Think you�ve grown your sport sunwear business to the max? Consider this story of the athletic footwear industry and think again. Some 30 years ago, sneakers were a meager part of the footwear business, since they were sold as second-pair shoes for little more than $30. Enter powerhouse brands like Adidas and Nike and suddenly athletic shoes exploded into a $12 billion dollar industry that currently makes up 34 percent of footwear sold in America today. How did this happen? �We marketed sneakers as high-tech, performance-enhancing footwear that consumers recognized were well worth the $75-and-up price tag,� answers Robert Barnette, research and development director at Nike.

Now compare the athletic shoe business with the sunwear industry. Sunwear is only one-fourth as large, totaling $4 billion. And like those sneakers of yesteryear, about 90 percent of sunglasses sold are $40 and under, according to David Rips, president and CEO of Younger Optics. Logically it would seem offering sunwear that enhances sight during extreme sports would be at least as important to athletes� eyes as sneakers are to their feet. Yet the numbers speak for themselves. And they beg the question: Why isn�t sport sunwear selling just as well as sport shoes?

	Nike�s Interchange S for Marchon features interchangeable lenses.

Stop Apologizing

Rips, who is also the chairman of Vision Council of America�s (VCA) newly formed sunwear task force, offers a few reasons why he believes sunwear business is lagging behind. �Often, when dispensers sell customers a frame package for $300, they feel guilty about trying to sell them an additional $175 pair of sunglasses, so they automatically offer a discount,� he explains. �But the optical industry has to stop apologizing for selling sunwear. They have to present polarized lenses and 100 percent UV protection as sport performance enhancers and safety benefits that are worthy of a premium price tag,� he maintains. �In short, they have to sell sport sunwear like it�s the latest, greatest athletic shoe on the market.�

What�s more, since dispensers are better trained in technical knowledge than many clerks at sunglass specialty stores�who are often young people hired as part-time help�it would seem they are better qualified to explain the technical features of sunwear. �By explaining how polarized lenses actually make driving safer, and verbalizing the harmful effects of UV light to eyes, you�re using your professionalism to sell sunwear as a medical necessity,� explains Ed August, chairman of the Ophthalmic Dispensing Department for New York City�s Technical College. �And when you present sunwear in that light, price becomes less of an issue.�

Maui Jim�s Beachcomber has polarized lenses that are Rx-able.

Make selling polarized lenses important

One technical feature that is increasing dramatically through sport sunwear is polarized lenses. Whether someone is biking, fishing, or running, the enhanced vision that polarized lenses offer invariably translates into better performance. And to prove how properly presenting polarized lenses can increase business, August said there was a study done in Minneapolis during winter at one dispensary over a seven-week period. First, the sales staff was thoroughly trained on the features and benefits of polarized lenses.

Immediately following the training, sales for polarized sunglasses grew from two percent to a whopping 20 percent within seven weeks�in the middle of winter no less! �And if you�re concerned that refractive surgery is biting into your bottom line, just offer polarized lenses to your recovering LASIK surgery patients,� says August. �Because they�re the ones who complain that sun glare bothers them more than ever immediately after surgery.�

Show, don�t tell

When it comes to demonstrating how polarized lenses work, Bob Chin, an optician at Precision Vision in Caldwell, N.J., says it�s best not to get too caught up in technical jargon. �Show, don�t tell,� he advises. �We sell a lot of Maui Jim polarized sunglasses here. To illustrate how they can enhance vision clarity, I simply search for a point of glare outside and have the patient look at it with the sunwear both on and off. While staring at the point of glare, you can mention how that clarity of vision would enhance their athletic performance. It�s a very powerful sales technique that practically sells the frames on the spot,� he says. As an added benefit, sport sunwear manufacturers like Maui Jim, Costa del Mar, and Oakley have recently started introducing prescription-based programs for polarized sunglasses.

And even though not all sport sunwear is Rx-able, when it is, it definitely gives the dispenser an advantage over sunglass specialty stores. �Sunwear currently represents about 30 percent of our sales,� says Christine Judd, an optician for The Lens Boutique, in Clinton Township, Mich. �The main reason we do so well is because we aggressively promote prescription sunwear with 50 percent off frame sales.�

Bill Perron, owner and managing optician of View Point Inc. in Burlington, Vt. has built a sizable ski goggle business over the past year through Boll� ski goggles that feature prescription inserts. �We used to have skiers order goggles through a catalog, but when Boll� came out with these Rx-able ski goggles, we decided to carry them in stock during the winter months, and now we�re constantly selling out of them,� he says. The line includes three different models that retail for $175. During the off-skiing seasons, Perron offers sunwear like lightweight wraps for bicyclists and kayak enthusiasts with polarized lenses and anti-reflective coatings. �As long as you can explain to the athlete the features and benefits of the sunwear, and they understand how it will help their performance, you�re not going to get much resistance to the price,� Perron maintains.

	Boll�s Turbulence wrap has an interchangeable lens system.

Interchangeable lens systems

Judd of The Lens Boutique says another way they have built up their sport specific sunwear business is by explaining how lens colors are best suited for a particular outdoor activity. �For general use, we recommend gray polarized lenses because it allows the wearer to see everything in its truest color without glare,� says Judd.

At Optical World in Naples, Fla., optician Christopher Dunn also tries to offer lens colors that are best suited to a specific sport. �We�re located in a resort community so we get a lot of golfers, boaters, and tennis players who want good quality sunwear that will protect their eyes from the strong Florida sun while helping to elevate their games,� say Dunn. �So we recommend brown lenses for golfing and shallow water fishing, gray lenses for deep water fishing and more general use like running and biking,� he says. �Green enhances contrast in moderate to bright light, brown has slightly less contrast, gray offers accurate color perception while reducing glare. Orange and yellow help brighten vision on cloudy days,� he adds.

Knowing that various colored lenses do have an impact on vision, many companies offer sport frames that have interchangeable lenses. For instance, Marchon�s new Nike Eyeware line feature the Interchange S frame, which allows athletes to insert either gray or orange lenses into the frame. Silhouette�s Adidas line has the Light Stabilizer system, in all its models that allows the wearer to choose from a whole medley of lens tints. Then there�s Boll�s Turbulence interchangeable lens system and Oakley�s Baseball Arrays interchangeable lens system, to name just a few.

Polycarbonate lenses most safe

Marsha Sarmiento, managing optician at Praire Eye Center, in Lincoln Ill., maintains that the most important thing to consider for those engaging in extreme sports is safety. �What good are all these high-tech features while riding, jumping or running if someone loses their eyesight due to an accident because the glass in the eyewear breaks?� she points out. Which is why Sarmiento is a passionate proponent of polycarbonate lenses. �I�ve even set up booths at health fairs to educate the public about polycarbonate lenses,� she says. She is also proactive about raising the awareness of child safety.

�I sell both Rec Specs and NBA goggles for $135 that are made for children who play baseball, basketball, football, and even wrestling,� she says. �The frames have a lifetime warranty, and I sell them solely on the basis of safety.

In my opinion, safety is the most important consideration in sport sunwear,� she says.

	Native Eyewear�s Mud frame with polarized lenses.

Light and tight

Making sure frames are light and snug fitting is another important element in sport sunwear. Nylon and polyamide are the plastic materials of choice because they are both lightweight and impact resistant. And since titanium and stainless have these characteristics in the metal family, they are becoming a popular material in sport sunwear as well. Nike�s running frame style, Airelon, combines both Alpaca metal temples and a rubberized frame front to give the frame featherweight lightness and flexibility. Many sport specific frames�like the Timberland Tide�also have tread-like rubber temple endpieces so the frame will grip more tightly on the head the more the wearer sweats.

To further enhance fit, some companies offer adjustment options on temples and nose bridges. For example, Silhouette�s Adidas frames features TRI.FIT adjustable temples and double-snap nose bridges. Temples have three levels of adjustment for optimium adaptation to fit any head shape. And a flexible, removeable nose bridge enables the wearer to form the rubber nose bridge so that it can adapt to virtually any nose shape.� The frame also comes in two different sizes,� points out Patrick Cooper, director, Adidas eyewear.

Oakley�s award-winning Water Jacket for water sports.

Make a splash!

Beyond understanding the technical features of sport sunwear, Rips of Younger Optics says many dispensaries must simply dedicate more space to the category. For example, when Richard Greene, owner of Rainbow Optics in Eugene, Ore., found out the retail store next door was vacant, he rented the space, opened the wall and built an adjoining sport sunwear room where he ushers patients in after their exams and optical needs are taken care of.

The room features action-oriented posters of snowboarders, mountain climbers, and bikers. Greene even hired a sport enthusiast to sell nothing but sport sunwear in that room, according to Rips. In fact, Rips believes that by making a commitment to selling sport sunwear, dispensers can increase sunwear sales by 50 percent.�

Compare This

Here�s a comparison of the athletic footwear and sunwear industry�s total annual sales for 2000. If sport sunwear was marketed the same way as athletic footwear, it could grow to be just as large.

He adds: �An average dispensary brings in approximately $390,000 a year and an average Sunglass Hut pulls in $330,000 a year in sales. If a dispensary�s sunglass sales grew to 50 percent, that would effectively double sales to $720,000 a year!

And when you consider that dispensaries have the edge over sunglass  specialty stores because they can offer prescription eyewear, it�s entirely conceivable.�

He concludes: �The optical industry is changing. There are threats out there like LASIK surgery and contact lenses with bifocals. However, sport sunwear could be just the untapped goldmine that dispensers are looking for. Because when you compare the current state of the sunwear market to athletic footwear, you�ll see there�s still about $8 billion worth of growth just sitting on the table. And it�s waiting to be taken.�