Contact lens sales could soon be boosted by the endorsement of Wayne Rooney and other Premiership stars following the news that giant brand Nike is working on developing coloured lenses.
Contact lens sales could soon be boosted by the endorsement of Wayne Rooney and other Premiership stars following the news that giant brand Nike is working on developing coloured lenses.
The global sports label could introduce the contact lenses this year, claimed reports, through a collaboration with Bausch & Lomb to sell them through opticians. However, given the brand's huge appeal, especially among the young, the launch could also reignite hygiene concerns over teenagers swapping and sharing their lenses.The project has emerged from Nike's support of the idea that the coloured lenses can help players' vision during a match and is currently conducting tests on different coloured contact lenses to assess their benefits.
If trials are successful, players such as England star Rooney and his Premiership colleagues Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane could ignite a trend for thousands of fans to imitate their idols by wearing the lenses.
Nike marketing manager Tony Chipote told the London Evening Standard: 'We want our athletes to continue to see their game better and better for longer and longer. As soon as you start to lose your eyesight the rest of your body will start to suffer.'
The company claimed that red lenses were ideal for fast-moving sports such as football; grey can help golfers discern the lie of the land on a putting green, while green helps to separate individual blades of grass.
Bausch & Lomb plan to launch Nike's coloured contact lenses this summer, with more details to follow.
Strip-teaser - see next week's issue for an overview of the importance of the visual impact of shirt colour for football teams.