Otis Eyewear is set to expand to the United States after being sold in Australia for 13 years.
Otis Vice President of Sales Charlie Anderson said the company is initially launching the line with 50 specialty retailers in North America.
The eyewear maker plans to show the 2014 collection in January at the Agenda tradeshow in Long Beach and Surf Expo in Orlando, Fla.
“We are pre-lining the collection with select retailers and have had a very good response,” Charlie said.
The 2014 collection, which uses mineral glass lenses, will have 11 styles that include Mazzucchelli acetate, Swiss grilamid, and wire metal frames.
Here are some highlights behind the launch and how Otis plans to promote it.
Why did you decide to expand it to the United States?
Charlie Anderson: Otis has been looking to launch into the United States market for the last couple of years. The company did not feel the timing and economic climate was right until now. We believe there are now signs of an improving economy in the United States. The company has successfully built a solid foundation for Otis in product design, supply chain and logistics over the last 13 years of operation in the Australian market.
The brand has continued to perform well in Australia even in trying retail times. We believe now is the perfect time to enter the U.S. market. We are under no illusion as to the challenges ahead and believe the days of easy growth that most brands experienced pre-financial crisis are gone. We are taking a much longer-term view of growth and profitability.
What are the price ranges?
Charlie: Prices start at $170 to $225, which is where we see growth in the category. Our mineral glass lens offers a value proposition at that price point.
You mentioned the brand hopes to create a new category for the action sports market with mineral glass lenses. Can you explain what that is and why that is different from the polarized and other technologies already available in action sports?
Charlie: Surf retail and the action sports market is saturated with plastic lens eyewear. The focus of Otis is to offer a completely unique point of difference – eyewear using only mineral glass lenses with frames of the highest quality materials.
Mineral glass is the most scratch resistant, optically correct, distortion-free lens material in the world. It’s created from natural elements like sand and soda ash and is endlessly recyclable. The scratch resistance of mineral glass is particularly compelling and something we highly emphasize. The benefits of mineral glass put it in a category all its own.
We offer both polarized and non-polar mineral glass lenses. Mineral glass doesn’t compete with those technologies. The benefits of mineral glass complement and enhance other technologies like polarized lenses. It’s a different way of building eyewear.
How does Otis plan to get an edge in the competitive U.S. market?
Charlie: Retailers need brands with a point of difference and this is what we deliver.
The space we occupy in the market is not being serviced by lifestyle eyewear brands. A few brands have dabbled in glass lenses, but with very limited offerings. No other brand within our industry has focused on the category. Otis will be the first brand to develop mineral glass as a unique category at action sport retail.
The Leisure Collective International Pty Ltd owns Otis and another surf accessories brand, Creatures of Leisure, which already sells its surfboard leashes and board covers in the U.S.
How will that help Otis?
Charlie: We also have a very well established distribution channel through the other brand, Creatures of Leisure.
While the Otis brand is new to the U.S. market, the company has developed a successful business operation for over 25 years. Although the brands are strictly marketed as two separate and unique businesses, the company leverages back-end sales operations across both brands to gain economies of scale and maximize efficiency.
