Zenni Optical is an American 📝Direct to Consumer (DTC) 🏷️#eyewear-brand, founded in 2003, that sells low-cost prescription glasses and sunglasses exclusively online under its own in-house frame brands.
Zenni was founded in 2003 by Tibor Laczay and Julia Zhen and is based in Novato, California. It originally operated as 19dollareyeglasses.com and adopted the Zenni Optical name around 2006, after lowering its cheapest frames to under $8. The company pioneered the direct-to-consumer model for eyewear, selling only over the internet to undercut the high markups of traditional optical retail.
Zenni keeps prices low by designing and selling its own house frames rather than licensed name brands, offering custom prescriptions across single-vision, bifocal, and progressive lenses. The approach made it one of the largest online eyewear sellers: the company had sold more than 51 million pairs of glasses as of 2023 and reported roughly $390 million in revenue in 2021. It anchors the budget end of the online-optical market, competing on price and frame variety rather than designer prestige.