In 2007 Dirk Graber wanted to sell glasses on the internet. The first obstacle was not technology. Many frame makers were wary of an online seller and did not want to supply him, so he had to win them over one by one.
He worked out the model with Spreadshirt founder Lukasz Gadowski and brought in Björn Sykora, a friend from his student days, plus IT co-founders Philipp Frenkel and Thilo Hardt. Mister Spex was founded in Berlin in 2007 and the shop went live in April 2008.
The company expanded to France in 2010, and Mirko Caspar joined as co-CEO in 2011. In 2013 it bought the Swedish contact lens seller Lensstore. It later added physical stores next to the web shop.
On 2 July 2021 Mister Spex listed in Frankfurt at €25 per share and raised €375 million. Caspar left in 2023. In 2024 Graber stepped down as the last founder in the business, as SpexFocus closed all eight international locations and cut about 150 jobs.