
An Open Letter to Warby Parker - jamiest
http://classicspecs.tumblr.com/post/18945992371/an-open-letter-to-warby-parker
======
abyssknight
Why do startups do this? I've seen this a few times over the past few years,
and every time I find it loathsome. Dirty laundry isn't something you just go
around airing because someone sent you a C&D letter. It could have been a
mistake, it could have been a rogue legal team member, it could have been
anything. Does it matter to the general public? No. Should it? No. This is
between two businesses, and should have stayed that way. It makes both parties
look very unprofessional -- and that's about all it achieves as far as I can
tell.

~~~
ssharp
I've recently made a purchase from WP. During my buying process, I did not
know that this other company even existed. Now I do.

~~~
suking
bingo

------
dkrich
Until Classic Specs gets a prominently-featured set of advertisements with a
faux-intellectual, salt-and-pepper haired douchebag, Warby Parker can't cry
foul.

I know this is going to get down-voted, but seriously, it is 2012. Who buys a
monocle? I want to buy one and wear it around as a joke.

~~~
larrys
"faux-intellectual, salt-and-pepper haired douchebag"

The name of course is also a little to invented.

Nothing wrong with that but it reminds me of the way people used to name
investment firms trying to sound all distinguished and "we've been around for
100 years". There are actually examples of companies that have scammed people
using a particular type of made up name.

Here is how they made up the name:

[http://www.theparadigmcase.com/2011/07/the-case-on-style-
war...](http://www.theparadigmcase.com/2011/07/the-case-on-style-warby-
parker/)

~~~
dkrich
If you want to see this taken to ridiculous heights, check this out:
[http://www.bestmadeco.com/collections/frontpage/products/our...](http://www.bestmadeco.com/collections/frontpage/products/our-
famous-red-wool-blanket)

When do you think this company was founded? Surely it was founded by an
enterprising young frontiersman in the 1800's. 1850? 1900? Actually it was
founded in 2009.

~~~
larrys
Wow. Thanks for pointing that out. They definitely get the "shovel the shit"
award this week. They have axes that cost $250. I bought a fine axe at Lowes I
think it was $30 maybe?

Watch this piece of work:

[http://www.bestmadeprojects.com/post/5427086342/peter-
buchan...](http://www.bestmadeprojects.com/post/5427086342/peter-buchanan-
smith-discusses-the-best-made)

Marketing like this is a few steps removed from the "pet rock" of the 70's.
Wrapping an everyday product in some kind of crafty acceptability. At least
with the pet rock everyone knew it was a gimmick.

Edit: Think our links show the same video?

~~~
dkrich
Yeah, I think this is a case where the founder is desperately trying to
exploit demand for products whether it exists or not. I don't know how many
axes he's sold, I hope he's sold a lot, but there is something about the copy
and his messaging that suggests that he is falsely earnest about quality.

If nothing else, it is a blatant ripoff of Coudal's Field Notes.

------
pbreit
So Warby Parker might be jerks and Classic Specs definitely are jerks?

------
smackfu
If you ever find yourself writing an open letter like this, please stop. No
one cares that your competitor badmouthed you. It doesn't need an open letter,
it needs a normal letter, preferably from your lawyer.

~~~
tzaman
I disagree. Open letters let customers know what is going on behind the
scenes. No way am I going to buy from a company with this kind of
attitude/culture.

~~~
mgkimsal
Which one, WP or CS?

~~~
tzaman
Not going to buy from WP. The content of the attached document clearly shows
how ignorant they are. I hate ignorance. It's the lazy way out.

------
ggchappell
To me, one paragraph in this post stands out far above the others in
importance. I find it interesting that it is getting so few comments here. It
is the "P.S.".

If one business sends a C&D to another, then they can't expect it to be kept
private. You can argue about the wisdom of posting it, or what this says about
the poster's attitude; however, Classic Specs is certainly within both legal
and ethical standards in doing so.

But posting a customer's personal information without permission is
unacceptable.

If anyone from Classic Specs is reading this: You need to remove that P.S.,
and you need to remove it _now_.

~~~
dfc
I could not agree more. If this story was meant to engender sympathetic
feelings that last paragraph ruined any chances. However I doubt most people
got that far...

~~~
tylerritchie
Agreed. First, very uncool to mention the wife of your competition ordered a
pair. Second, dick-maneuver to not send glasses that a customer ordered and to
include a snarky card instead.

Much classier would be to have sent the glasses with a note saying "I hope you
enjoy these glasses blah blah blah," and never have mentioned it in a blog
post that's knocking your customer's husband's company.

------
antr
I guess that when you raise capital, the best use for it is to spend it on
lawyers. Shame on Warby Parker.

PS: I'm now going to give classicspecs.com a try

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plessthanpt05
Bahaha... opinions aside on the legality bit, that "ps" (true or not) is
pretty damn funny.

------
DanBC
Why blur out the charity donation? It was $2100.

~~~
Danieru
Because it lets you estimate revenue? $35,000/month

Or sales volume? 389/month

------
vm
The most interesting part is in the NY Times link (reproduced below): so many
companies are copying Warby Parker. Warby was first and at least FOUR other
companies copy them, down to the marketing message, branding and products.
There are several more copy-cats not mentioned in the article.

Lesson? Haul-ass once you find product-market fit.

the NY Times link within the post:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/fashion/eyeglasses-on-
spec...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/fashion/eyeglasses-on-spec-online-
retailers.html)

------
streptomycin
I read it, and it seems purposely vague enough so that you don't really know
who was in the wrong. Is that the whole point of this, just to muddle an issue
and then hope it disappears?

------
snowwrestler
Hipster fight!

------
radicalbyte
I have to wonder if there's much of a mid-to-long term market for these "NHS-
style"* specs. Sure they're fashionable now but in a couple of years it'll be
all brushed aluminium. Or green.

I've been buying that style of glasses for years from goggles4u for £20 a pop.
Nice and cheap, look terrible but can take some punishment.

[*] NHS = National Health Service; it's a British expression based on the fact
that the only glasses covered by the NHS are the cheap, thick and most of the
time unfashionable frames/lenses.

------
dr_
An open letter to warby parker & classicspecs:

there are a lot of us out there who don't wear "hipster"ish eyeglasses that
pretty much all look the same. please offer more variety.

thanks.

~~~
iusable
lol! instant vote up.

but yeah, we need more than just bk-style :)

------
jack-r-abbit
Before today: I've never heard of either of these sites.

After today: I'll never remember either of these sites.

and yes... the final dig was pretty funny.

------
larrywright
I'm not sure Warby Parker is justified in picking on them, but even without
knowing that they're having a tiff I would have said that Classic Specs seems
like a Warby Parker knockoff.

------
rdl
This whole thing makes me so glad I got LASIK a few years ago.

~~~
RockyMcNuts
[http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-
news/20...](http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-
news/2012/02/15/331686/Surgery-pioneer.htm)

Ray Tsai (蔡瑞芳), one of Taiwan's pioneers in laser eye surgery, said yesterday
that he will no longer perform the procedure because it violates his medical
ethics. ... He has observed situations in which visual acuity worsens suddenly
and rapidly long after the LASIK procedure itself.

~~~
Karunamon
>He has observed situations

There are situations in which medical procedures fail, sometimes immediately,
sometimes many years after the fact. That does not indicate a problem with the
procedure.

~~~
mtrimpe
Lasik's not all sunshine. I for example suffer from a fairly common and known
complication, which is loss of contrast. That means that apart from being
severely night-blind my vision becomes unpredictably blurry whenever lightning
conditions change. I'm still counted as a success story but in retrospect I
would trade my old impaired but stable vision for my improved but unstable
vision.

~~~
rdl
Wearing contacts would have been impossible for me over the past decade, and I
always had problems with glasses (specifically, waking up without good vision
was a pain, and then there were various situations where I would want to see
but not be wearing glasses...).

My assumption was that if there were long-term negative side effects, corneal
replacement (or complete eye replacement) would become feasible within a
decade or two. Corneal transplants are already done (using cadavers), and I
don't think synthetic corneas are more than a few billion in research funding
away with current tech.

------
dfc
Does anyone know where the sizing charts are that are mentioned in the letter?
Did classic specs change images?

------
bigohms
And...this is why I refused to complete purchase of my WP at home try on and
went straight to CS.

------
dfc
_jameiest_ are you a CS employee? I am curious if you guys made any changes to
your website after receiving the letter...

------
rokhayakebe
This is raw gold & diamond.

------
nirvana
What's fascinating to me is comparing the impression you get from the lawyers
letter (wow, they really ripped off the warby parker website!) with the
response (we're using off the shelf privacy policy, and industry terms.)

It shows just how deceptive selective phrasing can be. "Substantially
identical" _implies_ that the text was a copy of copyrighted material, but the
selectivity is the bias- they never show that the text was copyrighted or
copyrightable, for instance.

You see this a lot when people want to spin something and they are very
careful about what they say to give a false impression. I can think of lots of
examples, but probably the best is every evenings nightly news. Whatever the
story they are covering, political or not, they are putting spin on it. Even
if the spin is just to heighten ratings or make the station itself look
prestigious, its always there. Yet people live in a perception of reality
where they think this is objective information, many times.

Imagine if that lawyers letter had been a blog post about how some YC startups
website was ripped off? (much like the complaint 37 signals had about being
ripped off...) that article would be the top post, and the rebuttals would be
spread out thru the comments, and missed by most people.

~~~
dfc
From what I can see it says "substantially similar" not "substantially
identical."[1] I am not a lawyer but it is my understanding that the relevant
issue is "substantially similar."[2]

What do you mean "they never show that the text was copyrighted"? Do you know
what is required to copyright content? There is no office where you file a
copyright application. Using a (c) and/or other types of copyright notices is
optional in a post-Berne American court.

[1] Is there a way to download the pdf of an embedded scribd asset? Reading
the document is painful...

[2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substantial_similarity>

~~~
dangrossman
> Do you know what is required to copyright content

That content can't be a mere statement of fact, for one.

~~~
dfc
I'm not really sure what this means? The lawyer's letter was a list of
allegations. Maybe you are not used to the writing style of legal documents?
This is how they are written...

~~~
dangrossman
Let me clarify then:

1) The original comment you replied to noted that the lawyers making the
allegations did not show that the text was copyrightable. This is a reference
to the article pointing out that some of the text in question consists of mere
statements of fact.

2) You replied with a sarcastic rhetorical question about whether the
commentor knew what was required to be protected by copyright.

3) I replied to you that the content can't be mere statement of fact. This is
the relevant characteristic in determining whether that content could be
protected by copyright, not whether it was registered with the copyright
office.

4) You got confused and started talking about the style of legal letters.

------
jsavimbi
Well, since the Warby Parker peeps will probably get around to reading this,
I'd just like to mention that I love my SALT Topher's and will probably spend
another $400 on another pair of SALT's for my spring wardrobe this year as
well.

~~~
Cmo619
How's the build quality? I love the SALT glasses I've seen online but the one
place in NYC that stocks them don't have many styles in stock. I'm leaning
toward the Dumonts

~~~
jsavimbi
I really like mine; they're solid. You can order them and have them sent to a
shop without any obligation to buy.

