Warby Parker Named Most Innovative Company of 2015

By Erik DeFruscio

Warby Parker beat out companies including Apple, Google, Alibaba and Samsung to be named Fast Company’s most innovative company of 2015.

The eyewear retailer, founded in 2010 by co-CEOs  Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa, started off exclusively as e-commerce, but has grown rapidly to open stores across the United States and create annual revenues that top $100 million.

By manufacturing their own frames, Warby Parker’s price points are much lower than many other eyewear brands, starting at $95.

With a buy-one-give-one business model, for every pair of glasses Warby Parker sells in the United States, it donates one to its nonprofit partners. The partners also train people in developing countries to give eye exams and sell glasses to their communities at affordable prices.

Fast Company‘s Max Chafkin notes that the company’s success is due to its founders’ “fanatical focus on brand and execution.”

“We’re often asked why Warby has been successful. If we sum it up in one word, it’s deliberate.” says Gilboa. “We just want to make sure we’re not making mistakes. When we launched, a lot of people bucketed us as an e-commerce company, but we never thought of ourselves as an e-commerce company. The only products we sell now are glasses, but we think our brand can stand for much more than that over a long time period.”

While maintaining the brand’s core values, Warby Parker has opened a flagship location in the Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo along with stores in eight other cities.

“We are incredibly honored,” Blumenthal and Gilboa said in a joint statement. “The week it was announced just so happened to be Warby Parker’s fifth birthday and it was the best way to celebrate five unbelievable years.”