Jessica Darcy on Creating Fun, Innovative (plus Made in the USA!) Eyeglasses for Kids, and Giving Back  

One morning, Jessica Darcy came into her daughter Ella Jane’s room to find that Ella Jane wasn’t ready for school. That’s not so surprising for any mom, but for Darcy that morning became a pivotal moment in both of their lives.

Ella Jane, 7, wouldn’t put her glasses on because they were boring. When Darcy asked what Ella Jane meant, she realized her daughter, who had worn glasses since age two, was tired of wearing the same pair of glasses every day. “I want to take this part off this pair and put it on the other pair,” Ella Jane said, explaining that she wanted to change up parts of her glasses to match her clothes and mood. Darcy told Ella Jane to put the glasses she had on for now, and they would figure it out later.

“Later” came when Darcy picked Ella Jane up from school that afternoon and Ella Jane asked, “Can we go get those glasses I was talking about?” That night, Darcy and Ella Jane scoured the internet looking for a product that would enable Ella Jane to have all the  glasses she envisioned. Finding none, Ella Jane asked if they could make their own. Darcy told her she didn’t know, but they would try.

They soon sat down to sketch out the designs that would become Funoogles.

Glasses that are Fun to Wear
What are Funoogles? They are glasses that are fun for kids to wear, sold in sets with three interchangeable fronts and two sets of stems to create nine different combinations per set. The sets include a full-frame front, a brow clip for a pop of color, and an outline for a hint of color, plus the two stems. Darcy described them as “the Swatch watch of kid’s eyewear.”

You order the prescription lenses online in much the same way an adult orders contact lenses, but the child gets to choose from fun colors that can be mixed and matched to support their favorite sports team, match their outfit, or just give them confidence and control over their “look.” Parents love that their children are happy wearing the glasses that they created themselves, and they appreciate the affordable price.

Charting A New Path — with Some Great Help 
The sets are intentionally affordable because, Darcy said, “Our glasses are for all kids.” Kids are 100% of the focus at Funoogles; the glasses are designed and sized specifically for children, unlike companies whose children’s frames are scaled-down adult glasses. Darcy says she is driven by her children and their friends to set Funoogles apart from anything else in the marketplace.

Being different, however, has posed somewhat of a challenge: since there wasn’t anyone already offering what Funoogles does,  they have had to chart their own course. Before she was an entrepreneur and designer of children’s eye wear, Darcy was a school teacher. She had tons of experience working with children, but zero experience designing for or marketing to them. So, having no experience as an eyewear designer or with owning her own business, Darcy turned to other women entrepreneurs for advice. They coached her through the process of sketching designs, hiring an engineer for the design, the manufacturing of several prototypes, and finding a factory to produce them.

Darcy says that her fellow female entrepreneurs have all been amazingly supportive and quick to offer guidance and advice, saying, “Let me connect you with so and so…” And as Funoogles expands and hires more people, those same women have suggested smart, competent people to fill roles at the company.

Made in the USA + Kid-Tested and Approved
Darcy was committed to manufacturing Funoogles in the United States with quality, kid-friendly materials. Finding a manufacturing facility proved to be one of the biggest challenges to date. After countless cold calls, Darcy located a factory in California to manufacture the products.

Safety of the materials and styling has driven the design as well. As a parent of children who wear glasses, Darcy has dealt with broken lenses that cut her child’s face while “the kids were being kids,” and consequently, resulted in stitches. So, Funoogles also had to be manufactured from the best materials to protect the faces they adorn.

As each potential frame color arrived, Darcy’s kids and their friends have served as the test audience. They have been brutally honest about what they like — and, interestingly, some of the colors that Darcy herself thought wouldn’t be popular, the kids loved.

Seeking Balance
Running Funoogles is a family affair. Darcy runs day-to-day operations and travels from New York to the factory in California. Her husband works his day job, then tackles the Funoogles finances at night, while they raise three kids who serve as a test market and as consultants.  How to they find balance? “I think balance is a very tricky word,” Darcy said, “We just kind of go through it [life].”

Darcy added that a friend asked her recently how things had changed since launching Funoogles. She replied, “I realize that sometimes we won’t have milk in our house, and that everyone will live.”

A Day in the Life
Even if balance seems unattainable, Darcy juggles her full schedule like so many other women, eking out time for herself and her kids — and to squeeze in a bit of Netflix with her husband! A typical day begins at 5 a.m. with a workout and coffee before everyone else wakes up. She keeps lists of what needs to be accomplished for work and family each week. Although she will drop the kids off at school when she isn’t traveling, a sitter brings the children home in the afternoon so that Darcy can keep working until dinnertime. With the factory on the west coast, sometimes work extends after dinner into the evening.

Funoogles Gives Back
Because they went through pediatric eye surgery when Ella Jane was an infant, Darcy knew firsthand the need to avoid UV rays for 6-8 weeks after surgery. So when they learned that children in Dominican Republic were sent home with only paper sunglasses to shield their eyes after corrective surgery, Darcy wanted to do something to help. They have since traveled twice to Dominican Republic with Ella Jane’s eye doctor to visit kids who are having surgery on their eyes and to donate sunglasses on behalf of Funoogles.

In the spirit of giving back, and for all the help she has received from supportive women, Darcy offered some advice to women starting their own businesses:

• Know that it’s a roller coaster
• Keep focused on your vision and your mission
• Be willing to sacrifice the bottom line a bit to align with your beliefs (for her, she wants to keep Funoogles made in America)
• Try not to be everything to everyone
• Learn from one another