Kids looking snazzy in their new specs. Photo: Courtesy of Fuseproject

While the term “four eyes” might strike you as outdated and retro, kids the world over still often think that glasses are the brand of a nerd. For example, students in Mexico shy away from wearing lenses because it marks them as fresh meat for mockery, according to a recent article in Fast Company Magazine. Moreover, their families often can’t afford to pay the high costs of eye care in the first place.

However, a trendy new collection of glasses invented by Yves Béhar’s design agency, Fuseproject, offers solutions to both these problems. The glasses are ultra kid-friendly, available in adjustable sizes, fun shapes and bright colors. On a practical note, they’re made of flexible plastic that any mom would love — they’re almost impossible to break. Perhaps best of all, they’re free.

These glasses are part of “See Better to Learn Better,” a collaboration between the Mexican government, a local optics company and Fuseproject. The program gives free glasses and eye exams to students in Mexico, where half a million students need lenses, says Fuseproject. Next year they hope to give 300,000 pairs of glasses to kids through local partners.

Being able to see clearly translates to greater success in school, according to a Stanford University study. The study suggests that simply giving kids glasses can be as effective as other educational initiatives, such as reducing class size, giving scholarships and tutoring — and it’s usually less costly. From the looks of it, Fuseproject has 20/20 vision with this one.

Students can customize their glasses with this catalog. Photo: Courtesy of Fuseproject

Glasses are one key to improving the economic productivity of poor people in developing countries. Photo: deepchi1 (flickr)

Poor vision may not seem like an economic problem at first glance. But according to the World Health Organization, workers with poor and uncorrected vision cost the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars in lost productivity each year.

Many of these workers struggle to put food on the table, much less purchase an expensive pair of glasses, so their vision problems go untreated. This situation may change thanks to an innovative new series of affordable glasses designs that the New York Times recently highlighted. Their genius lies in two factors: their low cost and how easy it is to adjust them. Production is cheaper when a single model can be made to fit almost anyone, which also cuts out the need for expensive doctors to write vision prescriptions.

How can glasses be one-size-fits-all? One type highlighted by The Times has lenses whose refraction can be adjusted by injecting a clear liquid into them, while another has overlapping lenses that can be adjusted by the user. These models are already improving the lives of wearers in countries like Rwanda, Afghanistan, Ghana, and Tanzania and cost $19 and $4, respectively.

Despite their potential, low-cost eyeglasses still face problems. As The New York Times explains, the glasses could cost only $1-2 per pair if produced in great enough volumes, but supply chains don't yet exist to distribute such quantities of glasses to those who need them.

The field of low-cost eyeglass production and distribution is in its infancy, but keep your eyes open for great things to come.