Rivet & Sway

The world of online retail has been inundated with eyewear, from the all-encompassing Glasses.com to the hipster-haven Warby Parker. While many others have come and gone, there is one that has entered the field in a niche market – women’s eyewear – and is giving their competitors a run for their money: Rivet & Sway.

Rivet & Sway is a Seattle based startup boutique specializing in higher-end spectacles for women. Rivet prides itself in making eyewear shopping as simple as possible, with a low cost (frames are $169 for the first pair, $99 each additional) and a showroom full of good quality frames and lenses.

Because they are online order only, the boutique allows customers to try on their glasses, free of charge, from the comfort of their own homes. Rivet sends out five different pairs at a time, all of the customer’s choice, to try out for five days (this includes free shipping back to the warehouse). During these five days customers can send Rivet & Sway photos of them wearing the glasses in return for personal feedback.

Their glasses are made specifically for women’s faces in styles that all women love. In just two years the startup has reached thousands of ladies’ eyes and recently received $2 million in funding from venture capital firm Mousse Partners.

Last fall Sarah Bryar, CEO and former Vice President of product for the company, told the Huffington Post that the customer experience is the backbone of Rivet & Sway, and their mission is to make women love buying glasses.

“The foundation of Rivet & Sway’s value proposition is also the customer experience,” Bryar said. “We found that women in particular view buying glasses as a chore: it’s time consuming, uninspiring, and way too expensive. We saw an opportunity to create a better solution — specifically for women who want and deserve better.”