Where Are They Now: Ellison Eyeware
·
Mar 2, 2017
Ellison Eyeware launched their first Kickfurther deal in October 2016. A sunglasses company built around the idea that lo...
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Highlights:
A lifetime client-service model for customers
A recognized brand of hand-made, top quality sunglasses
A company that gives back with every sale
We all love sunglasses. They make us look good, protect our eyes, guard our privacy, and allow us to see better.
However, unfortunately for us, consumers, the $112 billion eyewear industry is headed by a handful of giant corporations, who currently own the rights and licenses to today’s biggest fashion brands and distribution channels. This means consumers pay higher prices for lower quality products than they deserve.
The status quo is not easy to change. But we’re set to do that.
1. Strives for the highest quality. Period.
2. Does good and has an integrated social mission.
3. Focuses on customers with a lifetime client service model.
We set ourselves apart from established brands by exceeding expectations and creating top-notch products at fair and honest prices.
Here's how we build amazing glasses:
Every pair of Ellison’s is handcrafted in a family-owned workshop in Greece.
We’re using only the finest Italian materials and metals. Every pair is made using the highest quality Italian Mazzucchelli 1849 acetate.
Ellison’s quality assurance process is 2x more rigorous than the industry standard, ensuring that every pair is the highest quality before it leaves our hands, and arrives in yours.
German engineered 5 barrel hinges
Ellison’s come equipped with 5 barrel stainless steel hinges. This sturdy hinge provides integrity, durability, and comfort while keeping your temples straight unlike an average pair of sunglasses that may only have 3 barrels.
Real rivets
Pins in the frame and temples of our sunglasses provide structural integrity, while adding a touch of flare to our designs.
Soft gel nose pads
We only use soft gel nose pads to ensure comfort, even after long hours of use.
Hinge lining detail
A galvanized metal cap detailed with our trademarked “E” is also used to line the temple-front junction. Only visible when the frame isn’t being worn, it’s a hidden pleasure for Ellison owners to enjoy!
Carl Zeiss Vision lenses
Tested more thoroughly than any industry standard or law in the world requires, Carl Zeiss Vision Lenses deliver our customers the same superior optics found in the lenses used to film the moon landing.
Temple tip detail
We engrave our trademarked “E” on the left temple tip of every pair, showing our attention for detail and certifying your pair is authentic!
Thermic
A special temperature sensitive varnish treatment makes Ellison “Thermic” line one of a kind: when exposed to temps above 78°F, thermic pairs react by changing color.
Companies must have a bigger purpose. We have been on a quest for the last 3 years, providing eyesight to those in need and building homes that create safe spaces for those who need it.
Our mission is to make the best glasses and do good in this world. Through our close relationship with our customers, we are able to empower them to engage in social outreach and community development programs.
Giving back is core to our culture
We provide a tangible way for our community to be the change they want to see in the world.
Every year, our team sponsors multiple impact-travel excursions, with local partners, dedicated to closing the gap on social issues, and those who want to help solve them. We allow our community to truly involve themselves, first hand, in an immersive philanthropic experience alongside like-minded journeyers, while exploring some of the most beautiful corners on earth.
To date, our community built 40 new homes in Nicaragua for families living in slum conditions.
Giving a gift of sight
With every pair of sunglasses and Club Ellison membership sold, Ellison will provide sight to somebody in need in one of three ways:
1) Spectacles for children
the results of giving glasses to the child are miraculous – children go from failing and resenting their classes to excitedly getting straight As..
2) Building Vision Centers for the poor
Many rural areas don’t have access to basic eye care. Our donations help build eye care centers to provide help to people in need.
3) Training eye health personnel.
Along with the shortage of eye care access, the rural clinics that do exist lack trained staff. Our donations help train the personnel to provide basic eye care.
Other brands take advantage of the nature of the game: that sunglasses get lost, broken or stolen all the time. In fact, other brands bet on it to make profits. Ellison turns the tides, and converts customers into a loyal community with Club Ellison.
A Club Ellison membership is insurance for your Ellison frames. It targets 3 unaddressed pain points experienced by tens of millions of customers of high end frames:
Should something happen to a Club Ellison member's glasses, they have access to our entire collection at exclusive membership pricing. *50% off retail*
Members also become part of a community that acknowledges and rewards living experiences, instead of punishing you for it.
Our story was picked up by news outlets, fashion blogs, business blogs and TV and has garnered notable features and PR across top publications and national media outlets for our noval approach to addressing global problems.
Ellison glasses have become integrated into pop culture. We’ve had notable features on some of the most recognized faces in the entertainment industry, Mario Lopez, The Fray, Kelly Clarkson, Jennie Garth, Terri Seymour, Pia Toscano, Marc Malkin, Carolina Liar, Novak Djokovic, Kendall Jenner, with music artists like Post Malone, FKi 1st, Lil Wayne and Waka Flocka Flame, just to name a few and are the premier sunglass brand for Fox’s breakout drama Empire., and many more.
The crowded eyewear space is currently focused on an outdated traditional retail model versus cost suppression and customer experience CRM-based model.
Data-Driven
Our deeply embedded CRM has allowed us one-to-one customer feedback from thousands of clients. This gives us real-time design and deployment insights that is typically not available at scale or without the use of a third party.
This way, we are able to stay informed and current with quickly changing customer needs and trends.
Emotional connection
Ellison’s marketing takes an aggressive approach in how we communicate with our consumer and how we differentiate from our competitors. This approach will communicate the tangible value of the brand and the deeper emotional connection that current competitor brands are not leaning into.
Through 2016, we’ve expanded into 60 brick-and-mortar stores, globally.
Ellison makes profit with a four point sales strategy.
Wholesale and Pop-Up/Direct are our current main revenue generating channels given their higher up-front conversion rates and the branding opportunities available through additional exposure.
On the brick and mortar front, teams will be hired on to push efforts with monthly goals outlined. This channel’s main purpose is brand development and testing to continue building the Ellison brand and image.
Profit Margins
Our 5 to 10 year business plan is centered on new efficiencies within the Ellison consumer purchase funnel. With the Wholesale and Pop-Up processes streamlined, this sales channel is ready for growth and only requires a capital investment in order to advance our scaling efforts.
Ever improving experience
We’re focused on investing in consumer experience across digital and offline sales touch points. This investment will help us become faster and cut overall costs related to product development without lowering the quality.
Data analysis
We are constantly integrating more data and insights into our product development and online conversion strategy. Your investment will be used to make this area of our business more sophisticated, focusing heavily on Club Ellison, which is projected to be a significant growth and profit channel for our brand.
New market
We will use your investment to start developing our prescription eyewear line. We will make this strategic leap because of the rocket-like growth of this market opportunity: the eyewear market size is projected to reach $184.03 billion by 2024 (source: grandviewresearch)
Geographic expansion
By working with investors who have signature real estate, we can take advantage of these on-the-ground locations and foot traffic to drive instant sales while leveraging reduced retail and rent expenses.
Ellison was started by Aristotle Loumis, who set out to his home country of Greece to build a sunglasses company that creates the highest quality sunglasses in the market, with the best craftsmanship and unmatched materials.
We’ve brought together the people to get us where we need to be. Our team is made up of proven investors who have invested into the vision and market opportunity.
We partnered with a strategic group of proven investors like John Roa – an award winning entrepreneur and innovator in the technology and lifestyle space with his latest venture, AKTA being fully acquired Salesforce Inc. in September 2015.
Ravi Patel, another key investor, is the principle of BuiltByIowa Ventures and president of Hawkeye Hotel Group – one of the fastest growing, privately-owned hotel companies in the country.
From the beginning, Ellison has had a passion for superior product and a fixation with service and making the world better place to live. These values endure today.
When you invest in Ellison, you are investing in a company that actively seeks to improve the quality of life for communities around the globe.
We share this opportunity with our investors to get them involved in a social good whether it’s providing eyesight to somebody in need or building homes across Latin America. We are here to do good, while having fun in the process.
Investment in Ellison is an investment in a growing brand, in dedication to product and service and in the strong ideals that guide our business.
While we are laser focused on growing our business, we are bigger than just outfitting sunglasses.
We have lost things ourselves and we never forget how it burns. We are turning this insight into a movement and bringing people peace of mind, allowing them to live their life of adventure without worrying about the little things.
We want you to be part of it – and invite you to join us for the ride.
$4,000,000
The maximum valuation at which your investment converts
into equity shares or cash.
Learn more.
20%
If a trigger event for Ellison Eyewear occurs, the discount provision
gives investors equity shares (or equal value in cash) at a reduced price.
Learn more.
$100,000
The largest investment amount that Ellison Eyewear is accepting.
Learn more
Crowd SAFE
·
Learn more
A SAFE is a Simple Agreement for Future Equity. An investor makes a cash investment in a company, but gets company stock at a later date, in connection with a specific event. The Crowd SAFE is a modified SAFE that is better suited for crowdfunding.
$50,000 – $750,000
Ellison Eyewear
needs to raise
$50K
before the deadline.
The maximum amount
Ellison Eyewear
is willing to raise is
$750K.
Learn more
Ellison Eyewear needs to reach their minimum funding goal before the deadline
().
If they don’t, all investments will be refunded.
Learn more
Form C
SEC.gov
Very simple. After purchasing any one of our products at full retail price (online) you will be eligible to become a ClubEllison Member for $10 -- a one time payment for lifetime coverage against loss, theft, or damage.
Currently, members can only redeem their membership perks online via WearEllison.com - we plan to develop processes/procedures and work closely with our retail brick-and-mortar stores to extend membership perks offline.
Club Ellison is a loyalty, exclusive membership program. Our promise is simple. Buy a pair at full price and you are
automatically eligible to receive full access to current and future
frames at exclusive membership pricing for the rest of your life.
(*Member pricing is half off full retail*)
Imagine replacing your Chanel sunglasses with plastic frames from the convenience store down the street. Not quite the same. You could just as easily drop another couple hundred dollars to replace those Chanel sunglasses, but what happens the next time you lose or break them? People don't want to be hindered by the loss of their glasses, but they also don't want to settle for something cheap or of lesser quality. Ellison Sunglasses resolves the buyer's dilemma by providing affordable, high-end sunglasses that are beautifully crafted in Greece. It started when our founder, Aristotle Loumis, lost his own sunglasses while traveling abroad and realized this was a common annoyance that wasn't being addressed by major eyewear companies. Ellison is dedicated to quality, and value, every pair of Ellison’s is handmade by our manufacturing team in the beautiful country of Greece. Our process includes several steps above industry standards to ensure that every pair is the highest quality before it leaves our hands, and arrives in yours.
Ellison makes profit with a four point sales strategy that is built around a direct to consumer approach.
1) Wholesale
2) Pop-Up-Shop
3) Corporate
4) Online & Direct (ClubEllison)
Since inception, we’ve expanded into 60 brick-and-mortar stores, globally.
Wholesale and Pop-Up/Direct are our current main revenue generating channels given their higher up-front conversion rates and the branding opportunities available through additional exposure.
On the brick and mortar fronts, teams will be hired on to push efforts with monthly goals outlined. This channel’s main purpose is brand development and testing to continue building the Ellison brand and image.
Corporate events have become a high cash generating area -- essentially, a corporate client will purchase a set number of our Ellison products to gift their partners and/or employees. We will either ship directly to them, or host an in-person event. During a 2-3 hour corporate event we can generate ~$5k - 8k.
Establishing new retailer connections as well as re-engaging the ones previously had has been very successful, as well. Reorder rates are very strong at %95 and our retail partners are loving our branding and marketing efforts.
Q2 16' also saw the launch of ClubEllison Membership Program - Just weeks after launch, we are thrilled to announce that we have over 1200 members sign up for the program, with ~18% of those members already taking advantage of the membership perks and reordered. We are seeking investment to continue building more sophisticated technology and back end tracking system in order for us to monitor and grow ClubEllison, as it is the most profitable and scalable avenue of growth.
We donate $1 from every product sold and 50%, or $5, from every Club Ellison membership sold.
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