LensCrafters is celebrating its 40th year of providing quality eyewear and excellent care services. The brand’s rich history and significant contributions to the optical industry have made it one of the world’s leading eyewear retailers. Throughout the years, the company has emphasized craftsmanship and innovation, consistently ushering in the latest eye care technology. Its ongoing 40th-anniversary campaign features award-winning actress Sharon Stone, as she embodies the brand’s empowering values.
LensCrafters: A Brief History
Dean Butler founded the company in 1983 with a carefully crafted marketing strategy. LensCrafters, initially named Precision LensCrafters, came to be at a time when big changes were happening within the optical industry. Butler capitalized on this and decided to position the brand uniquely. He built his optical shop inside a mall, along with its own onsite laboratory. While waiting for frames, he encouraged customers to walk around and shop and return an hour later for their glasses. This type of quick service was unheard of at the time. He also promised a lifetime of free maintenance for customers.
The concept was considered a revolutionary success, bringing the brand immense popularity. The company grew quickly, amassing many investors. They were able to establish three more stores by early 1984. In 1988, the company began expanding overseas with outlets in Canada. By 1995, LensCrafters was the first optical retailer under the premium conglomerate Luxottica. A year after this acquisition, the company built 70 more physical stores and hired thousands of employees globally. Then and now, the company places great emphasis on fostering a healthy environment and a positive corporate culture for its workers.
As of today, LensCrafters has more than 1000 physical stores worldwide.
40 Years of Creating Quality Eyewear
Throughout its years of operating, LensCrafters has significantly impacted the eyewear industry. In order to increase sales, Dean Butler came up with a new idea. He started promoting prescription glasses on LensCrafter as more than vision corrective tools by instead positioning them as fashion accessories. This was done through offering a wide variety of frame styles, shapes, and designs. This product variety led to many fashion houses like Burberry, Prada, and Giorgio Armani creating and offering their respective eyewear lines via LensCrafters. As outlined in our post on 5 Amazing Facts about Glasses, this development also encouraged the ownership of multiple pairs of eyeglasses, as referenced in a previous post that states over a third (37.1%) of people who wear glasses have at least two pairs in their eyewear collection.
As profits increased, the brand also began giving back. The brand started its charity work in 1988 as LensCrafters employees began upcycling used optical frames and donating them to people from underprivileged communities. Later on, Luxottica adopted the program under its OneSight foundation, which aims to provide eye care to those who could not afford it. Since then, OneSight has provided access to proper vision to approximately 562 million people.
As part of its eye care initiatives, LensCrafters has partnered with multiple artists to commemorate World Sight Day annually. The goal of the campaign, titled “Your Eyes First,” is to raise awareness about prioritizing sight and getting eye exams regularly. In the past, they have partnered with Australian illustrator Karen Singh and graphic designer Noma Bar to create a series of posters for online dissemination. In 2022, they announced their collaboration with actress and producer Sharon Stone for the campaign. She is still currently the face of the brand and is promoting its message of elevating style while emphasizing vision care through digital and television commercials.
At its core, LensCrafters believes in providing quality eye services to everyone. The brand offers the latest in eyewear technology, as well as a wide selection of contact lenses and frames for its customers. It carries several fellow heritage eyewear brands, such as Ray-Ban, which has been a part of the optical industry for over 80 years, and Oakley, which is about to reach its 50th year of operations. They also have a reliable team of expert optometrists nationwide to provide eye exams in-store.
Representatives of the brand have shared their excitement about the future of LensCrafters. The brand is currently taking steps towards expanding even more through the digital landscape. Their goal is to give customers the same premium experience online as they would in person. With this, they aim to leave a larger footprint in the optical market.
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