Swin Huang shares her journey starting THE NO.2 EYEWEAR.
People are given the choice between two terrible options when it came to their glasses. Be stylish, or be comfortable. And I thought that is BS, so I created THE NO. 2 EYEWEAR — The glasses you feel wearing nothing on your face, yet it’s incredibly durable.
Before starting THE NO. 2 EYEWEAR, I worked in the creative/branding industry for 10 years, helping companies such as IBM, Bloomberg, Pepsi, and start-ups build or transform their brands through positioning, strategy, and visual communication. I was passionate and loved what I was doing — communication through creative thinking and design.
After years of working in the design agency environment, I felt something is missing in me. I no longer felt the same happiness that I used to have, I felt that I work for clients without a soul. There was a strong voice in me saying, “I don’t like the life I have, I need to do something, I need to change.” And that’s when my entrepreneur journey began.
I started searching for ideas that can involve my design passion and solve people’s problems and provide true values. And I started thinking about all the issues I have in my life — the bags that has a hole at the bottom, the shoes that wear out every year, the phone screen that brokes often. These problems are annoying but didn’t bother me that much until I thought of the experience of wearing glasses.
Since I was a kid, I wear glasses and definitely not a fan. With around 30 frames I have worn in my life, most aren’t comfortable, and the comfortable ones are ugly. I always had to choose between style or comfort, and style always won. Many people who wear glasses can feel the pain as I do — frames are heavy, they keep sliding down, the red marks on my nose, and not to mention the pain behind my ears. Besides, I broke a couple of my frames by accidentally sitting on or bending or dropping the glasses.
2 years ago, I decided to do Lasik eye surgery to make my life easier, and I was happy with the result, no more glasses, no more discomfort, until… I put on the sunglasses, the same problems happened, and at that moment I thought… What the …
So I started researching why with so many eyewear brands and options in the market, looking for the perfect pair is so hard. After intensive research on the eyewear industry, the eyewear market, how the glasses are designed, the manufacturing process. I realized that most eyewear is designed for caucasian facial features. Still, everyone is different with the diversity of ethnicity — From the tall nose bridge vs short nose bridge, narrow face width to wide face width. Besides, eyewear’s main issue is the heaviness of the frames due to the materials widely used in the eyewear industry, and the materials have been the same for years without improving.
My background as a designer has taught me that design is not only about eye-catching visuals; more importantly, design is about “user experience”. For example, how people can understand the message quickly through visual design, how people can navigate the website without a second thought, how people can use an app by intuition.
Eyewear should be the same. From the moment you take out the glasses from the case, what’s the feeling of touching and holding the frame? How comfortable when you put them on your face? How easy can they be stored without worrying about breaking them? Do they require constant repairs? These are all user experiences when it comes to eyewear.
Most eyewear in the market only focuses on the style rather than take the whole wearing experience into design consideration. That’s why people experience discomfort, heaviness, or repairs constantly and take the unpleasant eyewear experience for granted because that’s the status quo of the eyewear market.
Wearing glasses for almost all my life and suffered from all the eyewear problems that other people also experienced. I decided to find a solution.
I started to search and contact tons of eyewear manufacturers, test out different kinds of materials, have rounds of design, prototyping, trials, and errors. Our team finally landed on the materials and design that can significantly improve the wearers’ experiences and solve common eyewear problems, and THE NO. 2 EYEWEAR is born.
We broke the eyewear design status quote by developing incredibly durable, ultralight, and zero-screw eyewear by innovating how eyewear is designed, made, and constructed.
Our frames are made of 0.5mm ultra-thin Japanese memory stainless steel and weigh only 0.7 oz/19 g (equals 7 pennies) to ensure your face feels no pressure when wearing them, and it’s like wearing nothing on your face. We use soft silicone nose pads and temple/arm tips to provide the best comfort for your nose and ears. It’s like they are hugging your nose and ears.
Fewer components mean a more substantial frame structure. We design our glasses without any screws, barrel hinges, and welding joints to ensure maximum durability and flexibility. Don’t worry if you accidentally sit on, bend the frames or even step on them — they won’t break unless you REALLY, REALLY try to.
Last but not least, The patent-pending zero-screw hinge design replaces traditional eyewear’s barrel hinges and screws and prevents loose hinges or missing screws. Most eyewear uses old-fashioned screws and barrel hinges, leading to glasses getting loose over time and falling off your face, shirt collar, or pocket. We have reinvented the hinges to ensure they never get loose.
THE NO. 2 is not just another eyewear brand that produces fashionable and trendy glasses. Our mission is to solve people’s eyewear problems and provide actual values to our customers, especially glasses are so intimate to people’s everyday lives.
We have received very positive feedback from our customers since we launched, and we will continue to provide the highest quality eyewear — No discomfort. No screws. No broken glasses. You don’t need to choose between style or comfort. You can look and feel the best anywhere, anytime.