The story
Founded in 1965 by Gerald D. Stephens, Replacement Lens, Inc. (RLI) was one of the first insurers of contact lenses. In 1970, RLI's statistics predicted 580 losses a year for every 1,000 contact lens owners. In a Rough Notes magazine article, Stephens said, "At that time, it cost around $200 to replace a pair of lenses, and most of the people who wore them were young and couldn't afford to take that risk."
Eventually, the company emerged as one of the leading contact lens insurers in the United States. Building upon its success in the contact lens market, RLI further expanded its business into other niche insurance markets. For example, in 1982 they administered pet insurance for an Arizona veterinarian. RLI also entered the Hawaii homeowner's market in 1996 by purchasing the business of the Hawaii Property Insurance Association (HPIA). Many insurers do not offer property insurance in places with high catastrophe exposures, but RLI has introduced business lines with difference in conditions (DIC) coverage.
Over time, the demand for contact lens insurance shrank with the emergence of more affordable disposable soft lenses. In order to remain competitive, Stephens expanded RLI's offerings to include commercial property and liability insurance. In 1994, the company retired its founding contact lens insurance product and in 1996 RLI sold its RLI Vision unit to Maui Jim, a manufacturer of luxury sunglasses.
In 2013, RLI invested $20 million in renovations of their Peoria headquarters. In 2015, RLI announced a $15 million addition as the next phase of their renovation.
From Wikipedia’s article on RLI Corp., shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6