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Today in 2023 shopping online has never been easier and it comes along with many benefits including saving you money as well as time by allowing you to order things that you need from the convenience of your home. One of the things that you can order online these days is prescription eyewear. Companies like Warby Parker allow you to be able to order prescription eyewear from the convenience of your home along with giving you an alternative option you those expensive retailers.

Warby Parker Review

One of those many online retailers is the popular Warby Parker. When I first heard about online glasses I was not a big fan of it myself, but let me tell you why I love Warby Parker.

About Warby Parker

Warby Parker came to be because of a problem. A problem that most individuals who need corrective eyewear all share, but it was a simple one: glasses are too expensive. Warby Parker was founded by Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Giboa, and Jeffrey Raider.

All of Warby Parker’s founders shared a similar experience in which they lost or damaged their prescription glasses and found that they were not able to afford their glasses. What they found was that there was one large eyewear company that was dominating the industry and keeping the prices of eyeglasses artificially high while they reaped huge profits from customers who do not have another option to turn to.

Hence Warby Parker was created to give people the ability to get high-quality eyewear that is at a price point that is affordable for everyone. Warby Parker launched on February 15th, 2010 as an online-only eyewear retailer.

Warby Parker Eyeglasses

Warby Parker has since evolved into quite an eyewear retailer, offering prescription as well as non-prescription eyewear, which includes eyeglasses, and sunglasses. They also pioneered the home try-on program in which you can pick some glasses to try on at home, more on that later.

Warby Parker offers a wide selection of frames in many different styles from quirky to modern, to traditional, you will surely find a style that will fit your personality and look here

Within all those styles you will find frames in Acetate (you might know of these as plastic frames), super lightweight titanium, and mixed material (acetate and stainless steel) frames. Whichever one you ultimately end up deciding to go with is completely up to you, it depends on your taste and what kind of look you are trying to achieve.

Things such as prescription strength could also factor into your frame decision. Acetate frames hide the lenses better if you have a stronger prescription.

All of Warby Parker’s frames start at $95 for acetate frames, Titanium, and Mixed material frames start at $145.

If you are someone that likes to try on your glasses before purchasing them then Warby Parker has a great solution for you.

Warby Parker Home Try-On Program

The major challenge when it came to purchasing prescription eyewear online is the fact that you are not able to try the glasses on. Warby Parker was able to solve this issue with their Home Try-On program.

How does the Home Try-On program work?

With this program you are able to select 5 frames from Warby Parker’s website that you might be interested in, Warby Parker will then ship these frames to you so you can try them on from the comfort of your own home.

When you get your Home Try-On kit you have 5 days to try them on, check the fit, see how you like the color, ask your significant other, show your family, whatever you want to do within those 5 days. When the 5 days are up all you have to do is get the box with the frames shipped back to Warby Parker.

Don’t worry about the cost of shipping, the Home Try-On kit comes with a shipping label. All you have to do is get the label, stick it on the box, and bring it to your local post office.

If you happen to like a frame from the Home Try-On kit you can place your order immediately, there is no need for you to wait for the Home Try-On kit to get back to Warby Parker.

Want to try the Home Try-On?

Warby Parker Lenses

Aside from the Home Try-On program, one of the other things that really sets Warby Parker apart from many other online retailers is the fact that all of their glasses come standard with single-vision polycarbonate lenses, with scratch-resistant, UV protection, as well as anti-reflective coating included in the price of the frames.

This means for the price of $95 you can get a pair of glasses for distance, reading, computer, or Plano (no prescription) as long as none of them are combined in any way shape or form.

If you need glasses to be able to see far as well as up close you will need a multifocal lens. Warby Parker does not carry the standard lined bifocal but only carries a progressive bifocal which is a blended bifocal or also known as a no-line bifocal. Progressive lenses from Warby Parker cost an additional $200 on top of the frame.

Lens Add-ons & Upgrades

There are a number of upgrades or add-ons that you are able to get with your glasses at Warby Parker. If you have a stronger prescription you could benefit from a high-index lens that would thin out your lenses. If you spend a lot of time outdoors you could benefit from light-responsive (Transition) lenses or some prescription sunglasses. Take a look below for all the add-ons and upgrades, how each one could benefit you, and how much it costs from Warby Parker.

• 1.67 High-Index | +$30 – If you have a strong prescription you may benefit from 1.67 high-index lenses. These lenses are up to 20% thinner when compared to polycarbonate in the same prescription. Thinner lenses provide you with better optical clarity due to less distortion from the lens thickness. 1.67 high-index lenses are generally recommended for anyone with a prescription where the total power is equal or greater than +/- 4.00.

• 1.74 High-Index | +$130 – These lenses are typically referred to as ultra-high-index lenses and may benefit you if you have an especially strong prescription. This option provides you with lenses that are up to 10% thinner when compared to 1.67 high-index in the same prescription. These lenses are not listed on Warby Parker’s website for purchase, but someone from Warby Parker will reach out to you after you place your order if you could benefit from this type of lens. 1.74 high-index lenses are generally recommended for anyone with a prescription where the total power is equal or greater than +/- 8.00

• Blue Light Filtering | +$50 – Warby Parker offers polycarbonate lenses with the ability to filter out extra blue light. This type of lens would be generally recommended for anyone who spends extended periods of time in front of electronic devices such as computers, tablets, televisions, or cell phones. Electronic devices emit blue light which could lead to eye strain, headaches, or blurred vision. Glasses with blue light protection could help alleviate some of these symptoms. You can add blue light filtering lenses during checkout for an additional $50.

Warby Parker Prescription Sunglasses & Light Responsive Lenses

If you are someone who spends a good amount of time outdoors, one of the most important things is to protect your eyes from the harmful UV rays coming from the sun. If you don’t wear prescription glasses Warby Parker has a wide variety of sunglasses in which you can purchase without a prescription to help protect your eyes. These glasses are available in polarized or non-polarized styles depending on what frame you decide to go with.

Does Warby Parker have Transition lenses?

If you do wear prescription glasses you have a couple of different options to pick from depending on your personal preference. Your first option would be light-responsive lenses, you might have heard of these lenses under the term Transition lenses. These lenses are clear indoors and darken when exposed to UV rays outdoors. The major benefit of using light-responsive lenses is the fact that you no longer have to carry around multiple pairs of glasses. When you are indoors you have clear lenses, when you are indoors they are clear. outdoors they are dark like sunglasses you can read more about my experience with Transition lenses here. Warby Parker offers light-responsive lenses, specifically the Transition Signature lenses for an additional $100.

Another option if you are an outdoorsy person is prescription sunglasses. Prescription sunglasses are dark all the time and do not change color. Warby Parker offers polarized lenses with all of their prescription sunglasses lenses and they start at an additional $80. Polarized lenses give you the same protection from UV just like a non-polarized dark lens with UV protection on it, however, polarized lenses give you the additional reduction of glare.

Warby Parker Buy a Pair Give a Pair

One of many things about Warby Parker that I absolutely love is their Buy a Pair Give a Pair program. There are billions of people around the world that need glasses but do not have access to them. Through this program, for every pair that is sold, Warby Parker distributes a pair to someone in need.

More recently they started partnering up with local government agencies such as the Department of Education in New York City to provide free vision screenings, eye exams, and glasses to schoolchildren. I hope they roll this out to more cities across the United States, this is an amazing idea considering vision correlates with learning.

You can read more about the program here. 

Warby Parker Warranty

Warby Parker offers a 30-day hassle-free return or exchange policy for the eyewear that you purchase through them, this also includes any accessories you may have purchased such as cases or lens clothes. If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase with Warby Parker they will set you up with a full refund or an exchange within 30 days of receipt of your items.

You also have a one-year scratch guarantee on your lenses. If your lenses get scratched within the year, Warby Parker will replace those lenses for you free of charge, this also includes non-prescription sunglass lenses.

Final Thoughts

Warby Parker truly provides exceptional service when it comes to eyewear. They offer a great selection of frames and with the lenses included in the price you honestly couldn’t ask for a better deal. If you happen to be close to one of Warby Parker’s retail stores I definitely recommend popping into one to check them out. There are many frames that are not available to be selected for the home try-on program but you will be able to try them on in-store. You can find a full list of Warby Parker’s retail locations here.

Have you purchased from Warby Parker? I would love to hear about your experience, drop a comment below!

If you are a prescription contact lens wearer be sure to check out where the [best places to buy contact lenses online] are, coupons & promo codes are available

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