“A lot of people told us we would hate each other by now,” according to Warby Parker co-founders and co-CEO’s Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa, commenting on their milestone fifth anniversary. In half a decade, Warby Parker has expanded its team to over 500 employees, opened ten storefronts across the US (with more to come), and through their Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program, successfully distributed glasses to over one million people in need worldwide. And the most awesome part of it all: they still like each other. “We’ve gotten to work with some talented people, plus the four of us who founded the company are still really close friends.”
To celebrate their many successes, they’re launching the Half-Decade Collection, a group of five and a half shapes from their first-ever collection, re-released in a limited-edition spectrum of their signature hue, blue, and engraved with a 5 on the temple tip.
As for what the next five years have in store: “For us, an exciting challenge is brainstorming on how to scale our social mission. As we grow quickly, it would be easy to slack off and let that fall away but we’re determined to do the opposite. We’re also excited to continue to take part in the intersection of e-commerce and bricks-and-mortar retail. It’s been an adventure designing and opening our stores across the country, and we can’t wait to work with even more creative partners, meet more of our customers, all while continuing to innovate online.”
The anniversary collection, which includes a trio of new colorways–Harbor Blue, Striped Indigo, and Atlas Blue–are available now online and in stores starting at $95. Each pair arrives packaged in a specially designed box inscribed with all of their frame names to date. As always, for every pair sold, a pair is distributed to someone in need.
