Why I Started ModaBlvck

By Denis Wisse, founder of ModaBlvck

I started this in 2014, and I want to be straight about how it began: I had no experience and zero understanding of the business. What I had was a real love of eyewear and a stubborn feeling that it was being sold badly.

The thing that bothered me

Walk into a boutique and try on a pair of designer sunglasses. The frame in your hand costs what it costs to make. Everything on top of that — the lease on the store, the staff, the lighting, the distributor in the middle — is what you're actually paying for. None of it ends up on your face.

That was the whole idea at the start, and it hasn't changed: give people a better way to buy the eyewear they already want, without the costs that come attached to a retail store. Same frame, same authenticity, same original packaging. A price that reflects the object instead of the room it was sold in.

The part nobody tells you about

It's been a lot of struggles throughout the way. The main one was always money — not making it, managing it. When you're chasing new opportunities you're constantly deciding whether to put cash into inventory that might sit, or hold it and watch a chance go past. Get that wrong a few times in a row and there is no business.

The hardest part of learning is when you lose. I lost plenty in the early years. What I took from it is that inventory is a decision, not a purchase — you're betting on what people will want three months from now, and being honest about the ones you got wrong is more useful than being proud of the ones you got right.

Learning to make our own pictures

A few years in, I started shooting our advertisements myself. It began as a hobby — I've always photographed people and places wherever I travel — and it turned into the thing that actually grew the business. I still shoot most of what you see from us.

Doing it myself changed how I think about the product. When you're the one lighting a frame and finding the angle where it looks like itself, you stop thinking of eyewear as stock and start noticing why one pair feels right on a face and another doesn't.

What ModaBlvck is now

We specialise in designer sunglasses and eyewear — Celine, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Miu Miu, Prada, Tom Ford, Fendi, Balenciaga and more. Thousands of pairs have gone out to customers across the US and beyond, through this site and through our marketplace stores.

Every frame ships with its original case, cloth and packaging. We photograph what we're actually holding. If something isn't right when it arrives, we take it back — and we've eaten the cost on plenty of orders where the strict answer would have been no.

Why we do that

Clients are the most important thing in this business. That sounds like something every company says, so here's the version that costs something: we'd rather lose money on an order than have someone feel they were handled badly. The measure I actually care about is how many people come back — not how many we sold to once.

Buying a $400 pair of sunglasses from a store that isn't the brand takes a certain amount of trust. I've never taken that lightly. It's why we describe condition honestly instead of generously, why we answer messages ourselves, and why I'd rather tell you a frame is too large for your face than take the order.

Twelve years in

I still get something out of the moment someone opens the box. That hasn't worn off, and it's the part that keeps me interested in a business that is otherwise a lot of spreadsheets and shipping labels.

If you're new here, start with the best sellers — those are the frames that earned their place. If you want a recommendation for your face shape, message us. That'll be me or someone who works directly with me, and we'll tell you the truth about the fit.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for buying from a small business.

— Denis