NEW YORK—Warby Parker (NYSE: WRBY) is downsizing its workforce as part of a team restructuring, VMAIL has learned. The company, which announced the move on August 8, will eliminate 63 positions across a number of corporate departments. The news was first reported by Business Insider. Warby Parker released a statement saying, “While this was an incredibly difficult decision, we are making these changes to enable us to operate in a more focused and nimble manner and to capitalize more efficiently on our highest impact opportunities.”

In an August 8 email to Warby Parker employees that was obtained by Vision Monday, company co-founders and co-CEOs Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa noted that “the global economy continues to face significant volatility and uncertainty. This is impacting consumer behavior in every industry, including the optical industry. As a business, we must do our best to adapt, which sometimes involves making difficult decisions in the best interests of the company.”
 
The executives told employees that the restructuring will not impact members of Warby Parker’s lab team or customer-facing teams in retail or customer experience.
 
Warby Parker’s restructure comes just ahead of the release of its second quarter, 2022 earnings on Thursday. It follows months of decreases in its stock price. As of August 8, the company’s Class A shares were down 73.3 percent year-to-date, and 77.2 percent over the past 12 months, according to Nasdaq. Warby Parker completed its initial public offering in September 2021, and its shares are traded on the Nasdaq exchange.
 
Warby Parker was ranked ninth in Vision Monday’s 2022 Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers Report, with estimated U.S. sales of $534 million in 2021, up from an estimated $515 million in 2020. The company operated 158 U.S. stores at the end of 2021 compared to 123 stores the previous year.