NEW YORK—Warby Parker is announcing a milestone today for its "Buy a Pair, Give a Pair" program. The company reports it has officially distributed five million pairs of glasses to those in need in more than 50 countries around the world. The company noted, "This means five million more people now have the glasses they need to learn, work and achieve better economic outcomes. Helping people see has been core to the company since our launch (over nine years ago), and Warby Parker has worked hard to prove the power of a socially conscious business at scale."

Warby Parker cited World Economic Forum data, reflecting that 2.5 billion people around the world need glasses and don’t have access to them. Of these, 624 million cannot effectively learn or work due to the severity of their visual impairment. To help address this problem, Warby Parker works with a handful of partners worldwide (including here in the U.S.) for their "Buy a Pair, Give a Pair" program, which employs two models:

• Globally, working with non-profit partners, like VisionSpring, to empower adult men and women with training opportunities to administer eye exams and sell glasses for affordable prices.

• Domestically, providing vision care and glasses directly to school-age children in their classrooms, where teachers are often the first to spot issues. Called Pupils Project, this program works with local agencies, including the Department of Education in NYC and Baltimore, to ensure students have essential tools for learning.

VisionSpring estimates that the glasses distributed with the support of our Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program thus far will unlock more than $1 billion in earning potential for low-income households by 2021.