Great outdoors

Competitors at the recent Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park may have been surprised to see two large, sunglass-wearing parrots sitting either side of a show-jumping fence. Far from being a trick of the mind, they were part of some subliminal advertising from Hawaiian sunglass brand Maui Jim that has been busy organising cross-country and show jump fences at events from Burghley to Badminton. The interest in eventing stems from the parent company, explains Maui Jim UK sales director Sean Collins. 'We supplied the US team for the Olympics and most of the UK team wear Maui Jim as well. The followers are in the right demographic area. It's a high-end niche market.' The sporting link is not confined to eventing, as Collins has also tied up with the European Seniors golf tour as the official sunglass supplier, with a presence at August's Wentworth tournament, won by Sam Torrance. There is also a Maui Jim-sponsored yacht and a Formula Renault saloon car bearing the livery. In fact, Collins is interested in any outdoor sport and the involvement mainly comes in the supply of product to competitors, augmented with some branded signage. ICC cricket umpires, for example Peter Willey, have also been supplied with Maui Jim, benefiting from the polarising qualities of the sunglasses. 'Cricket pitches are one of the harshest environments for reflected light, bouncing off the wicket, the white clothes and the stands.' The company is also looking into getting involved with Premiership rugby teams, having already supplied the Ireland rugby squad at the last World Cup. 'It is a sports-driven product and we need to expose it to people at the top level. We are something of a best-kept secret, as we don't advertise to the consumers. Having said that, opticians tell us that the sunglasses repeat more than any other product.' Another aspect of the company's drive to ingrain Maui in the psyche of the wearer is the lifetime offer to replace the sides of the entry-level (£95) Sports model, a grilamid/nylon design with hard and waterproof coating on both sides of the lens. Collins believes that this 'higher quality eyewear' is now stocked all year around and is not seasonal. And as the company only replaces several slow-selling models a year, automatically replacing them in practice, Collins says there is no problem with being burdened with stock that changes with the whims of fashion. He admits the designs are 'stylishly' conservative, pointing out that its strengths are comfort and the quality of lenses that exceed even the highest standards for Australia and New Zealand. Another powerful argument for the quality sunglass lens sector is that while Collins says the designer market has slowed down this year, prescription and polarised sunglasses have seen a growth of 15 per cent. Potential wearers may not be swayed by the company's Hawaiian roots and brightly coloured livery, but Collins says that the quality of the product will win them over. 'It's not as if we are asking them to wear a big parrot on the sides of the sunglasses. Our branding is all very discreet and only people in the know will recognise what you are wearing. While some of our rivals are aiming at a younger market, our target market is the 25-30 plus sector.' The news that Maui Jim has now opened its US prescription service to the UK market should also increase its penetration here. The $5.5m lab was opened earlier this year when the company 'found it could not get anyone to glaze the product to its requirements'. The semi-robotic machinery in the lab can only be found in a handful of other laboratories, he says. The Rx service has been on trial in the UK for several months with a number of key accounts and is now ready to go, with a return service of 10-14 days. 'We can now cater for an older market who need prescription single-vision lenses,' says Collins. The single-vision lenses come in a range from +5.00D to -5.00D, and Cyls to 3.00D, in polycarbonate and glass, with progressive lenses estimated to follow in January/February 2005.