Is Zak. Eyewear the New Warby Parker? Read Our Review
The ability to get absolutely anything any time you want it is one of the great coups of the Internet age. It’s also a hell of a curse: endless options makes for debilitating decision fatigue, even for the most mundane of purchases. Who among us hasn’t swiped through countless pages of high-thread count sheets, cell phone cases, or even toothpaste options before giving up completely with nothing added to cart?
Father-and-daughter duo Dr. Myles Zakheim and Kyly Rabin get it. So they recently launched eyewear brand Zak., made to streamline the hunt for glasses without sacrificing style or taking a big bite out of our bank accounts. (Think: Warby Parker, but with a much tighter edit.)
The idea? Take more than 30 years of optometry experience (compliments of Dr. Zakheim) to create six universally flattering, unisex eyeglasses shapes — pilot, cat, rectangle, square, round, and really round — offered in two thicknesses, three lens tints (clear, gray, and green), and three classic finishes (black, clear, and tortoise). Add in industry-disrupting services dreamed up by startup specialist Rabin — like a flat, $125 price point for single-vision lenses, uploadable prescriptions, and ultra-fast turnaround — and suddenly, finding cool glasses is shockingly easy.
The mercifully abbreviated decision tree is in itself a timesaver. (It took us less than five minutes to land on a pair of frames, upload our Rx, add to cart, and check out with free shipping anywhere in the continental U.S.)
But it’s what happened after our order was placed that makes the family-owned brand stand out from other fast and affordable options. To start, orders aren’t processed from a massive warehouse but in Zak.’s sleek and intimate LA showroom and lab where visitors are greeted with complimentary fresh-squeezed carrot juice. Online orders are given just as much of a human touch: Opticians certified in IDing prescription requirements review and approve each order to ensure it best fits the customer’s prescription needs. Next, the lab manager starts the lens fabrication process, which can include adding tints ($50-$75) or creating progressive, multifocal lenses. In order to ship glasses out ASAP, Zak. stocks a larger range of lenses than most optical operations, a move that allows for same-day to five-day turnaround, depending on the complexity of the order. Finally, opticians completes a “truing” process on all frames to ensure they are aligned from every angle for a snug fit.
For all the attention to detail managed on Zak’s end, the process remains incredibly seamless, if not downright effortless for consumers. Once we checkout on the site, we received a simple text confirming the order, then another just five hours later stating our new specs had been shipped. A few days later and with the heads up via another text, they were at our door, which means with just five minutes of decision making and ordering, a few texts and a couple of business days, we went from sidelining an overwhelming glasses hunt to seeing clearly.