Home Tech & Innovation Build-your-own-eyewear website wins fourth place in Anthill SMART 100

Build-your-own-eyewear website wins fourth place in Anthill SMART 100

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When it comes to eyewear, people either compromise on style, colour and size… or pay through the wazoo to get exactly what they want. Daniel He, an entrepreneur with a degree in optometry from the University of South Wales, wants to change all that.

He is putting together an online platform where people can take charge of their glasses, making all the choice necessary to come up with the exact eyewear they want. The glasses would cost the same as a similar pair purchased at a local market.

4. Customisable eyewear

Headquarters: NSW

Eyewear selection was in a sorry state more than a decade ago, when He worked in an optical store. Years later, He, now with a marketing degree in hand, noticed things hadn’t gotten any better. And that’s when the idea of on-the-screen customization for eyewear was hatched. With a manufacturing partner in place, He expects to push the limits of what options a customer can have.

The idea is new enough that He has yet to launch the website. He says it should be up and running later this year.

He had three target markets: the fashion-focused who want to co-create their own unique eyewear; people with large or small faces that don’t fit the “average” pair of glasses; and the online shopper who is looking for an alternative to traditional optical outlets.

The goal is to make a user interface that’s easy and fun. There’s no illusion that the site and its products will steamroll the multibillion-dollar optical industry, but He hopes to capture the much-needed customisation segment seen in other areas of fashion.