Waveborn makes sunglasses that combine affordable fashion with a mission to have a major social impact.

Waveborn sunglasses are designed and handcrafted in Italy, and we sell them at a price point well below typical designer brands. For each pair of sunglasses sold, Waveborn helps a person in need in one of two ways: a) we provide a new pair of prescription eyeglasses through our nonprofit partner Unite for Sight, or b) we fund a portion of a vision-restoring cataract surgery for a person in need though our new nonprofit partner Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International.

Be the change you wish to see in this world!

Announcing our first Stretch Goal: $20,000

After reaching our initial goal of $10,000 we've set a stretch goal of $20,000! 

What will we be able to do if we get to our goal of $20,000? Two key things: First, we will be able to create four new styles/colors of Waveborns as well as some special edition shades in some exciting new colors! Second, if we reach our goal of $20,000 we will fund an additional 20 sight restoring cataract surgeries with SEE International, on top of the surgeries we've already committed to support.

Please help us meet this new goal by spreading the Waveborn word!

Waveborn is Officially Endorsed by The Crowdfund Mafia!

"Waveborn shades is stepping up to the plate and giving back big time. Get yourself a pair of cool Waveborn glasses and change someones life forever. A very inspiring campaign on Indiegogo." - The Crowdfund Mafia

Waveborn in the Media and Awards

We are incredibly excited about our successful campaign launch! We reached our goal of $10,000 in < 36 hours thanks to all your support and help to spread the word. Here's some of the excellent press and awards that our campaign has received:

[Compass Fellows] Waveborn Interview

[Indiegogo] Sight-Giving Sunglasses And Radiation-Blocking Laptop Case

[Indiegogo] Team Indiegogo's Campaign Roundup

[Popcorn and Pandas] Find the Sun Waveborn

[Popcorn and Pandas] Waveborn

[Rebekah Bowen] Catch the Wave and Help Give the Gift of Sight

[Thee A Word] Charitable Giving Never Felt or Looked So Good

[PunchRock] The PunchList - Free Legal Counsel, Member Spotlight, and Events!

[Ask Miss A] Waveborn Crowdfunding Campaign: Purchase Sunglasses, Give the Gift of Eyesight

Keep reading to learn more about our nonprofit partners...

Our Nonprofit Partners

Unite For Sight

Unite For Sight supports eye clinics worldwide by investing human and financial resources in their social ventures to eliminate patient barriers to eye care. With their remarkable local partner eye clinics, Unite for Sight has provided eye care to 1,000,000+ patients living in extreme poverty. Unite for Sight is like the Peace Corps for eye clinics. People sign up to go abroad for a year or two to places like Ghana, Honduras, or India.

Unight For Sight typically sets up eye clinics in rural villages for patients who have never had an eye exam before in their life. When a patient comes to the clinic, they are prescribed their first pair of eyeglasses, which are given to the partient for free. Together we'll help keep their shelves stocked every time we sell a pair of Waveborns.

Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International

As Waveborn continued to grow in a variety of ways in 2013, it made sense to also expand our social good component. Thus we formed a great new partnership with SEE International, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit humanitarian organization that utilizes volunteer ophthalmic surgeons to provide sight-restoring surgery to individuals worldwide.

Based in Santa Barbara, CA SEE International provides the link between hundreds of volunteer eye surgeons and thousands of patients in over 37 countries every year. When you choose to give to SEE International after buying Waveborn shades, we fund a portion of one of their sight-restoring cataract surgeries.

Choose your giving model

We’ve expanded our giving model! Now our customers can choose their impact and decide how they want to give the gift of sight. With each purchase, Waveborn customers will be able to provide a new pair of prescription eyeglasses or fund a portion of a vision-restoring cataract surgery for a person in need through our nonprofit partners! We will send out a survey to campaign backers in a few weeks to allow them to select which organization they want to donate to.

Why we need your support 

We started Waveborn not knowing exactly what kind of response we’d get. Would people like our shades? Would they care about our mission to help people around the world who lack the resources to treat their vision problems? As we found out, the answer to both questions was a resounding “Yes!” And now we’re ready to take that momentum and turn it into real growth.

And that's where you come in...

Designing, ordering, manufacturing, and selling sunglasses at a sustainable price takes a significant upfront investment. By backing our campaign, you’ll allow us to order more sunglasses in your favorite styles and to finally add polarized lenses to our most popular models. Specifically if we reach our goal of $10,000 we’ll be able to order two batches of sunglasses in new styles and colors and be able to provide hundreds of people with the gift of sight!

In short, more outreach = more sales = more new sunglasses = more people around the world to whom we can give the gift of sight! The more support we get, the more shades we can sell, and the more people we can help!

We crushed our goal of $10,000 in the first two days, and now we are setting up some stretch goals to achieve over the next week, month, and duration of the campaign. The sky is the limit!

The Waveborn Look

We’ve put a lot of effort into making a pair of shades for every face. Thrillist.com described our unisex flagship model, the Marinas, as “slightly sportier versions of Ray-Ban’s classic Wayfarer design.” 

New Styles

This spring we released five new models - some sporty, some more stylish - intentionally building our line to fit faces of all shapes, sizes and styles. Please see the "Gallery" tab above for more images of our styles.

Long story short, wearing Waveborn shades will make you look good AND feel good.

What's Our Story?

So who are we? The core Waveborn team is comprised of one guy named Jonathan and three Mikes (our email messages get super confusing!). In short, we’re four guys who love awesome sunglasses, but don't love spending $200+ per pair. We also love the feeling of building a company that’s having an a true global impact.

Jonathan is a career social entrepreneur who spent a few years working in CA before moving to NYC to work for DoSomething.org, where he served as the Executive Producer for the 2010 Do Something Awards. Jonathan then moved to DC with his beautiful wife, Jenna, where he founded Waveborn while getting his MBA at UMD. Mike Malloy is a pro frisbee player who travels the world selling sunglasses and helping people. Malloy spent four years working for Deloitte Consulting while completing his M.S. in computer science at Georgetown. He graduated in May 2012 and quit in June to move to Dewey Beach, DE for the summer to spend his days selling Waveborn shades, growing the business, and enjoying the Dewey Beach way of life.

Mike Forgit was computer science lab partners with Malloy at BC, and he was hired quickly after Malloy realized he never wanted to write another line of code in his life. Forgit is our stellar tech guru, managing our website, e-commerce platform, and any other tech related projects. Mike F. lives just outside Boston with his wife and adorable daughter. Mike McCormick is a finance/startup dude and Georgetown grad, who now resides in San Francisco. McCormick, who was born with cataracts, is passionate about helping people in poor countries who were born with the same disease, which leads to blindness if untreated. Together we are striving to have a real impact for people around the world struggling with access to vision-care.

Handcrafted in Italy

Made in a small town just north of Milan, Italy, Waveborn sunglasses are manufactured to the highest standards. Using high quality plastics and lenses, we deliver a product that we are proud to attach our names to.

Don’t believe us? Check out this video of Malloy throwing his Waveborns across the room to prove just how durable they are!

NEW Polarized Lenses 

One question we always get is “Do Waveborns have polarized lenses?”

With your support, we can finally say YES to that question! Our partnership with Major League Ultimate (MLU) has allowed us to order our first batch of polarized lenses this spring. With the success of this campaign, polarized Marinas are next, with the rest of the Waveborn line not far behind.

Our polarized Zumas are the official shades of Major League Ultimate.

What exactly does “polarized” mean?

Polarized lenses eliminate reflective glare, enhance contrast between colors, and are ideal for drivers, snowboarders, or anyone who spends time on the water. All of our lenses are great, but the polarized are the cream of the crop. Here is some more info on polarized technology:

How else can you help spread the Waveborn movement?

Share share share! We appreciate your support in all forms - whether it’s backing the campaign financially or just telling your friends about us through Facebook, Twitter, email, Friendster, JDate, or MySpace (right, JT?). Please use the social media buttons at the top of this page to share to your heart’s content! We've even made a google doc with some template messages you can use to spread the word!

We need our Waveborn Brand Ambassadors to continue to create SHAREABLE content every day to support the campaign. Email Zack Metcalf at zgmetcalf@gmail.com if you want to join the campaign staff.

Waveborn Referral Program

We've recieved a TON of great feedback from our backers, and we want to reward our early adopters who have been sharing the campaign. Everyone who backs the campaign is eligible for our referral program - if you get FIVE friends to back the campaign, then you get another FREE pair of Waveborn shades! Click here to learn more about how to share your custom referral link.

We know you'll fall in love with Waveborns!

Finally, we want to say thank you to our friends, family, and everybody else who has helped us thus far. The journey has just begun!

Thank you for riding the wave with us!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When will I get my sunglasses?

A: Our early bird backers will have the option to select a pair from our remaining spring line and receive them by Memorial Day. We will be using the funds from this campaign to place another bulk order from Italy that will take 10 weeks to fulfill, so we cannot guarantee delivery to any backers before the end of July.

Q: What are the most popular Waveborn styles?

A: Our classic Marina is by far the most popular model that looks great on almost anyone's face. We will be ordering more Bold Black, Dark Tort, Clear Gray, and Pacific Blue, as well as introducing some new limited edition colors. Our second most popular style is the Zuma, the official shades of Major League Ultimate. Tied for third are the Mandalay and Bayside which both have an aviator feel to them.

Q: What style of Waveborns do I get?

A: We plan to have all Waveborn models available to our backers but make no specific guarantee that every style and color combination will be available. Our primary focus is getting more Marinas in all of our colors because they are in the highest demand. We will send periodic surveys to our backers throughout the campaign to inform our purchasing decisions and to do our best to fulfill everybody’s preferences. If there's a specific style you want, let us know in the comments below!

Q: How do I select my style of Waveborns after I back the campaign?

A: We will send out a couple of surveys during the campaign to allow our backers to select which model/color of Waveborns you want. We will also send out a survey to confirm your shipping address.

Q: Does Waveborn ship internationally?

A: Yes of course! We are ecstatic to spread the Waveborn movement worldwide. We are still figuring out logistics for international shipping, and we will let you know the details in a few weeks. A small fee may apply, but we will only charge you what it costs us to ship. For international orders, we will email you more shipping details once we have them.

Q: How can I help?

A: The biggest way that you can help the campaign is by telling your friends and family about the campaign and encouraging them to back us at any level. Everyone who backs the campaign is eligible for our referral program - if you get FIVE friends to back the campaign, then you get another FREE pair of Waveborn shades! Click here to learn more about how to share your custom referral link.

Got another question? Email Malloy at malloy@waveborn.com, and we'll post the answers up here.