Glasses have been around for 800 years. The technology hasn't changed much. The only innovation in the last century was figuring out how to charge $700 for them.
We hit our first-year sales target in three weeks. We had a 20,000-person waitlist. Turns out people really hated paying $300 for something that costs $5 to make.
Luxottica owns the brands, the stores, the insurance company, and the licensing. They set the price at every step. We just decided to skip all of that.
Home Try-On wasn't just a logistics feature — it was a social media campaign disguised as a service. People posted photos of themselves in five frames and asked friends to vote. Free marketing.
We donate a pair of glasses for every pair we sell. Not because it's good marketing — though it is — but because 2.5 billion people in the world need glasses and can't afford them.
Being online-only was great for year one. But 95% of glasses are still bought in stores. We had to meet customers where they are, which meant building stores.