Validating Just-In-Time Manufacturing for Custom Consumer Products

Protos Eyewear

Contributor

Before DTC customization was a trend, we launched a real-world test of whether digital manufacturing could replace traditional inventory. I used custom eyewear as the Trojan horse: a visually distinct, high-variability product that let us prove out parametric design, local production, and the business logic of selling mass-customized goods online.

Before DTC customization was a trend, we launched a real-world test of whether digital manufacturing could replace traditional inventory. I used custom eyewear as the Trojan horse: a visually distinct, high-variability product that let us prove out parametric design, local production, and the business logic of selling mass-customized goods online.

Highlights

Launched a 3D printed eyewear brand to test distributed manufacturing economics

Built a parametric modeling system to auto-generate custom-fit SKUs

Manually refined early lenses to validate optical tolerances and product viability

Organized early ID community launch, sparking industry partnerships

Collaborated with an optician to ship 24 prescription-ready models

‹ Shipping Hardware at the Speed of Software

‹ Shipping Hardware at the Speed of Software