Eyewear Company Stoggles Pulls In $40M to Make Safety Stylish
Millions of people across the U.S. depend on some form of corrective lenses to go about their day-to-day lives. But even for those with 20/20 vision, glasses can serve as a crucial tool to protect one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. By combining the best aspects of both glasses and safety goggles, Stoggles is on a mission to change how the world views protective eyewear.
In the early days of the pandemic, people were advised against touching their eyes lest they incidentally contract Covid-19. This, coupled with new mask mandates that had glasses-wearers dealing with foggy lenses on a regular basis, was the impetus to launching LA-based Stoggles.
Born from an era of need, Stoggles has grown into an online D2C brand that serves more than 200,000 customers across North America. Two veterans in the fashion eyewear space launched Stoggles in 2020. From there, the company generated about $13.5 million in revenue during 2021 alone. Amid this rapid growth, Stoggles just announced a $40 million growth investment from The Chernin Group to further develop its fashionable safety glasses.
Stoggles are built with the durability of airplane windows, yet are lightweight enough for regular wear and even come in a range of colors. The product’s polycarbonate lenses are prescription-friendly and coated in an anti-fog solution that is resistant to alcohol-based cleansers, a huge plus for healthcare workers who frequently need to clean their protective eye gear. It also protects users against the harsh blue light from computer screens. Thanks to the eyewear’s top and side shields, the American National Standards Institute granted Stoggles a Z87 rating, qualifying them as safety equipment for several professional use cases.
“We just want to make eyewear more protective,” Rahul Khatri, co-founder and chief experience officer of Stoggles, told Built In. “Some of our success has been making protective eyewear stylish and we’ve succeeded in doing that, but generally eyewear across the board is so style-driven that it loses some of its functional aspects. And what we’re trying to do is bring some of those functional aspects back without having to compromise on the style factor.”
The vast majority of the company’s current customer base work in healthcare — about 80 percent to be precise — but Stoggles have also been widely adopted in areas like the home sector. In recent months, customers have shared stories where their Stoggles have protected them during DIY build projects, gardening and even cooking, preventing their eyes from watering while chopping onions.
“It’s really interesting to see this product actually take on its own life in spaces that we never thought we would design for,” Khatri said. “Our mission is ‘love your eyes’ ... whether it’s through protecting yourself from shards of things flying into your face or the sun or onion juice. ... We want to go after these industries in this community of people that is larger than healthcare and in all these other sectors, including the home, with the mission that we have under our belt.”
This is where the company’s new growth round comes into play. Stoggles’ main focus is fueling R&D to build out its product to best suit the needs of customers in new markets. The company plans to expand into new categories including the sciences, manufacturing, construction, culinary arts and home improvement.
Stoggles will need to grow its team to accomplish these goals. With a current staff of 15, the company is fueling key hires across its marketing, design and leadership teams. Stoggles hopes to achieve a headcount of 30 to 40 people this year.
