Next week marks one full year of writing Built To Last.

Fifty-two weeks of studying companies that refused to disappear. Fifty-two weeks of tracing decisions back to their origin, looking at why certain founders endured while others faded.

I’ve always had a desire to start something of my own based off of the principals taught in this newsletter. I wasn’t only documenting how enduring businesses were built. I was quietly preparing to build one of my own.

My journey to building an enduring business started over 10 years ago when I had first learned about the sunglasses industry and how over 80% of all high end sunglasses were all made by the same company. Luxottica. They dominated this market with their monopoly. Owning brands such as Oakley, Ray-Ban, Costa and exclusively producing other companies glasses like Prada, Versace and Burberry, they were able to charge whatever they pleased leading to incredibly high markups. Nobody could compete with them. Without a lack of competition, there’s no reason to innovate or produce higher quality products. This bothered me for years and I’ve finally decided to do something about it.

On March 6th I’m launching my own sunglasses brand, Leverich & Company.

Manufactured in America using some of the highest quality materials from around the world including Mazzucchelli Acetate from Italy and Zeiss Azure lenses with an anti-reflective coating, we’re showing the market what true passion will look like.

Over the past year, certain patterns kept repeating themselves. The companies that endured were not the loudest. They were not the fastest. They were not chasing whatever was culturally relevant at the moment. What they shared was durability. They built products that could survive real use. They invested in materials and craftsmanship that did not require explanation. They understood that if the product failed, everything else eventually would too.

The second pattern was identity. The enduring brands knew exactly who they were serving and refused to drift. They did not attempt to become everything to everyone. They chose their customer early and built around them relentlessly. When culture shifted, they did not panic. They did not rewrite their story. They simply continued doing what they had always done well. Over time, that consistency created trust that could not be manufactured through marketing alone.

The third pattern was control. The founders who built lasting companies protected decision-making. They were careful about who they partnered with and how they scaled. They understood that once you lose control of standards, you rarely get it back. Ownership created accountability. Accountability protected quality. Quality reinforced identity.

After studying these businesses week after week, I realized something uncomfortable. It is easy to admire those principles from a distance. It is harder to commit to them when you are the one responsible for the outcome. If Leverich & Company is going to mean anything, it has to be built on the same foundation I have been writing about for the past year.

Doing this right to me meant quality would be non-negotiable. I’ve put my name on every pair of glasses not for vanity but to hold myself accountable for the quality of each pair we produce. As a result, every material I chose had to be the best for what these sunglasses are going to be used for.

I chose Mazzucchelli acetate from Italy because it is widely regarded as one of the highest standards in eyewear manufacturing. It is denser, more stable, and ages better than cheaper alternatives. When properly cut and polished, it carries weight in the hand and depth in the finish. It doesn’t feel disposable. Quoted directly from their website:

“Mazzucchelli, one family, 6 generations sharing the same mission and values: excellence in innovation and quality with a focus on tradition and craftsmanship.”

The same principle guided our decision on lenses. Zeiss Azure lenses are known for optical clarity and advanced anti-reflective coatings that reduce glare and improve visual comfort. Sunglasses are not just accessories. They sit on your face every day. They shape how you see the world. If the lens quality is compromised, everything else is compromised with it.

Manufacturing in America was another decision I had hoped to achieve since this idea first materialized. Unfortunately the US infrastructure to source everything from the U.S. isn’t quite feasible just yet but hopefully in the near future.

None of these decisions were the cheapest path. They were the clearest path. If Leverich & Company is going to stand for anything, it has to stand for building products that earn their place over time. Not because they are scarce. Not because they are marketed well. But because they are made well.

It is easier to study enduring businesses than to build one. It is easier to critique standards than to uphold them when the pressure is yours. Starting Leverich & Company means accepting that the principles I have written about for the past year now apply to me. I plan to uphold them to the best of my abilities.

Commitment, to me, means building this slowly and correctly. It means refusing shortcuts even when they are profitable. It means protecting the quality of the product even if that limits growth in the early stages. The brands that last are not built in one launch cycle. They are built decision by decision, year after year, often without applause.

March 6th is not the finish line. It is not even the milestone that matters most. It is simply the first public step in a long process. What matters more is how this company operates five years from now. Ten years from now. Whether the standards we set at the beginning are still intact when growth becomes tempting.

If Built To Last has taught me anything, it is that durability is rarely dramatic. It is quiet. It is repetitive. It is disciplined. My commitment is to build Leverich & Company the same way I have studied the brands featured here. With clarity of identity. With control over standards. With patience over speed.

If you have been reading this newsletter for the past year, you have been part of that preparation whether you realized it or not. On March 6th, we begin the real work.

None of this would feel possible without the past year of writing and without the people who have read along the way. Whether you have been here since the first issue or joined somewhere in the middle, your attention has meant more than you probably realize. This newsletter was never just research. It was accountability. And knowing others were reading made the standards feel real.

If you would like to be part of this first chapter, you can sign up for the waitlist for early access to the March 6th release. Signups are taken at Leverichcompany.com. Each pair in this first run will be individually numbered 1 of 50 within its color and size. Only 300 total pairs are being produced for this initial launch. Most likely, future productions won’t be numbered as we scale our production.

If you’re not in the market or you don’t think they’d look good on you, that’s alright also. If you still would like to support all we ask is that you follow us over on Instagram or even share this post with someone you might think is interested. Anything helps, especially at the start.

Thank you for spending the past year thinking deeply about what it means to build something that lasts. On March 6th, Leverich & Company takes its first step.

I hope you’ll be there.

-Joe Leverich