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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 feel young and recognizes the dramatic effect that glasses have made in his life.

Stories / Mobile Eyecare Units

prescriptions, and again to distribute glasses) or bring along costly, delicate lens-cutting equipment that would get damaged in transit because of poor road conditions. VisionSpring has found a way to pre-cut lenses and insert them into frames on the same day that free eye exams are offered. This innovation radically reduces the costs to distribute prescription glasses and will enable VisionSpring to reach more people in need.

Warby Parker’s award-winning partner VisionSpring has repeatedly been recognized for innovation by such organizations as 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

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 unique opportunity coming to their doorstep.

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

3

Setting Up Vision Camp

Early in the morning, the VisionSpring entrepreneurs set up the vision camp. Hopefully, there’s already a group of people waiting to get their eyes checked. The location is typically a school, a community center, or the home of the village head.

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 is transformative. You can’t fake the reaction. 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. Reading no longer results in a headache.

7

Dignity Restored

After getting their eyes checked for free, customers have the option to buy their 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 is made possible. Productivity is increased. Glasses are a cheap, effective tool in the arsenal to combat extreme poverty.

Good Company.

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

We have developed a stakeholder-centric business model that accounts for our customers, our employees, the environment, and our larger community. We try to consider these stakeholders in every decision that we make.

Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!

Customers
We love our customers.

We try to treat our customers the way we want to be treated. We love beautiful glasses, but hate paying hundreds of dollars for them, so we found a way to deliver the glasses we love at a fraction of the price. Likewise, we’re doing everything possible to make shopping for glasses fun and easy.
Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees Employees

Employees
We want our employees to flourish.

We believe that we should take what we do seriously, but not take ourselves too seriously. We strive to create an environment where our team will flourish — one that is fun, open and growth-driven. Monthly informal feedback sessions and quarterly 360° reviews ensure that we are each responsible for one another’s professional and personal growth.
Eye exam

Community
We serve our broader community.

We believe we’re part of a larger community and should proactively serve that community whether it’s through our Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program or by sponsoring a local Little League team.
Cloud Bird Recycling Leaf World Flower Fish Tree Windmill

Environment
We are carbon neutral.

We actively work to reduce our environmental impact. In fact, we’re one of the only carbon-neutral eyewear brands in the world. We’ve mapped out all of our greenhouse gas emissions from frame production to shipping to warehousing to office work and have purchased carbon offsets accordingly.
Certified B Corporation

We are a B Corporation.

Our desire to provide a social benefit exists at a DNA level at Warby Parker. Being a B Corporation allows us to hold ourselves accountable for the commitments we are making to our stakeholders. It’s time for the bar to be raised, and we hope to see other companies join us. Learn about B Corporations >

Buy a Pair, Give a Pair.

For every pair of glasses we sell, we provide a pair to someone in need.
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 85,000 pairs

Glasses distributed by Warby Parker to people in need enable them to become productive members of their families and communities.

How do we give?

We work with partners that use glasses to create jobs and foster economic development.
Chart about how we give
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

Nice woman happy with her 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

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