OPTI Interview

On the sidelines of OPTI, we were interviewed by Boardsport source, the European B2B platform for the European boardsports industry. An opportunity for us to take a look back at 2023 and to talk about the future of Glacier Optics. Here is the full interview!

We don’t know much about the market overall but from our side, 2023 has been a pretty successful year. We doubled our sales compared with the same period last year and we signed partnerships with 25 new stores (independent opticians and specialist sports stores).

We won’t talk about sustainability because it’s not a trend anymore, it’s a must. About trend, let’s say everything is cyclical! Recently, we're seeing a new emergence of 90s-style sunglasses. These are mainly worn by the rather "core" freestyle and freeride world, but as always, they might be democratized to a wider audience. Glacier Optics is currently working on a 3D-printed model in this style. In our collection, we want to offer one model that revisits each decade.

Since 2023, we have offered every Moiry model in a small size that you can find on www.glacieroptics.com. This has been a particularly good move, as we're seeing strong demand from thin-faced people who can't find the right pair of mountain sunglasses. Since the beginning of the year, we've sold almost as many Moiry in small size as regular size. We look forward to seeing how our new Pierrredar model performs!

We're very excited to be releasing our new "Pierredar" model next month! We've been working on it for a while. It's a sleek, high-performance mountain eyewear with a recycled stainless steel frame and a Zeiss monolens available in categories 3 and 4. This model will be available in size S, M & L.

We are still working with Zeiss and develop together lenses that fit the mountain expectation. We are working on color basis and coating to produce sharp lenses that improve contrast, confort and visibility while up in the mountain.

This year we are coming with a new Category 3 lens, the Alps Mirror. It’s a grey base color, with a mirror coating. We have selected this combination for our new model Pierredar.

Let’s face it! Every product has an environmental cost, our aim is to produce sunglasses that lasts as long as possible, and that the components of the product can be replaced. That is why we keep pushing fractionating design and that we constantly improve the quality of the material in order to be able to repair the frames, and not throw away the product because one element broke down. And we are also coming with some customize fit made with 3D printings. So far, we did not find the right bio-based or recycled material for our sunglasses, so we prefer to assume that every product has an impact, and concentrate on the product's lifespan and the possibility of repairing it. We just want that everything we do make sense to us. From A to Z. For example, we recently signed a partnership with a small Swiss company based near our HQ that produce packaging. So this means our sunglasses are packed in swiss cardboard packaging! We're proud of these little details that make the difference.

About shipping, our customers can choose between the postal service, cheaper but which may take a little longer, or Fedex, faster but a bit more expensive. It just depends on how patient you are before discovering your fantastic Glacier Optics sunglasses!

We feel it's important to communicate transparently through the people who gravitate around Glacier Optics (craftsmen, mountaineers, retailers, mountain enthusiasts, etc.) and who share our values. By distancing ourselves from the classic industrial model and the world of social medias influencers, we want to put passion back at the center and the love of a well-made, hand-crafted product. We want people to make the brand their own. So we prefer an imperfect image with substance to an ultra-smooth reel shot with the latest drone technology. A propos, you can watch our latest video portrait of our craftsman Serge Lowrider on our website, he’s such a boss!

The price indicated on the website is the minimum price we sell our sunglasses. Our retailers know that we are not the kind of company that overproduce and end up with a stock of sunglasses on our hands that we try to sell off roughly no matter how. Our products are handmade by passionate people and we are too proud of our sunglasses to sell them 40% off on a hard discounter website.

Also, we focus on promoting short consumption circuits. This means producing in the main place where our products are used: the Alps. Made in the Alps is not just a motto, we believe in valorizing ancestral alpine know-how rather than using mass-production techniques. Same for our retailers, they all have a story to tell and a real know-how to share. They are not here to just resell some low-end stuff they don’t know where it’s coming from. It’s just a matter of shared values and passion for the product, if it’s aligned let’s work together. If not, no worries, it takes all kinds to make a world!

Take care,

Benoît & Arnaud