Pair founders Nathan Kondamuri and Sophia Edelstein will face Sharks Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec and guest Shark Katrina Lake.
NEW YORK—Pair Eyewear, a customizable children’s eyewear brand that offers affordable, interchangeable frames through a direct-to-consumer model, has announced an appearance on an all-new episode of Shark Tank, which will air on ABC this Friday, March 6 at 8:00 p.m. EST. The episode (ep. #1106) will also be available next day on demand and on Hulu. Founders Nathan Kondamuri and Sophia Edelstein will face Sharks Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec and guest Shark, founder and CEO of Stitch Fix, Katrina Lake, who will be making her debut on the show on Friday.

Kondamuri and Edelstein founded Pair as Stanford undergraduate students. Speaking to VMAIL, Kondamuri said, “I got glasses when I was 8. I remember pretty vividly how daunting and scary that experience was… when I was a senior at Stanford, my brother, who is 10 years younger than I am was going through the exact same thing.” Motivated by wanting to make the experience of choosing a first pair of glasses less intimidating for children, Kondamuri and Edelstein conceptualized eyewear with interchangeable magnetic fronts, which offer kids a variety of customizable and personalized options. Kondamuri told VMAIL, this allows kids to feel excited and empowered about their eyewear and their lives.

Kondamuri and Edelstein submitted an audition video to Shark Tank producers, which included a company pitch. About 45,000 other entrepreneurs also auditioned for this season. While crafting the pitch, Kondamuri told VMAIL he and Edelstein wanted to emphasize the way Pair is “changing the product of glasses to be dynamic,” in the same way clothes and shoes often are. After rounds of interviews, ABC flew Kondamuri and Edelstein out to Los Angeles where they filmed their pitch in front of the Sharks.


Kondamuri and Edelstein want to make choosing eyewear less daunting for children.
Kondamuri described Shark Tank as “an amazing experience,” albeit daunting. Speaking to VMAIL, he said, “on the Shark Tank set there are a ton of passionate people who are helping you along the way. Everybody was friendly.”

In 2018, VMAIL reported that Pair eyewear secured $1 million in seed funding as a start-up. Pair also offers "A Pair, For a Pair" program under which it will donate a pair of glasses to a child in need for each base frame sold, via its partnership with EYElliance. In the next few months, Kondamuri says Pair plans to unveil a partnership with a sports organization that will allow kids to create a customizable product with their favorite team.