What Warby Parker Inc. told the SEC could break it.

Warby Parker's product supply chain is geographically concentrated: its products and services are sourced from a limited number of third-party suppliers predominantly in the U.S., China, Italy, Vietnam and Japan, with substantially all components shipped from contract manufacturers to optical laboratories in the U.S. and China, where lenses are cut and mounted into frames. China is a particular dependency (it describes plans to reallocate manufacturing to be 'less dependent on our Chinese partners'). This concentration exposes it to port-of-entry disruptions (e.g., longshoremen strikes), Chinese government/trade restrictions, and regional shocks; diversifying away from China brings longer lead times. A China-centered supplier/manufacturing geographic concentration distinct from the tariff cost channel.

“sourced from a limited number of third-party suppliers predominantly in the U.S., China, Italy, Vietnam, and Japan”

Because Warby Parker sources its frames and components from suppliers in China, Italy, Vietnam and Japan, U.S. import tariffs hit its product cost base directly. It discloses that, beyond longstanding tariffs on China-origin goods, the U.S. government in 2025 announced new or heightened tariffs on imports from China, Italy, Vietnam and Japan — exactly the countries it sources from — resulting in increased product costs, and it warns of further escalation and 'buy national' measures. Its mitigation (reallocating manufacturing away from China) introduces longer lead times. A concrete, already-incurred trade-policy cost channel concentrated in its actual sourcing geographies.

“In recent years, the U.S. government has implemented tariffs on specified products imported into the United States from China and, in 2025, the U.S. government announced new or heightened tariffs on product imports from certain countries, including China, Italy, Vietnam and Japan.”

Warby Parker depends on a concentrated, partly single-sourced supply base for the inputs to its eyewear. Most distinctively, around half of the cellulose acetate used to produce many of its frames is provided by a single supplier — a specific, hard-to-substitute material dependency. It also relies on a limited number of third-party contract manufacturers, a limited set of optical laboratories (in the U.S. and China) that cut and mount lenses, and a limited number of logistics partners. A disruption at the sole cellulose-acetate supplier, a key contract manufacturer, or an optical lab would constrain frame production and order fulfillment. Suppliers are unnamed, so this registers as a sole-source/component-concentration risk.

“around half of the cellulose acetate used to produce many of our frames is provided by a single supplier.”