Innovative Eyewear, Inc. 2022 Year-end Review
December 27 2022 - 7:00AM
Innovative Eyewear, Inc. (“Innovative Eyewear” or the
“Company”) (NASDAQ: LUCY; LUCYW), the developer and
retailer of cutting-edge smart eyewear and operator of the
Lucyd® and Nautica® brands for smartglasses, is pleased to
disclose a summary of a strong year of innovations in R&D, new
business partnerships, and significant team expansion. The Company
believes these developments have furthered its goal of building the
global standard in smart eyewear.
To view a video of CEO Harrison Gross explaining these
developments, please click here.
Product Launches & Tech
Development
Innovative Eyewear completed development on the following
products in 2022.
- Digital Try-on Display. A
Lucyd-branded digital retail fixture that provides a virtual try-on
experience to in-store clients at our partner retail stores. The
proprietary software that operates the kiosk was designed and
created in house and performs as smoothly as leading VTO (virtual
try-on) applications developed by companies that focus solely on
this software
vertical . The
Company is able to remotely update the Displays with new brand
content and glasses styles, and the tablet can also be scanned to
download the Company’s Vyrb mobile app, making it a comprehensive
Lucyd brand experience in all deployed locations. Launched early in
2022.
- Cordless Charging Dock. This
patent-pending accessory was developed in house, launched in 2022
and is a first in the smartglass space. It allows the customer to
charge their Lucyd glasses simply by dropping them on their
nightstand. The Dock includes three additional USB ports to enable
the user to charge their phone, smartwatch, tablet and smartglasses
simultaneously with one device.
- 2022 Frame Collection. In 2022 we
introduced four new models of our flagship product, including our
Lucyd Lyte Jupiter model, which is leading the industry in terms of
product weight. Weight is a proxy for comfort when it comes to
eyewear, and the Jupiter model weighs just 28 grams, which is tied
for the lightest smart eyewear on the market. Central to the
luxurious look and feel of this new collection was the design and
creation of new proprietary hinges that enable a more seamless
appearance to the frames, which are being rolled out across all
models. The launch of this collection also brought the number of
Lucyd frame varieties to 16 total, which makes the Company’s
offering the most diverse in the space.
- The Company is pleased to announce
it has completed initial production of its second generation
product, Lucyd Lyte 2.0, slated to launch in Q1 2023. The Lyte 2.0
carries several new features including high-end styling from the
Company’s new design team, a four-speaker array for immersive
audio, and the longest playback time of any smart eyewear device,
with 12 hours of music playback and talk time per charge. The
battery life of the Lyte 2.0 surpasses the vast majority of true
wireless audio devices in any form factor.
- The Company has completed the
development of a live streaming feature to its Vyrb social
application for iOS and Android, which brings live audio chatrooms
to the beta app. This will enable Lucyd glasses wearers to create
and enjoy live audio events right on their smart eyewear, and this
utility is also useful for real-time team communications.
- The Company had six US design
patents and one US software utility patent granted in 2022, as well
as one Chinese patent granted, to protect its eyewear designs and
software utilities. The Company has also filed new patents in 2022
in the US, Canada and/or China to protect its recently released
Lucyd Dock and several pending products. The Company’s total number
of pending and issued patents now stands at 47.
Partnerships
- In late 2022, Innovative Eyewear
acquired a multi-year, global license to the
Nautica brand for smart eyewear and related
accessories. As part of the deal, the owner of the Nautica brand,
Authentic Brands Group, is assisting the Company
with introductions to Nautica.com, independent Nautica store
operators and buyers, and the Sports Illustrated online store. The
Company has finished designing a dozen styles for an initial line
of Nautica Smart Eyewear and expects to launch the line in H1
2023.
- Lucyd products began to be carried
on the Dick’s Sporting Goods (DSG) main website in
March 2022, as a trial for consideration for an in-store presence.
DSG is the largest sporting goods retailer in the US with 800+
stores.
- Lucyd products began to be carried
on Academy Sports + Outdoor’s
mainsite, the second largest sporting goods retailer in the US with
260+ locations.
- Lucyd partnered with
Everest.com, a new sporting goods marketplace, to
offer Lucyd Lyte glasses to their rapidly growing customer
base.
- In 2022, the Company grew its retail
presence to 250+ locations carrying Lucyd Lyte
in-store.
- The Company conducted a successful
research project to identify two additional manufacturing partners
to provide supply chain redundancy for its smart eyewear.
Team Expansion
- The Company hired Joaquin Abondano
as VP Ecommerce and Product Sourcing. Joaquin is a very experienced
digital marketer and product developer who has launched a
significant number of products on digital marketplaces that have
generated substantial direct to consumer sales. His expert level
knowledge of Amazon systems is expected to improve the company’s
direct to consumer brand awareness and advertising ROI.
- The Company also hired Jan Cory as
VP optical sales. Her background with over a decade of experience
building Luxottica’s US business makes her an excellent fit for
growing the retail presence of Lucyd products in the optical
channel.
- Furthermore, the Company hired two
leading eyewear designers in 2022. One comes from a leading global
sunglass brand, bringing their heritage of classic and timeless
sunglass design to the team. The other designer has a background
designing eyewear for some of the world’s leading fashion brands,
bringing high fashion experience to the team.
The Year Ahead
There have been many significant developments and product
improvements in 2022, and the coming year will bring many more key
advancements for the Company, with the following products
anticipated to go live in 2023:
- The launch of the second generation
Lucyd Lyte 2.0 product line with improved sound, battery and
styling. Lyte 2.0 will be launched initially in 15 sunglass and 6
blue light styles. This launch includes several styles of smart
eyewear designed specifically for women and youth, a key
differentiator from other smart eyewear collections.
- The launch of Nautica Powered by
Lucyd smart eyewear and introduction into many Nautica points of
sale around the world, kicking off what the Company expects to be a
powerful combination of its user-friendly Bluetooth technology with
iconic fashion brands.
- The introduction of the Lucyd
Bluetooth temple into new eyewear verticals such as sport wrap
frames and rimless frames, which are minimal or non-existent on the
market.
- The full commercial release of the
Vyrb social audio application and the addition of in-app purchases,
content monetization and creator tools to the app.
- An updated website with a vastly
improved prescription ordering process to make it easier to
purchase Rx-upgraded Lucyd products.
- A dedicated wholesale website for
the Company’s retail partners to be able to conveniently learn
about and stock Lucyd products.
In sum, these developments and forecasted releases position the
Company well to achieve its mission to Upgrade Your Eyewear® in
2023.
About Innovative Eyewear, Inc.
Innovative Eyewear is a developer and retailer of cutting-edge
smart eyewear, under the Lucyd® and Nautica® brands. True to our
mission to Upgrade Your Eyewear®, our Bluetooth audio glasses allow
users to stay safely and ergonomically connected to their digital
lives, and are offered in hundreds of frame and lens combinations
to meet the needs of the optical market. To learn more and explore
our continuously evolving collection of smart eyewear, please visit
www.lucyd.co.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements,
including those relating to the anticipated timing of completion of
the offering and other statements that are predictive in nature.
Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current
expectations and assumptions. The Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe-harbor for forward-looking
statements. These statements may be identified by the use of
forward-looking expressions, including, but not limited to,
“anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “estimate,” “expect,”
“future,” “intend,” “may,” “outlook,” “plan,” “potential,”
“predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar
expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or
that are not statements of historical matters, but the absence of
these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.
These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
statements regarding the expected launch date for the new Nautica
smart eyewear connection. The Company undertakes no obligation to
publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise. Important factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
the forward-looking statements are set forth in the Company's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its
registration statement on Form S-1, as amended from time to time,
under the caption “Risk Factors.”
Investor Relations Contact:Scott
Powell Skyline Corporate Communications Group,
LLC Office: +1 (646)
893-5835 Email: scott@skylineccg.com
Optical Sales Contact:Jan
CoryVP Global Optical SalesJCory@Lucyd.co
Diversified Sales
Contact:Ekene OfodileSVP SalesEOfodile@Lucyd.co
New Products Developed in 2022
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