Tracy Vontélle Green had been wearing glasses since she was 8 and found most frames left a lot to be desired. Often, they were too narrow or too small, and frequently left her with dents on her cheeks or the bridge of her nose. So, when she lost the one pair that seemed to fit, she was upset. She complained on the phone to her college best friend, Nancey Harris, who coincidentally had also recently lost a pair of glasses, and who similarly struggled to find a comfortable pair.
A week later, Harris called her friend to say she booked a trip for them to go to Paris for the world’s largest eyewear expo.
“I thought she was crazy,” recalled Green. “But you know what you do with your friends that are crazy? You rock with them.”
Traversing three football fields worth of eyewear stalls, it dawned on the women why it was so hard to find a pair of glasses that fit: no one making glasses looked like them.
“If you have a small or narrow nose bridge, you’re good to go with traditional frames, but if you have a wider nose bridge or higher cheekbones, they’re going to cause scarring and indentation,” explained Harris.
The realization planted the seed for what would become Vontélle Eyewear, a brand committed to inclusivity and style. Sales were modest at first, but when they did pick up through word of mouth, the women realized they needed help with fulfillment.
“Nancey and I were shipping from the basement of my house. We had a couple of orders come in from the UAE, and that’s when I realized that if we set up a storefront on Amazon, we can ship internationally,” said Green.
Harris immediately applied to Amazon’s Black Business Accelerator, a program that provides Black-owned businesses with educational and financial support. The founders said their BBA representative proved invaluable in the early days of setting up their business, from providing mentorship and assistance with Amazon ads, to advising the pair on SEO and the layout of their brand page.
Harris said at first, she found the breadth of Amazon tools intimidating but added that Amazon’s extensive free educational resources helped her utilize programs like Buy With Prime and Try Before You Buy to maximum effect.
“With eyeglasses, a lot of people want to try them on before they actually purchase them,” she said. “Try Before You Buy allowed them to do that. It proved really popular and helped us amplify our voice.”
Amazon’s networking opportunities also helped the business partners to land a deal with Nickelodeon to make children’s glasses with designs based on popular shows like Paw Patrol and Spongebob Squarepants. The designs have become instant bestsellers, and today amount to 85% of Vontélle Eyewear’s Amazon sales, a boost made possible, in part, by Fulfillment by Amazon.
“The kids’ glasses are our fastest-moving product. Fulfillment by Amazon makes it easier because they can handle the volume that we, as a small business, can’t,” said Green.
Since launching its Amazon storefront in 2021, Vontélle Eyewear has doubled its revenue year-over-year and expanded its wholesale business. Today, Vontélle frames are sold in 900 stores nationwide. The friends, however, have global ambitions. Through Amazon Global Selling, Vontélle reaches customers in Mexico and Canada, with plans to expand to other markets. Ultimately, Harris dreams of Vontélle becoming one of the top-ranking sellers on Amazon.
“Our big picture goal is to be the number one eyewear brand in the world,” she said. “But until we get there, we’ll settle for providing better-fitting glasses for everyone.”