Three pairs in 10 months. That’s how long it took Lenskart to get Vishwa’s glasses right.

The first pair came in January—two frames for Rs 2,000 under the eyewear giant’s flagship “1+1 free” offer. By March, the arms were wobbling and one lens had fallen out. By June, Vishwa had an angry rash where the frame rested on his nose.

He soldiered on, switching to the second “1+1” frame in July. Once again, the rash cropped up, this time behind his ears, and as if to seal the deal, the frame broke in half. All within weeks. “When I went back to the store, they said maybe I’m allergic to acetate—the material the frames are made from,” said the 32-year-old IT professional.

Credit to him, though, he bought a third pair from Lenskart, different material, different coating. But by now, he was quite confused. “Is it just me, or is there something actually wrong with what Lenskart is selling?” he wondered.

Unlike competitors Titan Eyeplus and Vision Express that sell titanium and metal frames, Lenskart bet big on a cheaper alternative, acetate—a kind of bioplastic made specifically for the optical industry. Similarly, it popularised plastic lenses over the earlier glass ones, once again dropping its manufacturing costs by 40%, according to an eyewear manufacturer from Ahmedabad.

Of course, practical considerations drove this shift too. Plastic lenses reduced the weight of glasses by 60%, plus they didn’t break as easily as glass. “Using plastic enhances durability and practicality more than costs,” said Anish Malpani, founder and CEO of wearables company Without. Incidentally, Lenskart co-founder Peyush Bansal is an investor in the firm.

What he failed to mention, though, was that with plastic lenses, coating layers become thinner and harder to verify, leading to quality issues.

The result was the under-Rs 1,000-spectacles category that now dominates the Indian market, transforming eyewear from medical necessity to fashion accessory. Lenskart became a $6.1 billion behemoth on the back of this category. In 2020, it pipped Titan to become India’s largest eyewear platform, growing its market share to 6X that of the Tata company.

It’s now gearing up to go public in November, looking to raise Rs 7,500–8,000 crore from its IPO.

But as Vishwa’s experience demonstrated, spectacles under Rs 1,000 may be inexpensive, sure, but they’re under-whelming as well.