Warby Parker brought the world stylish prescription eyeglasses you can order easily online at an affordable price. Is Pair Eyewear doing the same thing for kids’ glasses? We reviewed Pair to evaluate its pros and cons and see if they’re changing the game for kids like Warby Parker did for adults.
What are the similarities of Pair and Warby Parker?
Warby Parker sells prescription eyeglasses for $95. You order conveniently from your home and get five frames shipped to you to physically try on for five days. No more questioning whether the glasses you see on screen will actually look good on your face, and no more fickle virtual try-ons.
The company sells a variety of lens and prescription types, including single-vision and progressives, all designed to resist scratches, reflection and UV rays. And with 100% free shipping and free returns, we’re not sure if buying glasses could get much better.
The catch? Warby Parker only has men’s and women’s lines, but not glasses for kids. Pair Eyewear recognized this gap and has focused on better serving the whole family from the bottom up.
Pair is the same kind of online eyeglass service as Warby Parker—glasses ordered online and delivered to your door—but designed specifically for kids.
Like Warby Parker, you get free shipping and returns with Pair. You get an even better trial offer of 30 days, although you can’t try on five pairs at a time. They’re even more affordable, with a base price of $60 for prescription lenses (which makes sense for smaller frames). Pair only offers single-vision lenses at the moment but hopes to expand into Progressives soon. Like Warby Parker, the lenses are anti-reflective, scratch-resistant and have UV protection.
We think it’s helpful to visualize similarities and differences, so the table below gives you a head-to-head comparison of Pair vs Warby Parker.
Pair Eyewear vs Warby Parker: Prescription Eyeglasses Comparison | ||
|---|---|---|
| How to order | Paireyewear.com | Warbyparker.com |
| Offers kids glasses? | ✔️ | ✖️ |
| Offers glasses for adults? | ✖️ | ✔️ |
| Free trial or at-home try on? | Free 30-day trial | Try 5 frames for free for 5 days |
| Cost | $60+ for frames and prescription, $25 for each top | 95+ for frames and prescription |
| Free shipping and returns? | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Single-vision lenses? | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Progressive lenses? | ✖️ | ✔️ |
| Lens features | Anti-reflective, scratch resistant, UV protection | Anti-reflective, scratch resistant, UV protection |
| Website |
You can see that Pair Eyewear offers a great kid’s version of Warby Parker. The at-home try on experience is slightly different, but just as easy and risk free. Pair offers similarly stylish and durable frames that are even more affordable than Warby Parker’s. And compared to what’s available on the market for kids currently, your children are bound to love Pair.
What is it like to order kids’ glasses online?
Ordering glasses online can save a ton of time. Granted, you still need to take your child to see the optometrist in-person and get a prescription for eyeglasses. But that’s not so bad considering you want a medical expert monitoring your kids’ eye health regardless.
After that, the internet wins; the online ordering process is much more convenient. No more return visits or in-person adjustments. Plus you can browse styles from the privacy of your home without your son or daughter feeling self-conscious.
Many parents dread taking their children to the eyeglass store or department for that very reason. It can be anxiety-inducing to see your kid reject pair after pair knowing that you’ll only have their undivided attention for so long. Soon your child will whine and want to move on, potentially empty handed. Given the challenge to find the right pair, it’s understandable why so many parents end up grabbing generic glasses that their children end up hating.
What's it like to order kids glasses from Pair?
Pair offers a much better way. You don’t have to drag your kid to the eyeglass store, and try to choose a pair of glasses yourself. Instead, you just go to Pair’s website, have your child pick out some frames, and enter their prescription at the end.
Your child may even have fun picking out the frame style, as well as the customized “Tops” (which we’ll explain more about tops later).
Does Pair offer an at-home try on?
Pair doesn’t offer an at-home free trial exactly like Warby Parker’s, but it does have a generous return policy that allows for essentially the same experience. The company’s FAQ outlines a “30 day, no questions asked return policy, even for prescription lenses.” That means you can return anything within 30 days for a full refund or brand new pair.
Pair has a great selection of customizable glasses that are colorful and fun for kids. They are durable enough to survive a child’s turbulent lifestyle with their strong frames, scratch-resistant lenses, and spring hinges. But Pair’s best feature is arguably how well kids can customize their look and feel.
Does Pair Eyewear accept insurance?
No, Pair Eyewear doesn’t work take insurance, unfortunately, but you can still use your vision benefits to buy glasses. You can also apply for reimbursement from your insurance provider — just remember to keep your receipt handy after purchasing.
Is Pair Eyewear FSA Eligible?
Yes, Pair currently accepts most HSA and FSA cards. If they don’t accept yours, they likely can help you get some reimbursement back from your insurance provider as well.
How does Pair allow you to customize glasses for kids?
Pair makes it easy and inexpensive for kids to customize their specs. The company developed the ingenious idea of “Tops” — a thin secondary frame that magnetically connects over the base frame, allowing your child to switch the style of their glasses in an instant.
Here’s how this works. You buy one pair of frames with prescription lenses. Then, you can purchase individual Tops that instantly wrap your kid’s base frame in a new style. So if your child may prefer solid black frames to school, but a patterned style on the weekends, Pair makes it easy to alternate between the two.
That’s right — One pair of glasses. Endless styles. Perfect for kids with evolving preferences. If your son’s new “phase” suddenly makes him hate the way his glasses look, you don’t have to buy an entire new pair — just cover them with a new Top for $25 and call it a day.
Your kids may grow to love choosing new styles, which will reinforce the idea of wearing glasses and make them feel more comfortable expressing themselves.
Beyond just aesthetics, you can also customize your lenses to meet your needs. You can pick from ultra thin, light responsive, and blue light filtering. Prescriptions range from SPH values of -8.00 to +4.00 or CYL values of -2.00 to +2.00. And if you are just looking for sunglasses for your kids, Pair can help you with UV protection as well.
How to order Pair Eyewear for your kids
Pair has an easy, convenient ordering process. Here’s how it works:
- Visit paireyewear.com.
- Pick the frame shape from a few options that are great for children. The site recommends certain frames to best fit specific age ranges.
- Pick the base frame color.
- Choose as many tops as you want, which come in a variety of colors, patterns and even sunglasses.
- Pair will contact you or your child’s eye doctor for prescription information, or you can email a picture of the prescription.
- Try them out for 30 days to see if they work for your child. (Get 20% OFF for your first order.)
After that, you can continue to customize them with new tops as much as you please.
Pair Eyewear Reviews: What are customers saying about their glasses?
Since Pair is a relatively new brand, it can be tricky to find detailed (and honest) customer feedback. We dug around the internet reading reviews and trying to get a general read on Pair’s customer sentiment. Overall, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Both parents and kids appreciate the fun styles and vast selection Pair offers. There are many more reviews on Pinterest that echo that same sentiment. Other parents call out how easily Pair makes their kids feel comfortable in glasses:
It’s uplifting to hear that Pair glasses may help kids gain self-esteem. There are quite a few testimonials like this on their website. And this mommy blogger shared the benefits of using Pair glasses to help with her son’s screen time:
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The Verdict: Is Pair Eyewear Legit?
Pair definitely lives up to the hype. Just like Warby Parker, it offers the convenience of online ordering and at-home try ons, all with free shipping and returns. The only difference is that Pair is for kids — not adults — and offers a custom “tops” feature that makes it easy to switch up your look. To be honest, this feature is RAD 🤘 and I hope they extend their glasses offering to adults as well.
Pair promises durable frames and prescription lenses for kids at an affordable price. It also focuses relentlessly on customer experience, both for parents and children. Since Pair’s glasses are for younger folk who may not always be the most patient, the company understands it’s easy to overwhelm with too many options. So they make it dead simple to get a quality pair of glasses that you can jazz up / swap out later.
Parting thoughts: We give Pairs two thumbs up because of its ability to:
- make kids more self-confident, and
- stretch parents’ hard-earned bucks
With a re many permutations for kids to choose from, Pair not only makes it easy to get everyday glasses that kids love, but also creates plenty of space for them to have fun and experiment with self-expression.
Cheaper than LensCrafters and other traditional glasses retailers, Pair offers quality kids lenses for just $60. Take advantage of their promotion for new customers and get 20% off your first order.
What’s been your experience buying kids eyewear? Does Pair’s offering sound better? Tell us in the comments below.
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