Fashion Meets Conscience: Designer Frames by 141 Eyewear
The Story Behind the 141 Brand of Eyewear
If you’ve heard about the shoe company named Tom’s, then you’re perhaps already familiar with the model: a more intimate version of industrial-scale production for fashion products, but with a twist. And the twist? For-profit companies being run with a non-profit mindset: Tom’s gives away a pair of shoes for every pair they sell.
Using a similar model, eyewear designer 141 Eyewear in Portland is performing a much-needed service to the community and beyond, by giving away a pair of their glasses for every one that they sell. Sound like a novel idea?
“It’s not every day that the choices you make can immediately change someone’s life,” the website says, regarding the boots on the ground philosophy of the company’s ideas in action. For literally every pair of 141 Eyewear purchased, the company turns around and gives away a brand new pair of prescription glasses to a person in need. They say, “No portions of proceeds. No percentages. You buy, we give. 141.”
About Kyle & Shu-Chu, The Minds Behind 141 Eyewear
According to their story, “in early summer 2009, while discussing eyewear and the possibility of starting our own company, [Kyle & Shu-Chu] decided that [they] would change the optical industry by the way [they] do business. [They] were on a mission to share [their] passions for eyewear and giving by creating a for-profit company with a non-profit soul.”
Statistics show (based on info from the W.H.O.) that as many as 153 million people cannot see simply because they do not have access to corrective eyewear, and concurrently, many of those people simply cannot afford vision care. Thing about the practical consequences of this fact, especially as it pertains to kids.
What happens to a child who cannot read, or cannot see the blackboard at the head of the classroom? How far behind are they starting out, just because they don’t have glasses?
141 Eyewear in Portland believes that “something as small as a pair of glasses has the power to change a person’s life and open up a whole new world of possibilities.”
Learn more about 141 Eyewear frame collection now, or check out the other designer eyewear frame lines that we offer at Beaumont Vision.