"Shark Tank" company Pair Eyewear is establishing its first brick-and-mortar presence in the Philadelphia area as part of a nationwide push with eye care giant National Vision.
The eyewear startup allows customers to snap a variety of "top frames" with different colors and designs onto their glasses, giving users the ability to customize their look each day. The innovative eyewear will be available beginning Jan. 17 at National Vision's America's Best retail location in Lawrence Park Shopping Center in Broomall.
Pair Eyewear's basic glasses with prescription lenses cost $60, and the top frames range from $25 to $30 each. The top frames come in thousands of different colors and styles, including collections that feature branding from professional sports team and franchises like "Harry Potter." Pair Eyewear is the largest licensing player in the eyewear space, with partnerships with the NBA, MLB and NHL, along with entertainment companies including Marvel and Warner Brothers.
The Philadelphia area is among the first places to see the partnership between Pair Eyewear and National Vision materialize, along with cities like Pittsburgh, Austin and Fresno, California.
The New York-based company appeared on "Shark Tank" in March 2020, with co-CEOs Nathan Kondamuri and Sophia Edelstein snagging a $400,000 investment from celebrity investor Lori Granier and former Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake for a 10% stake and a $1.50 royalty per pair sold until the investment was repaid.
Pair Eyewear has raised $145 million to date — including a $75 million Series C in October — as part of what Kondamuri described as a "rocket ship growth trajectory." Since its "Shark Tank" appearance, sales have multiplied by a factor of 24, and the startup has sold 2 million top frames and grown to 160 employees, Kondamuri said.
The company was founded in 2018 by Kondamuri and Edelstein, both Stanford University alums and Forbes 30 Under 30 honorees. It had been an online-only retailer since its inception, but Kondamuri said that gaining a physical presence was always part of the long-term vision. Today, eyewear is one of a dwindling group of items that customers still largely prefer to purchase in store, he said.
"We've just been scaling really rapidly as a business," Kondamuri said. "Our customer base has been growing a ton. We kept hearing from our customers, 'Hey, we'd love if we could try on pairs in store' and [allow them to] really enjoy that fun experience that they have with our thousands of different designs of top frames and be able to bring that experience in store."
Philadelphia was high on the list of priorities for expansion from Pair Eyewear's base in New York, with the company looking at Philadelphia as a "sister city," said Kondamuri.
"We were thinking about some of the cities that we have the most engaged, high energy and excited customers and Philly was one of those cities," Kondamuri said, adding that top frames branded with Phillies, Flyers and 76ers logos are popular with online customers from the Philadelphia area. "Philly as a city, the people in Philly are so energetic, they have such exciting personalities. And that's really what Pair is all about in terms of self expression and personalization. We thought Philly was a great place to start."
Kondamuri said Pair Eyewear has created a "new model" in the eyewear industry, one that is more focused on retention and repeat customers. He hopes the in-person experience will go a long way in establishing more of those relationships with customers. Kondamuri and Edelstein think that they have "just scratched the surface" with their online sales and will look to soon be in thousands of America's Best stores.
