A Nation Divided (By Hipster Glasses)

Different sections of the country wear very different kinds of glasses, it turns out.

Glasses company Warby Parker released a year-end report today. The most interesting bit described which frames are popular in different parts of the country.

Two frames are vastly more popular than the others: Preston and Zagg. Together, they account for the most popular models in almost every state.

2. This is the map for Preston frames:

3. This is what Preston frames look like:

4. This is the map for Zagg frames:

5. And this is what Zaggs look like:

The glasses are both thick-framed and plastic — this is Warby Parker after all, the NYC-based startup which the NYT described as popular “among young, urban myopics,” and which is clearly angling for a certain, ahem, hipster demographic. But they’re very different: Prestons are the quintessential and/or stereotypical hipster frames, while the Zaggs are more recognizably just… glasses.

Style analysis aside (and feel free to push it way, way, way to the side), it’s still surprising to find large, contiguous geographic blocs distinguished by glasses frames: bigger lenses dominate the edges of the country, while smaller ones dominate the center. What does that mean? Do we have to have a war, now? Which side will you be on?