May 2013
8 posts
3 tags
Portland Picks, Part One
The Warby Parker Class Trip is in Portland! Instant camera in hand, we asked a handful of in-the-know locals for their tips on where to eat, drink, shop and be merry.
Narrative artist Maryanna Hoggatt recommends:
Apex: ”I used to work here and one of my good friends tends bar, so we go here a lot in the summer. Beer + Patio. We’ve also been hosting a monthly Drink + Draw event...
4 tags
Deft solutions and adrenaline
Back in March, Warby Parker’s first twelve employees took a trip to Guatemala to celebrate their three-year anniversary with the company—and to see the effects of their work firsthand. Marshmallows were roasted atop a volcano, horses were mounted, cliffs were jumped (more on that below). Going forward, it’ll be an annual tradition: work here for three years, head down to the Land of Eternal...
4 tags
Whitney Pozgay on French stripes and diner dresses...
You’ve seen our new flagship store on Greene Street in SoHo—we hope!—and even if you can’t make it in person, we’ll be sharing some behind-the-scenes intel.
A good uniform is a beautiful thing. Among our favorite examples: the boarding school students in Madeline, the bat-swinging women in A League of Their Own (side note: Madonna’s best film role) and old-style baseball uniforms.
These are...
2 tags
Warby Parker x Man of Steel
Superheroes and mortals alike have the choice to use their powers for good. So do companies.
That’s why we’re proud to announce a limited-edition capsule collection designed in collaboration with Man of Steel.
“Superman is the original do-gooder, and eyeglasses are a defining part of Clark Kent’s iconic look,” says our co-founder Neil.
The Man of Steel collection...
2 tags
Speaker Series: Ivanka Trump
We see a lot of interesting people coming through the doors of our headquarters everyday, and occasionally, we get to hear first-hand from those fascinating individuals. Ivanka Trump, the polyhyphenate entrepreneur, recently stopped by to talk to the team as part of our ongoing after work Speaker Series.
Trump works with The Trump Organization, the real estate conglomerate started by her...
3 tags
Hey Beantown!
Big news.
Huge.
Colossal.
It’s official: we’re opening a store on Friday, May 17th in the heart of Boston’s historic Newbury Street.
Although we’re based in Manhattan, we’ve had our eyes on Boston for a while. (We’re leaving the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry in New York, we swear.) After all, we have the city to thank for jumpstarting the modern subway system, a modern...
5 tags
Behind 121 Greene: Partners & Spade
You’ve seen our new flagship store on Greene Street—we hope!—and even if you can’t make it in person, we’ll be sharing some behind-the-scenes intel.
First up, we rang up Partners & Spade, our beloved crew of innovative thinkers, rogue brainstormers, and creative, well, partners who helped conceive the library-inspired space.
Pictured above: left, Anthony Sperduti of...
4 tags
Making landfall in Richmond, VA
Exciting news! As of May 2, the thoughtfully-curated, civically-minded store, Need Supply Co., will be the site of our newest showroom. We’re thrilled to set up shop in Richmond, Virginia, and we couldn’t imagine a better home. In the words of our co-founder and co-CEO Neil Blumenthal, “Need Supply Co. has a powerful point of view and a strong commitment to community. It’s a perfect match.”
...
April 2013
9 posts
Mood Board: 1922 Collection
Our newest collection has us spending fluorescent-lit days dreaming of champagne-fueled nights.
The hors d’oeuvre are served on silver trays, jazz plays softly from across the lawn, and fireflies spangle the evening sky. The hems are short, and the shaves are clean. That’s right, men—NO SCRUFF!
When we snap out of our daydreams, there tends to be a little extra shuffle in our...
2 tags
Give 'em an eyeful
The 1922 Collection is for the night owls and good-time kids. 1922 was a very good year—maybe not for the legal liquor industry, but for most everything else. James Joyce published Ulysses; T.S. Eliot published The Wasteland. Eugene O’Neill won a Pulitzer. Louis Armstrong moved to Chicago, and the dances were a hoot.
Porter sunglasses in Gimlet Tortoise
Our latest limited edition frames...
8 tags
Pour it up, pour it up
The ingredients for a perfect dinner party are simple: good people, good food, good wine. That’s it!
We did our best to follow these guidelines last week, when we hosted a candlelit dinner at our new flagship store to toast Warby Parker’s first official foray into retail. Co-founders Neil and Dave gathered thirty close friends to clink glasses, dig in to market-fresh food from The...
2 tags
Everybody in the water
Employee stories from our first annual trip to Guatemala—where, each year, team members will go on their third Warby Parker anniversary to see our non-profit partners in action and for a well-deserved break:
“Cliff jumping, ah. Never thought I’d do it. We all piled into a passenger boat with the intention of spending the day at a secluded beach. We were envisioning palm trees, white sand,...
1 tag
We all scream for glasses
When we opened the doors to our flagship store this past weekend, a line quickly spanned half the block. Some (incredibly patient) customers waited up to two hours, which filled us with immense gratitude and overflowing apologies. (We tried to make it up to them in the form of cake balls and chocolates shaped like glasses).
Among those waiting was our very own co-CEO Neil, who...
2 tags
Welcome to 121 Greene!
We’re incredibly excited to open the doors to our flagship store in New York this weekend. Shopping for glasses should be like browsing at a library: quick, easy, and especially fun to do with a friend in tow.
Inspired by classic libraries, the space is lined with books (and rolling library ladders), brimming with glasses, and full of surprises. Duck into the photo booth to take a...
5 tags
Malvaviscos y Soulja Boy
Hello there! It’s Jesse and Colleen again. In our last post, we talked about our trip to Guatemala in terms of Warby Parker’s social mission, but there was another motivating factor behind sending us all down there: fun! The twelve of us on the trip have been working together for three years now, so it was a treat to get out of the country (let alone the office) and cut loose a little as a team....
2 tags
Kick off your shoes and put on your glasses
“It’s a summer day, / and I want to be wanted more than anything else in the world.” —Frank O’Hara
Our Summer Collection is here! When we first started thinking about this collection, a few images came to mind: Jackson Pollock splatter-painting outdoors, Norman Mailer brawling on an overgrown lawn, Lee Radziwill sunning herself silly on an East Hampton beach. A vision of...
6 tags
The Land of Eternal Spring
Last week, a really exciting thing happened. Warby Parker’s original twelve employees headed down to Guatemala to see the company’s social work in action. After years of mediated communication with our non-profit partner Community Enterprise Solutions, it was amazing to finally see tangible results with our own eyes.
Community Enterprise Solutions works in Latin America, training low-income...
March 2013
6 posts
4 tags
Just a sniff
Artisanal candles: they stud (and scent) our desks, our nightstands, our countertops. You’d think some of us here were planning a seance or something. We can’t get enough. And we’ve just discovered a new favorite. Crafted with tropical palm oil, custom soy and beeswax, and cotton wicks, each candle in Joya Studio’s collection is dizzyingly luxurious, like princess-level...
4 tags
Getting cozy with the Gang
Knitting: it’s not just for grandmas anymore. Increasingly, we’ve been catching our friends tangled up in yarn and practicing their purls.
Since launching in 2008, Swiss brand Wool and the Gang have pumped out one sick project after the next. They sell both ready-made garments and kits to knit your own wearable fiber art. From classic scarves (beginners, raise your hands!) to crop...
4 tags
The glorious Eva Chen
While in L.A. for the Class Trip, we caught up with fashion savant Eva Chen. Find out more about the former New Yorker’s favorite L.A. spots (and what she means by “Christmas lights on your face”) here.
Eva is wearing Jasper sunglasses in Whiskey Tortoise.
Photos by Collin Hughes.
5 tags
Champagne and stacks
The folks at Catbird know their sparkle. The store is stocked with wares from local and international jewelry designers alike. The pedigree of each piece is enough to attract editors and magpies (/us) alike.
We were charmed by their “stacks on stacks” approach to rings, so we invited Catbird to bring their treasures to the Annex on March 15th and 16th to give everyone a stacking...
6 tags
An art ride through Miami
Forget the walking tour and, uh, please ditch that Segway. Staying at The Standard Spa, Miami Beach? You’re in luck. Our custom beach cruisers are all lined up in the lobby and ready for guests to take out for beachside excursions.
We rounded up Miami-based bloggers Ginger Harris, Daniela Ramirez, Maria Tettamanti, and Annie Vazquez and went for an art-themed bike ride through...
5 tags
WTF-worthy stationery
A good old-fashioned thank you note can fix any social error. Technology has made the modern social landscape tougher to navigate—and that’s where Terrapin Stationers come in.
When Ted Harrington took the helm of his family’s century-old engraved stationery company, he injected a few hundred CCs of contemporary irreverence to the stylized charm of handwritten notes.
The outfit...
