When Warby Parker was first getting off the ground, the idea of buying glasses online was completely new. They've done a great job of validating the model, but now they're facing a lot of competition and I'm not sure their brand is enough to allow them to compete.

I ended up buying my two pairs of glasses from a competitor... The first pair was only $30, and that was only because I opted for a higher end lens. The second pair was a designer brand that was at a similar price point. Since the lens cost has gone down dramatically for all of the online retailers, on what basis is Warby Parker going to compete?

Glasses are an industry that is all about brand labels. For people that care about that sort of thing, they'll go buy RayBan or Gucci or whatever else over a Warby frame at a roughly similar price point. For folks that don't care about that sort of thing, they'll buy a cheaper non-name brand fram for less than the Warby price point.