
Toti and Omprakash
Reading to grandchildren

As young brothers, Toti and Omprakash Tewtia did everything together. They started a farming business together, and raised their families together. (Between the two of them, they have 15 children.) Now grandfathers, the Tewtia brothers have three generations living in their home, kids running about, playing and laughing. It’s a lively scene.

As they grew old together, their vision began to decline. When the highlight of your day is reading to your grandchildren, this is more than just an inconvenience. Story time would end in headaches, and then stopped altogether when the brothers couldn’t see well enough to read.

Walking in field Inspecting crops Crop insect

Poor vision was taking a toll on their business as well. For years, they had cultivated the land in their village, but the last crop had been lost. How on earth could career farmers, who have been working the land since childhood have allowed this to happen? They couldn’t see the insects that were ravaging their fields. Without proper glasses, their livelihood was put in jeopardy.

The Tewtia brothers live in rural India, far away from an optical shop or an eye doctor. Although they had both been able to get reading glasses many years ago, they haven’t been able to find new glasses as their prescription changed. Until VisionSpring showed up. “We knew a good opportunity had come to us when we saw VisionSpring driving into our village.”

Headshot 1 Headshot 2
“These glasses have taken me back to my young time!”

Now proudly sporting his new glasses, Toti looks in the mirror and sees a much younger man. “These glasses have taken me back to my young time!” Story time is again a nightly tradition for their grandkids. And with a healthy crop ready to harvest they’re on top of their game.

Stories / The Local Carpenter
Carpenter

In his mid-40’s, Parmesh’s vision began to decline. It became difficult for him to focus his eyes on the intricate details of his woodwork. Instead of hiring people to expand his business, he began making hires to take over the work he was most suited for. Eventually, even hammering a nail became a chore.

Unfortunately, in the area of India where Parmesh lives, there are no eye doctors, no optical shops, and nowhere to get glasses. Without access to glasses, his business was declining. Income was shrinking. Rather than continuing to expand his business, he was just trying to keep it afloat.

It’s been said that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master any particular skill. When we met Parmesh, he had surpassed that goal many years ago.

Truly a master of his craft, he was known in his village as a skilled carpenter, trusted by his community to build and design everything from chairs to barns. His business had grown, allowing him to hire a few workers to help do the tasks that he could delegate so that he could focus on design and the small details that made him successful. Although modest, his home reflected his success, and his neighbors eagerly bragged about his work. Even his young nephew who was hanging around taking care of the cows spoke of his uncle with great respect.

Carpenter in workshop
Carpentry tools
When Parmesh heard that there was a team from Warby Parker non-profit partner VisionSpring coming into his village, he knew that this was his opportunity to get back to work.
Carpenter smiling with new glasses

When Parmesh heard that there was a team from VisionSpring coming into his village, he knew that this was his opportunity to get back to work. After getting a free eye exam, purchasing glasses was an easy decision. Not only do they help him see better, he likes the way he looks in them, telling us, “I feel successful in these glasses. I think people respect me for the way I look in them.”

Parmesh no longer has to outsource the creative tasks that makes his work unique and is back to growing his business. Proudly showing off his work to us, he is thankful, feels young and recognizes the dramatic effect that glasses have made in his life.

Stories / Mobile Eyecare Units

along costly, delicate lens-cutting equipment vulnerable to getting damaged in transit when road conditions were poor. VisionSpring has found a way to pre-cut lenses and insert them into frames on the same day that free eye exams are offered–an innovation that radically reduces costs to distribute prescription glasses and enables VisionSpring to reach more people in need.

Warby Parker’s award-winning partner VisionSpring has been recognized for innovation by organizations like Fast Company, Ashoka, and The Skoll Foundation. Their latest innovation is a six-person mobile unit equipped to provide prescription glasses on the spot in rural villages throughout India. In the past, teams have either had to visit villages twice (first to examine patients to obtain prescriptions, and again to distribute glasses) or bring

How does it work?


1

VisionSpring Makes Lenses

Corrective lenses are cut and sorted at VisionSpring headquarters in Delhi to be shipped out with the mobile unit team to the surrounding rural areas.

2

Shout it in the streets

“Free eye exams!”

The day before the vision camp begins, VisionSpring entrepreneurs travel through the village to let people know about the opportunity coming to their doorstep.

By the time the next day rolls around, the community is buzzing and lining up to get their eyes tested.

3

Setting up vision camp

Early in the morning, VisionSpring entrepreneurs arrive to set up a vision camp at a school, a community center, or the home of a village leader. Often, a group of people is already waiting to get eye exams.

4

Free eye exam

A simple distance eye test is administered by trained VisionSpring entrepreneurs. In order not to exclude people who may be illiterate, this “E” is just a shape that points in different directions. Patients point in the direction the shape is facing.

A complete eye exam is administered under controlled lighting to get a complete understanding of the customer’s needs.

5

Fashion matters

Customers try on a few pairs of glasses to find the frames they love.

A VisionSpring entrepreneur fits the new glasses with corrective lenses. This is one of the first programs in the world that brings distance lenses to rural areas at an affordable rate.

6

The “aha” moment

Putting glasses on for the first time can be utterly transformative. We hear everything from, “The world is back!” to “My world is so beautiful!” This moment makes all the investment and work worth it.

After putting on their glasses, customers are encouraged to try an activity that they haven’t been able to do for a very long time.

7

Dignity restored

After getting free eye exams, customers have the option to buy new glasses at a cost that they can afford. Owning a pair of glasses can be life-changing. Faces are unveiled, dignity is restored, education made possible. Productivity is increased. Glasses are a cheap, effective tool in the arsenal to combat extreme poverty.

Stories / Juana’s Story
Juana’s Story

Juana lives in Sololá, a mountainside village in Guatemala that overlooks Lake Atitlan and the volcanoes surrounding it. At thirty years old, she’s animated and quick, with a wavy ponytail trailing down her back and a huge smile.

By the time she was ten, Juana was on her own and working as a nanny in order to squeak by. Her father had been killed and the family’s home destroyed in the devastating civil war. Later, she would become involved with a women’s association, where she would learn to read and write. She continued to work for the organization and now works for Community Enterprise Solutions, which helps distribute eyewear to those whose livelihoods (weaving, sewing, carpentry) have been compromised by their insufficient access to affordable glasses.

In 2007, Juana was able to secure a loan that allowed her to build a house. She now lives there with her sister, Marcela, and her rambunctious two-year-old son, Jonathan. Juana is steadily paying off the loan with proceeds from her job with Community Enterprise Solutions.

Walk towards the noise of the market center. You’ll pass electronics stores, a music store, a thrum of people revolving around the city square. It is here, at the end of a little offshoot alley, that you’ll find Juana’s store — a tiny but well-organized space, freshly swept and painted white.

Up for sale: efficient wood stoves, water filters, and eyeglasses. Free eye exams are available to those who need them.

Juana, Jonathan, and Marcela
Juana giving an eye exam
Up for sale are efficient woodburning stoves, water filters, and eyeglasses. Free eye exams are available to those who need them.
Stories / Vicky’s Story
Vicky’s Story
VisionSpring’s tools of the trade

Now a few years into her job with VisionSpring, Vicky is consistently the top seller amongst her colleagues.

A born entrepreneur, Vicky’s self-taught sales acumen made her a dynamo at VisionSpring, and over the course of her work she’s been able to purchase a home for her children and grandchildren, cover their medical costs, and start saving up for a car. “It’s because we have donations (like those from Warby Parker) and people helping us that we are able to have a high-quality product that is affordable,” she says.

Vicky Aguilar is a natural saleswoman. She’s warm, confident, and quick to intuit a customer’s needs. As a young woman, she came up with the idea of buying cosmetics at a market and reselling them door-to-door for a profit. She’s also sold clothes, encyclopedias — but each new product only supplied enough income for her to scrape by.

Born and raised in Santa Ana, El Salvador, Vicky showed up one afternoon at the VisionSpring office to peddle her wares. Instead of making a sale that day, she wound up filling out a job application. VisionSpring, one of Warby Parker’s main giving partners, trains and employs men and women like Vicky to give eye exams and sell affordable glasses in developing countries.

Vicky adjusts a patient’s frames.

Good Company

We’re building a company where we’re excited and proud to come to work every day. We think it’s good business to do good.
Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!

Customers
We love our customers

It's pretty simple: we treat our customers the way we'd like to be treated. Shopping for glasses shouldn't cause headaches or cost an arm and a leg. Our best-quality frames cost a fraction of what other designer glasses cost–and features like our Virtual Try-On and Home Try-On Program make the shopping experience fun and easy.
Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees

Employees
We want our employees to flourish

We work hard to create an environment where each member of the team can grow, learn, and think big. Monthly informal feedback sessions and quarterly 360° reviews ensure that we are all responsible for each other's personal and professional growth–while an open, fun, work environment injects delight into every day on the job.
Eye exam

Community
We serve our broader community

We're devoted to serving our community and try to do so in a bunch of ways–from sponsoring a local Little League team (Go Royals!) to distributing glasses through our Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program.
Cloud Bird Recycling Leaf World Flower Fish Tree Windmill

Environment
We are carbon neutral

Warby Parker is one of the only carbon-neutral eyewear brands in the world. We actively work to reduce our environmental impact by mapping out our greenhouse gas emissions– from frame production to shipping to warehousing to office work–and purchasing carbon offsets accordingly.
Certified B Corporation

We are a B Corporation

Doing good is in our DNA. Being a B Corporation means that we hold ourselves accountable for the commitments we make to our stakeholders. It’s time to raise the bar–and we hope to see other companies join us. Learn about B Corporations >

Buy a Pair, Give a Pair

For every pair of glasses purchased, we provide a pair to someone in need
Buy a Pair, Give a Pair
Buy a Pair, Give a Pair
Buy a Pair, Give a Pair
Buy a Pair, Give a Pair
Buy a Pair, Give a Pair
Buy a Pair, Give a Pair
Buy a Pair, Give a Pair
Buy a Pair, Give a Pair
Approximately one billion people don’t have access to affordable glasses. Glasses can increase one’s income by 20%, enable students to see a blackboard and offer dignity to those with poor eyesight. Warby Parker works with experienced non-profit partners to ensure that each sale of our frames will give someone in need access to affordable glasses.
One billion people

Almost one billion people don’t have access to glasses

That means that 15% of the world’s population is unable to effectively learn or work because they can’t see clearly.
Rising productivity and income

Glasses can increase one’s productivity by 20%

That’s the equivalent of creating an extra day’s work each week. Glasses are one of the most effective poverty alleviation tools in the world.
World map

We have distributed over 500,000 pairs

It's a simple solution to a big problem–and you can help.

How do we give?

We work with partners that use glasses to create jobs and foster economic development.
1) Customers purchase a new pair of glasses from Warby Parker. 2) Warby Parker provides funding and/or glasses to non-profit partners like VisionSpring. 3) Warby Parker’s non-profit partners provide glasses and training to low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries to start their own businesses selling glasses. 4) Local entrepreneurs sell affordable glasses, earning a livelihood serving individuals in their communities who otherwise would not have access to glasses. 5) Individuals who previously couldn’t afford glasses are able to purchase and wear the glasses they need to learn and work.
Neil Blumenthal

Warby Parker & VisionSpring
VisionSpring trains low-income men and women to sell affordable glasses to their community.

Equally important, it provides community members the dignity to choose whether or not they want glasses and thereby avoids the culture of dependence that often accompanies foreign aid. Warby Parker is honored to partner with VisionSpring to grow our Buy a Pair, Give a Pair business model.

Warby Parker co-founder Neil Blumenthal previously served as VisionSpring’s director and helped pioneer VisionSpring’s model to train low-income women to sell affordable glasses in their communities. The model creates jobs for people in need, as well as the economic incentive to continuously provide glasses as their customers lose or break their glasses and change prescriptions.

See How the VisionSpring Model Works >

Fashion Matters

Trying out new glasses Boy with a chalkboard Lady smiling with new glasses
accessory in poor rural communities in the developing world as they are in New York or Los Angeles. By providing glasses that people actually want to wear, our non-profit partners maintain the dignity of their beneficiaries and ensure that the glasses will actually be used.
Our non-profit partners only distribute new glasses and never provide used glasses. The glasses are not the same as the Warby Parker branded glasses sold on www.warbyparker.com. They are designed according to the style and needs of the communities where they are distributed. Glasses are as much a fashion