SAN DIEGO – Local startup sunglasses company Frontline Optics, is taking on the heavy hitters in the eyewear industry.
Like top lifestyle brand eyewear players in the arena – including locals Knockaround and Blenders Eyewear – Frontline is hoping to continue to carve its place in the crowded but growing space.
Grand View Research reports that the global sunglasses market size was estimated at $23.5 billion in 2023, with an anticipated compound annual growth rate of 5.6% from 2024 to 2030.
Founder and CEO
Frontline Optics
A report from Future Market Insights says that the United States sunglasses market is estimated to be valued at $32.1 million this year, up from $30.2 million in 2023.
Mike Ettenberg, founder of Frontline Optics, says that the sunglasses industry as a whole is predominantly controlled by a single company called Luxottica (Luxottica Group S.p.A.).
“This company owns most of the designer brands including Oakley, Ray-Ban, Costa, Michael Kors, Chanel, Coach and so many more,” he said. “When customers go to shop at a Sunglass Hut, for example, they have the opinion that they are selecting from multiple brands when they are in fact one supplier controlling the prices and experience.”
Ettenberg, a former firefighter/paramedic, said that small DTC brands like his have started to pop up and utilized ecommerce to get “equal quality glasses to customers at a fraction of the inflated prices seen by the big names.”
“Frontline Optics fits into this approach, focusing on the First Responder niche… a customer base we know from over a decade in public service,” he said.
Ettenberg, who designs the sunglasses in San Diego and has a warehouse in Poway, says his company’s products are made overseas, similar to other local companies. But Ettenberg said several things set his company apart – affordability, guarantees of satisfaction and giving back to the community.
Fired Up from the Start
Ettenberg said that while in a uniform, no matter how hard he tried to take care of sunglasses, the life of an emergency worker put the eyewear in some compromised situations.
“Our work lifestyle always got the best of them,” he said, “sometimes within just a matter of weeks.”
Ettenberg began looking into manufacturing his own line of glasses, and launched Frontline Optics in July 2021, bootstrapping the business with about $5,000 of his own money, and started with 300 sunglasses.
While getting up to speed was slow, Ettenberg said he was committed to pushing forward and seeing the success of Frontline Optics.
“I spent all my down time studying and learning with lots of trial and error to find a path forward,” Ettenberg said. “In May 2022, I finally learned how to properly market my products, and things just took off. The company was growing so quickly that I struggled to find a balance between working for the fire department and working on Frontline Optics.
Ultimately, I committed to Frontline full-time in October 2022.”
Ettenberg said he ended 2022 at about $175,000 in sales, a number that in 2023 hit nearly twice that at $340,000.
He attributes the company’s success to a few key differentiators, one of which is Frontline’s donation of 5% of each purchase to be earmarked for the First Responder Children’s Foundation, a group that support the families of first responders injured or killed in service to their communities.
“First responders are known for taking care of their own, and we wanted to ensure our business was a platform to support our community,” Ettenberg said.
The company also supports other first responder charities that promote mental health awareness, sponsoring fundraising events primarily in Southern California.
Ettenberg said the company also has a “No Questions Asked” replacement program that covers one replacement per pair purchased for a $12 processing fee.
Frontline Optics earlier this year partnered with SS Greenlight Racing and driver Patrick Emerling to sponsor their car at the NASCAR Xfinity race in Las Vegas.
Others in the Arena
Breaking into the sunglasses business is not a slam dunk, as Blenders Eyewear founder and CEO Chase Fisher knows.
The San Diego State University grad was a surf coach who launched his sunglasses company in 2012 with a borrowed $2,000 from his roommate and a backpack full of shades.
Founder and CEO
Blenders Eyewear
A sunny success story in the sunglasses industry, Fisher has grown Blenders into a thriving e-commerce business with a presence on Amazon and five standalone stores – two in San Diego County, two in Texas and one in Florida – and plans to expand. The company also sells snow goggles, helmets and accessories along with its sunglasses.
Among its other ventures, Blenders has major Name Image Likeness deals with SDSU’s athletics department and collaborates on a line of sunglasses with University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders.
Fisher said while the sunglasses space is crowded, people like Ettenberg can make a dent.
“It’s tough going out there for a lot of brands right now, and you’re seeing a lot of brands fold up,” Fisher said. “Things are slow and there’s not many acquisitions happening right now and it’s becoming increasingly harder for brands to grow at the size that we’re at.
“There’s a lot more room for smaller brands to come in and make some noise like (Ettenberg). It’s hard but there are people that want to try it in a crowded market. A lot of people are usually scared to enter crowded markets, but I think it’s highly encouraging. You know it’s like crowded markets show that there’s a lot of like demand.”
Another local shades success story, Knockaround sunglasses has been growing in the market since its 2005 founding by Adam Moyer. Jeff Hennion and his Brand Holdings, LLC group acquired a majority interest in Knockaround about 2½ years ago.
On the precipice of its 20th anniversary, with Moyer now Chief Creative Officer, Knockaround experienced double-digit growth in the past year, Hennion said.
Where it has been primarily a DTC business, Knockaround has added more than 2,000 retail stores in the United States and is in about 20 countries as well as on Amazon.
CEO
Knockaround
“It’s fantastic growth for us, especially in what we call the affordable price point, anywhere from $30 to $70,” Hennion said. “We’ve seen the consumer challenges economically and know it’s a lot easier to sell a $40 pair of sunglasses that’s high quality than something substantially more.”
Hennion said that sunglasses are about more than just style or a passing fad, they’re also about the health benefits of eye protection from the sun, and because of that, will always have a market.
“The eye care benefits of sunglasses, as people start to realize the hazards of the sun, is just helping propel the industry even further than it already is,” he said.
Blenders Eyewear
FOUNDED: 2012
FOUNDER: Chase Fisher
HEADQUARTERS: San Diego
BUSINESS: Retail sunglasses
EMPLOYEES: 80
WEBSITE: blenderseyewear.com
CONTACT: 866-256-1196
SOCIAL IMPACT: The company quickly sold out its 1,000 signature TWELVE March Radness sunglasses and raised $75,000 earlier this year, a collaboration with the SDSU men’s basketball team in NIL efforts.
NOTABLE: The company started when Fisher borrowed $2,000 from his roommate, selling sunglasses out of his backpack on the beach while working his surf coach job.
Knockaround
FOUNDED: 2005
FOUNDER: Adam Moyer
CEO: Jeff Hennion
HEADQUARTERS: San Diego
BUSINESS: Retail sunglasses
REVENUE: Double-digit annual growth
EMPLOYEES: 70
WEBSITE: knockaround.com
CONTACT: 619-383-2141
SOCIAL IMPACT: Company is plastic neutral and works with 4ocean to remove a pound of ocean-collected plastic for every pound of plastic it uses
NOTABLE: Collaborations for Knockaround include Fender Guitars, Major League Baseball, The Grateful Dead and Sponge Bob Square Pants.
Frontline Optics
FOUNDED: 2021
FOUNDER: Mike Ettenberg
HEADQUARTERS: San Diego
BUSINESS: Retail sunglasses
REVENUE: $8,182 (2021); $175,000 (2022); $339,000 (2023) and on pace for +200% YoY growth (2024)
EMPLOYEES: 1
WEBSITE: Frontline-Optics.com
CONTACT: 619-289-7907
SOCIAL IMPACT: 5% of each purchased is donated back to the First Responders Children’s Foundation supporting the children left behind when their mother or father is killed or disabled while in service to their communities.
