You don’t have to be a skateboarder to be in complete awe of Tyshawn Jones. His skating and athleticism are so otherworldly that you immediately know he’s in a different league than the rest. He simply does things on a skateboard that no one has ever seen. (At only 19, he was crowned
Thrasher’s Skater of the Year—one of the most coveted awards in skateboarding.) Not bad for someone who first picked up a skateboard at age 10.
“To have our first frame collaboration with a skateboarder be Tyshawn Jones is pretty special for us—and, honestly, a bit serendipitous,” says Neil Blumenthal, Warby Parker co-CEO and co-founder. “Tyshawn’s favorite place to skate happens to only be a few blocks from our office in SoHo, and he attended The Albert Einstein School, which has been a longtime partner
of our Pupils Project. Beyond our local connections, his passion for design, plus his desire to give back to the community, really made him the ideal collaborator.”
Tyshawn was born and raised in New York City, and his style fully embodies that: playful, bold, and naturally carefree. When Warby Parker met Tyshawn in the fall of 2019, they agreed to let those qualities guide them as they created his limited-edition sunglasses. And it was there in their office where Tyshawn first spotted a custom, hand-layered checkerboard acetate that Warby Parker’s design team had developed several years earlier. Together, they decided to pair it with their classic, laidback Harris frame for a combination that truly represented his style. Like Tyshawn’s skating, it looks effortless on the surface, but there’s so much more going on underneath.
“When I met with the Warby Parker team at their office, we talked a lot about what the company stands for—and, for me, learning about their
Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program was what really got me excited to collaborate,” says Tyshawn Jones. “It’s really cool to be able to leave my
individual mark on a pair of sunglasses and, at the same time, help give back to the community.”
This collaboration has been in the works for the last few years – back in 2019, Warby Parker first met with Tyshawn at their office, where he first spotted a custom, hand-layered checkerboard acetate, that their in-house design team had developed several years earlier. Together with Tyshawn, Warby Parker decided to pair the acetate with their Harris frames, for a combination that truly represented Tyshawn’s style.
In celebration of the collaboration, Warby Parker is making a donation to The Albert Einstein School in the Bronx. This school isn’t only near and dear to Tyshawn—it’s his alma mater, after all—but it’s also been a longtime partner of the Warby Parker Pupils Project, which provides free vision screenings, eye exams, and glasses to school children in the U.S.
Starting at $95
warbyparker.com/tyshawnjones
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