FLINT, Michigan—It's well after 5 p.m. and Wes Stoody is still at the office, looking out over downtown Flint. As the 28-year-old founder of Article One, Stoody is well aware of the road he’s had to travel—from small optical stores across the country to a small family-owned factory at the edge of the Dolomite mountains in northern Italy.
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His work is selling eyewear, but his mission is to cure a simple vitamin deficiency that causes nearly 500,000 children to go blind in developing countries each year.
Article One began as many ideas do, in a college dorm room. “I went to school at Eastern Michigan, I ran track and cross country at Eastern, that’s how one of my co-founders Cole (Sanseverino) and I met, was through running at Eastern.” It was there that Stoody became passionate about Vitamin A deficiency in developing countries, which causes blindness and death in children and is easily preventable with supplements that cost less than $1 a year for each child.
That is when the idea formed for a company with a focus on high quality and a commitment to charity—but it hasn’t been easy. Stoody recalls the early days hustling, bussing tables, and getting investment cash from family and friends.
The tall, straight-to-the-point entrepreneur says during those early years, “I was naive enough, to think, ‘I’m going to start a brand of my own and give back and raise money,'” he says. “Those days I didn’t give much to the scope of the challenge of what I was taking on. I just decided to do it.”
During his senior year (and admittedly to a bit of the detriment of his studies), Stoody began work on his eyewear brand that would, through sales also raise money to provide children around the world with Vitamin A supplements. Six months after graduation in 2012, he launched his business, which was then called A Frames. “I made the same mistake that a lot of young entrepreneurs make when they’re 20-21 years old, thinking: ‘If I build it, they will come.’ For a solid month, I just sat thinking, ‘Huh, no one’s buying glasses,’” he laughs.
“That’s when I knew I had to start hustling. I had to hit the road,” he said. “At that time, I was extremely broke and was basically homeless,” looking out the window of the renovated Dryden building in downtown Flint. “I was sleeping on the floor of my office that people had just let me use, bussing tables.” Stoody borrowed his mother’s car, traveled across the country for a month visiting optical retail stores.
“And that’s how we got our first 16 stores,” Stoody says, noting some of those first stores remain some of the best selling stores for Article One—which now is sold in over 300 stores throughout the United States.
The trip also sparked the evolution of A Frames to Article One. “On that trip is where I learned a lot about the industry. I had to sell a lot to opticians and optometrists. You start to learn about what the pain points are and what struggles they’re having.”
And, in particular, why independent optometrists were struggling. The direct-to-customer eyewear industry was making a major dent in their bottom lines and merging of major frame providers left some independent optometrists feeling they had no or few options.
What does this have to do with a start-up in Flint? Stoody saw it is an opportunity. “In learning what was bad about our product and what was good about it, what was good about the industry and what was bad.” Stoody says, it gave him time to, “figure out what we wanted to become: We wanted to be independent optometrists answer to direct-to-consumer brands.”
Article One made a commitment to going with the highest quality frames made from quality materials. They established a relationship with a family-owned factory in Italy to ensure that quality and personal attention to detail.
“I know everyone we work with,” Stoody says. And, he came back to Flint.
“You can create a business eco-system anywhere you want. It’s not easy, but if you have the right talent and support, I think you can do it anywhere—but I also believe you can’t find the same kind of support like we have found in Flint. … The truth is I needed help.”
Looking out once more on Saginaw street in the glowing light of the late afternoon, he does a slow karate chop to the formica desk. “Flint has a tighter knit community than other cities I’ve been in, especially downtown Flint, from financial to emotional support. Sure you can go to a place like Chicago and network and you might be able to find more connections than you would in a place like Flint, but here I know the support is going to be so much tighter and stronger,” said Stoody, a Powers Catholic High School alum. “If you’re like me, I knew I needed that kind of support where you can get the kind of commitment you need to move forward. And when we came back, it was like—boom, ok, we’re out of the gate.”
Article One offers a variety of styles, often (but not always) with thick bold frames in multiple colors. Among the 17 vintage-inspired optical collections are the Fenton, Huron, Mott, and Walsh. Additional sunglass styles also are sold. Article one is available at 11 optometrists in Genesee County.
Article One has donated more than $17,000 to Helen Keller International for its vitamin A supplement program.
For more about Article One or to find a participating optometrist near you, go to
ArticleOneEyewear.com.