Austin Soldner and Michael Schaecher, the co-founders of the new sunglasses brand Futuremood, met at the newly formed San Francisco research and development lab created by the high-end audio tech developer Bose. The two were tasked with working on Bose’s sunglasses wearable and bonded over a shared interest in sneakers and fashion. Over many conversations…
Austin Soldner and Michael Schaecher, the co-founders of the new sunglasses brand name Futuremood, fulfilled at the freshly formed San Francisco research and development lab created by the high-end audio tech developer Bose.
The two were tasked with working on Bose’s sunglasses wearable and bonded over a shared interest in tennis shoes and style. Over lots of conversations the two men understood there was a chance to utilize innovation to reword the sunglasses playbook and launch the first new brand name to the market since Oakley came on the scene.
There was also an opportunity to bring the materials science and tech-forward methods that sneaker companies have developed to an industry that had not seen any genuine technical transformations in years.
Get In Futuremood “Auras,” which the business bills as the first glasses clinically tested and shown to alter your state of mind.
Utilizing technology developed by the lens producer Zeiss, Futuremood’s first glasses can be found in four colors– a relaxing green, a refreshing blue, an energizing red and a focusing yellow. The business is launching its eyewear in two styles, a blocky, chunky frame and a more conventional rounded frame.
Any mood-altering effects are thanks to Zeiss’ halochrome lens innovation, which the lens maker has been dealing with– and publishing documents on– to suss out the science behind its claims that the use of filtered light can alter the way folks feel.
There’s some preliminary research that the business has done, but the science is still mainly unproven (Zeiss carried out 2 studies at European universities).
Schaecher and Soldner are believers, and the two long time tech officers see these lenses as a window into a wider world of material science experimentation and product development that they’re wanting to give market with Futuremood.
” If you consider sneakers and where Nike and Adidas got to where they are today, it was through development in product style and materials and branding and marketing and all of that had actually been missing out on from the sunglasses area,” Schaecher stated.
The 2nd marketing hire at Airbnb and the very first marketing hire at the now-defunct Munchery, Schaecher understands a thing or more about branding. Soldner, the founder of Playground.fm, and a former product designer at Jawbone, is the technical specialist and lead designer for all of Futuremood’s frames.
” We actually saw a chance to forge ahead in technical development and item innovation,” stated Schaecher. “We have a stockpile of things to push the envelope of what sunglasses are.”
One thing sunglasses are is a really huge company. Customers invested $145 billion on sunglasses in 2018, according to the marketplace research company, Grand View Research Study
If Futuremood can record even a portion of that market with its unique spin on sunglasses, it’ll remain in good condition.
As with any excellent direct to consumer product, Futuremood’s distinction begins with its packaging.
In an e-mail, Schaecher explained the feeling as “not as subtle as CBD, however not as strong as a shot of tequila or glass of Rosé.
” Austin and I are truly into various ways of self care and taking moments and … we thought there was an opportunity to bring pleasure and happiness,” with the packaging, Schaecher stated. “ We don’t expect people to be firing up Spotify playlists and incense matches every time they wear things.”
Futuremood has actually been mostly bootstrapped to date, and like whatever else in the year of our Lord 2020, the business’s plans were pressed back by the coronavirus pandemic.
” Our lenses are made in Zeiss’ Italian factory and the glasses were made outside of Shenzhen,” said Schaecher. “We quarantined the very first order for 2 weeks. Zeiss was right in that region of Italy that was getting hit hard. We have actually been delaying ever since. It’s tough to put into words what it resembles to grind on something for eighteen months … and after that have to postpone introducing.”
Even with the pandemic, though, the business moved ahead with the design for its second item, and that gives a tip for where Schaecher and Soldner desire to go with their business.
The style aesthetic is also more in the luxury vein, which Schaecher teased was akin to something that would be more in the house in a Cartier showroom instead of a direct to customer brand’s digital store.
Today, the business is going direct to consumers through its website, but it’s looking at the potential for some retail collaborations and field marketing when the country opens back up for organisation.
As for the mood-altering results and whether “wearable drug” can win market share, Schaecher is quite optimistic.
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