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Strategy

‘Seeing’ the ‘Meats’: Arby’s and Warby Parker Create WArby’s Rebrand

This week, New Yorkers will be able to experience an unlikely rebranding partnership.

Fast food chain Arby’s and eyewear company Warby Parker have announced a “groundbreaking new partnership” that came about since “Arby’s has an eye for meat and Warby Parker has meat for eyes.”

On Friday March 30, one Warby Parker location and one Arby’s restaurant in New York City will rebrand as WArby’s, and offer limited edition branded merchandise, including T-shirts, “meat-up” tote bags and hats. Tapping into the optometry theme, they’re offering a set of four lens cloths printed in full-color to create the parts of a sandwich: bread, lettuce, cheese and meat. The merch is also available online, as well as at Warby Parker locations across New York City. Among the sold-out items are a shirt-jacket with left-chest embroidery, glasses printed with imagery of beef and slider sandals.

An Onion Ring Monocle is also available as an in-store exclusive; while it’s actually just a single onion ring in a WArby’s to-go box, it’s what Warby Parker calls “the perfect fusion of both brands.” They even put together a visual aid:

“We disrupted eyewear, now we’re disrupting eyewear plus meats,” Warby Parker co-founder Dave Gilboa said in a tongue-in-cheek promotional video, to which co-founder Neil Blumenthal added, “We just can’t stop disrupting. We won’t stop.”

Blumenthal also discussed the “years” that Warby Parker has spent discussing “the potential synergy between the two brands,” explaining, “We’re Warby, they’re Arby’s. WArby’s.” It’s what they call “the intersection of seeing and meats.”

Proceeds from the rebranding effort will go to VisionSpring, an organization that provides eyeglasses to the needy all over the world, and No Kid Hungry, committed to providing all children in America with healthy meals.

The two locations will be the WArby’s Onion Ring Monocle Truck at the Warby Parker location at 121 Greene Street in Manhattan and Arby’s on 32 E. 23rd Street, from 11am to 2pm.

Check out the merch below and at warbyparker.com/warbys.