industry eyewear founded 2009 ; 7 years ago 2009 founder david gilboa neil blumenthal andrew hunt jeffrey raider headquarters new york city number of locations 35 area served united states canada products prescription eyeglasses sunglasses website warbyparker.com the beckett glasses from warby parker warby parker is an american brand of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses founded in 2010 . warby parker sells online and has a limited number of showrooms in the united states and canada . contents 1 history 2 retail model 3 products 4 donation program 5 references 6 external links history edit the company was founded in 2010 in philadelphia by neil blumenthal andrew hunt david gilboa and jeffrey raider 1 and is headquartered in new york city . the name warby parker derives from two characters that appear in a journal by author jack kerouac . 2 the company s offiical corporate name is jand inc. warby parker is the company s trade name . 3 the company was started in the venture initiation program of the wharton school of the university of pennsylvania where the founders all studied . 4 the company received 2 500 seed investment through the program and launched in february 2010 . 4 shortly after launching the company was covered by vogue.com . 1 in may 2011 warby parker raised its first round of funding totaling 2.5 million . in september 2011 the company raised a series a round of 12.5 million . 5 in fall 2012 it raised a 37 million series b round 6 with an additional 4 million announced in february 2013 with noted investors american express and mickey drexler . 7 in 2011 warby parker shipped more than 100 000 pairs of glasses and had 60 employees . 8 by the end of 2012 the company grew to around 100 employees . 9 as of april 2015 the company was valued at 1.2 billion . 10 retail model edit the company primarily sells eyewear online and through its new york city headquarters . it also maintains a limited number of showrooms in boutiques elsewhere in the united states . warby parker s home try on program allows customers to choose five frames from the website which they receive to try on at home for five days free of charge . customers can also upload a photo and try on frames virtually . 11 as of 2016 warby parker operates around 30 locations in 16 u.s. states and washington d.c. along with one store in toronto . following the opening of its retail stores the company announced the company s intention to build its own point of sale pos system . one feature planned for the system is to charge the customer when their product is shipped instead of when it is first ordered in store . 12 products edit warby parker designs glasses in house and sells directly to customers . 11 as of 2012 frames typically cost around 95 . 13 the company s frames have been praised by elle 14 esquire 15 vogue 1 gq 16 and others . in addition to eyeglasses and sunglasses warby parker sells monocles which are available with prescription lenses . 17 donation program edit warby parker uses a buy one give one model where for each pair of glasses purchased the company pays for the production of another pair of eyeglasses for the non profit organization visionspring . visionspring in turn sells the glasses to consumers or companies in developing countries as a way to encourage entrepreneurship . according the christian science monitor this model provides positive marketing to the company and the use of visionspring as an intermediary company may address some of the criticisms that have been leveled at toms shoes which uses a similar model . 18 in june 2014 warby parker announced that it had distributed 1 000 000 pairs of eyeglasses to people in need . 19 the company also claims to be 100 % carbon neutral . 20 references edit a b c bahrenburg genevieve february 22 2010 in focus warby parker eyewear vogue warby parker co founder says initial vision was all about price the wall street journal july 18 2012 how did warby parker get the name warby parker opticalowl . opticalowl.org . retrieved 2016 07 29 . a b corbyn zo september 24 2012 . take one start up add expertise and grow with care . the financial times . retrieved 20 june 2013 . mcmhana ty september 22 2011 stylish eyewear maker warby parker tries on 12m in funding wsj.com primack dan september 9 2012 warby parker raises 37 million cnn money de la merced michael j. february 24 2012 j.crew chief and american express invest in warby parker the new york times at warby parker the power of branding is easy to see gigaom march 26 2012 the 2012 warby parker annual report douglas macmillan april 20 2015 . eyeglass retailer warby parker valued at 1.2 billion . wall street journal . a b mitroff sarah september 12 2012 with 37m warby parker sets its sights on more than just eyeglasses wired.com del ray jason an unlikely startup enters the point of sale business warby parker all things d pack amy . june 11 2012 warby parker s vision for growth cnbc levinson lauren october 15 2012 sophia bush poses for warby parker x pencilse of promise elle.com soller kurt april 20 2012 exclusive warby parker launching prescription shades esquire sebra matthew february 12 2013 exclusive first look warby parker s hayworth collection gq.com redick scott . may 16 2012 when big ideas come from small companies adage gerber monica december 22 2011 . warby parker may have a better buy one give one model . christian science monitor . retrieved june 2 2016 . chokkattu julian june 25 2014 warby parker hits one million glasses sold distributed techcrunch zelman josh february 24 2012 in focus warby parker eyewear techcrunch external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title warby parker & oldid 743945603 categories retail companies established in 2010companies based in new york cityonline retailers of the united stateseyewear retailers of the united states2010 establishments in new yorkprivately held companies of the united statesbenefit 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