February 14, 2018

I wrote this blog on Wednesday and wanted to post it yesterday, but after the Parkland, Florida school shooting, I couldn’t.  I don’t know that there’s an appropriate amount of time to wait to post a new mindless blog and I’ve struggled with just how to address what I’m thinking and feeling so that I could get past it and feel OK enough to post a new blog.  Like you, my heart is heavy.  But I won’t weigh-in here with my opinions on hate, guns, mental health, etc., but I will acknowledge the 17 precious human lives lost this Wednesday and the suffering left behind for an entire community. 

I vowed early on that Flynn’s would be a place to find relief, joy, and mindless chatter.  So with that…. 

Hi Friends!  Last week I posted a picture of my Warby Parker Home Try-on box containing 5 frames I picked out to well...try on at home!  In the end...success!  I found a new pair.  In all, this marks my 3rd pair of Warby’s and 6th pair for my family.  My Warby Parker frames cost me $95 - that’s including the lenses.  #steal

I love this company.  Not just because I love their stylish frames but I love the Warby Parker story (listen here).  These young men totally disrupted an industry that had been left untouched for decades.  In turn, we as consumers blindly paid ridiculous prices for pieces of plastic we would ultimately leave on the subway, sit on, or that would prove to be worthless when your RX changed a year later.  We paid these crazy prices because it was all we knew, if you wanted cool and stylish frames, you’d have to pay the price and if you were lucky enough to have vision insurance that allowed for frames every two years, you’d have to pick from the frames on the dusty spin-rack over there in the corner and worse, feel shame for even walking in the direction of said dusty-spin-rack with the ugly free frames.  And when your 13-year old loses the frames you just bought because she broke the other pair wrestling with her brother, you go to Walmart and buy two OK-ish pairs for $160 and hope that maybe she’s learned a lesson and will take better care next time you spend $250 on a pair of eyeglasses for her.

Sidebar.  So another Trish favorite is the podcast, How I Built This.  Have you ever binge-watched Game of Thrones on HBO or Stranger Things on Netflix?  My latest obsession has been binge-listening this podcast.  And like any binge, there was a sort of sadness that set in once I got through all the episodes.  Anyhow, it was there on How I Built This that I stumbled on the Warby Parker episode which, as if it was at all possible, made me love this company even more.  You can check it out on NPR's How I Built This where ever you get your podcasts.  Mostly I use the PodCast app via my iPhone.

Since Warby Parker launched, there have been others that have come onto the scene.  But again, I love these trailblazers.  Not only can you buy your glasses online with the most amazing online experience ever (you upload your RX by simply taking a picture of it), you can also take your prescription into one of their super-hip, non-threatening storefronts with zero dusty spin racks. 

And you know what else?  In addition to super-affordable cool frames you can buy in super-hip cool storefronts, they follow in the footsteps of one of my other favorites, TOMS, and are committed to social good.  For every pair of glasses I buy, another pair is given to someone in need.  Did you know there are over 2.5 billion people who need but don’t have access to glasses? 

And then for even more good feels, Warby is partnering with B-more’s (my hometown) one and only Johns Hopkins University to collect the data to see what happens to reading scores when vision treatment and access to glasses is given to those in need as well as children in urban settings.  I mean the results seem obvious but we are a data-driven society.  Data talks.  Oh, and did I mention that Warby Parker is one of the only carbon-neutral eyewear companies on Earth? #greenisgood

So if you’re in the need for a new pair of reading glasses, eyeglasses or RX sunglasses.  You will love Warby Parker for how hot you look in your new shades and your wallet will still be fat enough for those new pair of TOM shoes with the cute little whale embroidery that you definitely don't need but want.  

Thanks for reading, y'all! And if you liked it, please tell your sister, your friends, your friend's friends and your friend's friend's friends.  

xoxoTrish