eyewear
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Roger Hardy and the art of coming back for more
He helped build Coastal Contacts, sold it to Essilor, and learned how quickly a second act can unravel. At KITS, Roger Hardy is back in eyewear, with an old competitive streak and a different appreciation for what holds a company together.
Anass Boumediene and the company that began over coffee
Before eyewa had a network of stores, Anass Boumediene built a network of people. His route from consulting to Gulf retail runs through shared lunches, a tested partnership and a willingness to keep changing the business.
Tibor Laczay and the art of selling less
He coded Zenni’s first website and helped build an eyewear business without venture capital. Tibor Laczay’s most revealing sales pitch was an invitation to spend less.
Mehdi Oudghiri and the long way downstairs
Eyewa began with a website and a trip to the shop downstairs. For co-founder Mehdi Oudghiri, the distance between a good idea and a working business has always been worth travelling.
The $10 Frame That Made Vision Benefits Look Absurd
A factory visit exposed the gap between what glasses cost to make and what Americans paid. XP Health turned that gap into an employer benefit built around clear prices, online shopping, and local eye care.
Brigid Stevens Knows What an Old Brand Must Keep - and What It Must Risk
After helping flowers feel direct, denim feel current and purpose feel practical, the veteran marketer has taken on a new lens at DIFF Eyewear. Her career offers a useful lesson in how brands change without misplacing themselves.
The $99 Smart Glasses Taking On Ray-Ban Meta - Without the Camera
A 13-person Miami outfit is selling AI-powered smart glasses for a fraction of Ray-Ban Meta's price - by leaving out the one feature everyone else brags about.
The Eyewear Chain That Turned a Mall Counter Into Malaysia’s Vision-Care Network
Focus Point sells frames and lenses, but its larger bet is that the optical shop can become the front door to preventive eye care. More than 200 stores, an expanding clinical toolkit and a knack for serving different budgets have turned one small counter into a national network.
eyewa
eyewa is the Middle East's largest omnichannel eyewear retailer, selling prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light glasses and contact lenses through its e-commerce platform, mobile app and a growing network of physical stores across the GCC. Founded in Dubai in 2017 by former Bain consultants Anass Boumediene and Mehdi Oudghiri, the company pairs affordable in-house brands with technology like AI-powered virtual try-on, and reached roughly 150 stores before raising a $100M Series C led by General Atlantic in late 2024 to fund a 100-store expansion.
DIFF Eyewear
DIFF Eyewear is a Southern California charitable eyewear brand founded in 2014 that sells designer-quality sunglasses, blue-light and prescription glasses at accessible prices while donating vision care for every pair sold. Built on a buy-one-give-one model, DIFF pairs trend-driven, celebrity- and pop-culture-inspired collections (Disney, Star Wars, Harry Potter) with a philanthropic mission delivered through partners like Sightsavers, having funded well over a million pairs of reading glasses and eye exams for people in need.
Eleventy USA, LLC.
Eleventy USA is the North American arm of Eleventy, a Milan-based Italian luxury label founded in 2007 by Marco Baldassari and Paolo Zuntini. Built on a philosophy of 'Smart Luxury' - understated, logo-free clothing that blends traditional Italian tailoring with modern comfort - the brand sells men's and women's ready-to-wear, sportswear, shoes, leather goods, eyewear and accessories. Since establishing its New York headquarters in 2016, Eleventy USA has grown its stateside footprint to eight flagships and become a leading example of the 'quiet luxury' movement in America.
Kendra Scott
Kendra Scott is an Austin-based jewelry and lifestyle brand founded in 2002 that pairs accessible, colorful, customizable designs with a mission of 'Family, Fashion, and Philanthropy.' Built from a $500 startup into a company valued at more than $1 billion, it sells fashion, demi-fine and fine jewelry - plus watches, fragrance, eyewear and home goods - through 150-plus stores, a strong e-commerce channel and wholesale partners. Its signature Color Bar lets shoppers design their own pieces, and the company has given tens of millions of dollars to causes supporting women and youth.
Kering
Kering is a French global luxury group that owns and develops a portfolio of Houses in fashion, leather goods, jewelry and eyewear - including Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Boucheron, Pomellato, Qeelin and Ginori 1735, plus Kering Eyewear and Kering Beaute. Controlled by the Pinault family through holding company Artemis, Kering grew out of a lumber and retail company (PPR) and reoriented itself entirely toward luxury, positioning creativity and sustainability at the center of its strategy.
Michael Kors
Michael Kors is an American accessible-luxury fashion house founded in 1981 by designer Michael Kors. Known for jet-set American sportswear, its signature Saffiano-leather handbags, watches and ready-to-wear, the brand sells through hundreds of retail and outlet stores worldwide, wholesale partners and a growing e-commerce business. Now the anchor brand of parent Capri Holdings, Michael Kors accounts for roughly 70% of the group's revenue and targets style-conscious, aspirational consumers who want luxury design at a more attainable price point.
VSP Vision
VSP Vision is the largest not-for-profit vision benefits and eye care company in the United States, founded in 1955 by a group of Northern California optometrists who pioneered the idea of prepaid vision insurance. Headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California, VSP now operates a vertically integrated portfolio spanning vision insurance, eyewear brands (Marchon, Altair, Marcolin), lens technology (VSP Optics), retail (Visionworks, Eyeconic), and practice-management software (Eyefinity). Backed by roughly 85 million members and a network of tens of thousands of independent eye doctors, the company frames its mission as empowering human potential through sight, and funds one of the industry's largest charitable arms, VSP Eyes of Hope.
Wendy Hauteman
Wendy Hauteman is Chief Marketing Officer at VSP Vision, the Rancho Cordova-based not-for-profit vision care company that serves close to 90 million members through a network of 40,000 doctors. She has spent more than two decades in the optical industry, moving from senior marketing roles at Pearle Vision, ILORI and EyeMed to leading global strategic marketing at VSP before her promotion to CMO in August 2019. Under her leadership VSP shifted its message from 'we help people see' to 'empowering human potential through sight,' anchoring the brand's purpose-first playbook.
Nathan Kondamuri
Nathan Kondamuri is the co-founder and co-CEO of Pair Eyewear, the customizable glasses company he started in a Stanford dorm room with classmate Sophia Edelstein. Pair sells base frames with magnetic, swappable 'Top Frames' that turn a medical necessity into a fashion accessory. Since pitching on Shark Tank in 2020, the company has raised about $148 million, including a $75 million Series C in 2023, sold millions of frames, and grown revenue more than 30x. A mechanical engineering graduate and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree from Munster, Indiana, Kondamuri runs the business in an unusual two-CEO partnership.
Pair Eyewear
Pair Eyewear is a New York-based direct-to-consumer eyewear company that reinvented glasses as a customizable, collectible accessory. Its patented system pairs an affordable base frame with magnetic snap-on 'Top Frames' - over 1,000 designs spanning licensed collaborations with Disney, Marvel, the NFL, and The Met - so a single pair of glasses can change with your mood, outfit, or favorite team. Founded by Stanford grads Sophia Edelstein and Nathan Kondamuri in 2017, Pair has sold millions of Top Frames, built one of the most automated lens labs in the U.S., and raised roughly $148M to scale a recurring-revenue model in an industry long defined by buy-once-every-two-years inertia.
Sophia Edelstein
Sophia Edelstein is the co-founder and co-CEO of Pair Eyewear, the direct-to-consumer brand that turned eyeglasses into a fashion accessory you can swap as fast as your mood. She and Stanford classmate Nathan Kondamuri started the company in their senior year after interviewing 400 families about why kids hate their glasses, and built it into a vertically integrated eyewear company with the most automated lens lab in the United States. By late 2023 the company had raised roughly $145 million, grown revenue 24x in three years, and sold millions of interchangeable 'Top Frames'. Edelstein leads brand, creative, web and product design while sharing the CEO seat in one of the more visible co-CEO partnerships in consumer tech.