Dollar Shave Club was founded by Mark Levine and Michael Dubin. The duo met at a party and eventually began to share their frustrations with the cost of razor blades. With their own money, time and some investments from the start up incubator Science Inc. they were able to begin operations in July of 2011.

Dollar Shave Club is a company based out of Venice, California that delivers razors and other grooming products by mail. Other grooming products include Dr. Carvers Easy Shave Butter (pre-shave for sensitive skin), One Wipe Charlies (wet wipes), and Dr. Carver’s Magnanimous Post Shave All-In-One Daily Moisturizer.

The company operates on a membership basis offering three different memberships that can be upgraded or downgraded at any time. The membership program launched in March of 2012, with a YouTube video that went viral. Generating an unanticipated amount of traffic, it crashed their servers within the first hour. Since the membership launch, Dollar Shave Club has accumulated over 600,000 members, buying more than 24 million razors a year.

Although the company’s primary target is men, approximately 20 percent of its customers are women. So, no matter who you are, Dollar Shave Club invites you to come shave time and shave money with them.

What started as an exciting possibility to turn dreams and ideas into something much more has become a reality. If you’re looking for a durable, water-repellent, functional bag to help you get through the day Freitag is the company for you.

In the beginning, the founders of Freitag, Marcus and Daniel Freitag, were on the lookout for a new kind of messenger bag. In Zurich, many citizens like the Freitag brothers travel by bicycle and unfortunately when it rains they get wet. This brought them a desire for a heavy-duty, functional and water-repellent bag to carry their designs in.

One day, while watching cheerfully colored trucks rumble along past their flat, they were struck with inspiration. They decided to cut a messenger bag out of an old truck tarp. As the carry strap, they used an old seat- belt from a car and used an old bicycle inner tube for the edging.

As luck would have it, a bag that was created to meet a personal need turned into a business which now employs around 160 people. The Freitag brothers have create two lines: the classic Fundamentals and the newer Reference line, both providing men’s and women’s styles.

The Freitag brothers have a strong commitment to remaining true to themselves, which means keeping their feet firmly on the ground, taking a new look at ever-changing contexts and situations, not losing sight of the big picture and consistently delivering products that their customers can be proud to buy and own.

In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie was struck with inspiration. While interacting with children in a small village in Argentina he was shocked by the fact that many of them had no shoes to protect their feet. Through this experience Mycoskie decided that he wanted to try and make a difference. The result of this was TOMS.

TOMS is more than just a shoe company striving to make a high quality product that its consumers can be proud to wear. TOMS is a company that is devoted to driving change in this world. For every pair of shoes purchased they match this by giving a pair to a child in need. This is their idea of One for One.

Along with providing people with the gift of shoes, TOMS has expanded its business model to include the gift of sight and the gift of water. When an individual purchases TOMS eyewear they are helping to restore another’s sight. This is achieved either through sight-saving surgery, prescription glasses or medical treatment. Similarly, every bag of TOMS coffee that is purchased grants them the ability to provide clean water to one person in need for a week. Again the idea of One for One.

Many companies are in the business for the sole purpose of making money, but that is not true of TOMS. They deliver great products to their consumers, but not at the cost of others. They are a great company because of their offerings, but more importantly due to their willingness to help those who need it.

Ethan Song and Hicham Ratnani are the founders of Frank & Oak. Growing up as childhood friends, in Montreal, they have always shared a passion for walking the line between art and technology. Ethan with a love for the relationship between people and products, and Hicham a love for engineering made a pact to start their own company. Through their passion and talents Frank & Oak was born.

Designed around a vertically integrated structure, allowing them to do it all themselves, they stay clear of clothing industry markups and middlemen. This has settled them in a position to ensure quality at every touch point along the way.

Their commitment to quality and designing the perfect garment is no small task, but it is one they are willing to tackle. From sourcing the highest quality cotton blends from amazing mills from around the globe, to analysis of fits and preferences, Frank & Oak works to personalize the shopping experience for unparalleled quality and extraordinary value.

What started as a team of two has blossomed into a team of more than eighty people. Still working as if it were day one, they are striving to add more and more motivated and talented people to provide even more value to their customers.

They are a team of driven designers, developers and artists – a brand of builders. Their mission is this: to help a generation of men dress and live well. All of their efforts combine for the purpose of bringing men the clothes and accessories they need and want at a reasonable price.

Rust Valley Design Co is, as the name implies, a design company that deals with branding, interactive design, educational programs and other services. Rust Valley originated as a screen-printing company, started by Nate Mucha in his basement several years ago.

Through his ambition and eye for talent he has brought on four other members. They include: Jason Richburg, creative director and copywriter; Alex Catanese, the lead designer; Katey Catanese, designer and Ryan Hammond, head of research and communication. Through Mucha’s leadership and their group collaboration they have turned this basement project into a full scale business.

Rust Valley not only offers the customer their services, but provides them with their integrity as well. Creating something beautiful is not enough, this team seeks to bring high quality, punctual work that not only brings satisfaction to the customer, but also fills their team with pride.

Whether it be logo design, responsive styling, design workshops, copywriting or any of their other offerings, Rust Valley is constantly working to improve as a company and increase customer satisfaction. Through their commitment to hard, honest work, the customer and providing high quality services Rust Valley Design Co seems to have all the right ingredients for a bright future.

Warby Parker is an e-commerce, designer eyewear company that was started in 2010. The company was founded by David Gilboa and three of his business school friends. One summer one of them lost their glasses on a backpacking trip. While trying to find new glasses they found that the cost of replacing them was too high. This lead to a semester of grad school without them, squinting, straining and complaining.

The other three had experienced a similar problem and were shocked by how hard it was to find a pair of great glasses without burning a hole in their wallets. They were not sure where to go from there and decided they would produce an alternative. Warby Parker was this alternative.

Through hard work and dedication, designing glasses in-house and interacting with customers directly they are able to provide high-quality, beautiful eyewear at an affordable price. Since their birth in 2010, they have sold more than half-a-million frames.

The Warby Parker crew believes that “buying glasses should be easy and fun. It should leave you happy and good-looking, with money in your pocket.” Along with their commitment to producing affordable glasses they also believe that everyone has the right to see.

Nearly one billion people worldwide are unable to afford glasses, which means they cannot effectively learn or work. To help combat this problem they have partnered with companies like VisionSpring to guarantee that for every pair of glasses they sell a pair of glasses is donated to someone in need.

A truly remarkable company that operates under the idea that good eyewear brings good outcomes.