Quality Glasses made for everyone 

Talking to Jerry Dreifuss, co-founder and CEO of Swiss Eyewear Group (SEG), inevitably leaves one with a good feeling about his company and could turn any skeptical opinion about the business world into a positive one. His energy and enthusiasm are also something he shows to his team daily. "Building your own company gives you the freedom to create a business that appeals to you in every aspect. I founded Swiss Eyewear Group with friends, representing our values, prioritizing integer business decisions, having a flat hierarchy, open door policy, the unwavering believe in value of employees and living the startup-groove. Doing all of this in an industry that I adore is just fantastic", says Jerry.

Before founding the Swiss Eyewear Group, he worked for Polaroid Eyewear, a global sunglass brand. But he always knew that he would someday build his own business, selling high quality sunglasses, Optical Frames and Reading glasses that are affordable for everyone. “Fancy sunglass brands demand huge royalties to finance their even fancier advertising campaigns. Swiss Eyewear Group uses a different approach by investing in lens technology and material innovations to ensure that customers can enjoy the latest optical industry advances at a fair price. To keep structural cost low we started with a distributor “go-to-market” strategy while only opening two of our own sales subsidiaries in Switzerland and in Italy. This has made it possible to break even in the first year and producing a positive EBITDA as of the second year.” says Jerry.

Building own brands and producing for private labels

The most significant focus lies on their INVU ultra polarized Eyewear brand that offer the users the amazing benefit of glare-free, perfect vision. The INVU brand has recently been extended by adding INVU Optical Frames with a magnetic ultra-polarized clip on for prescription eyewear users and with INVU sustainable using the latest innovations in recycling plastic waste. Soon, their newest brand, EKKIU, will be launched. EKKIU was created based on the strong demand from retail and SEGs distribution partners for an ultra-fashionable collection crafted in handmade acetate at an affordable price. “With everything we do, we are positioning our products at the “best value for money”, says Jerry.

As an expert in this segment, SEG is a global leader as producer of sunglasses and optical frames for the private label market. "There is a huge potential and strong synergies with our core business. Thanks to our extensive know-how in designing and manufacturing eyewear and thanks to the expertise of our local organization in Asia in quality control and compliance, we can offer private label customers a true “one stop shopping” when it comes to eyewear; be it for branded Eyewear lines sold in their stores or online or company gifts."

Surviving Covid breakout

When COVID-19 broke out, we sold worldwide to over 50,000 retail stores, and over 95 % had temporary shut down or severe restrictions. On top of that, we were shortly before spring, our primary season had started, and we had already produced to prepare for that. We had to be very flexible and open to find a solution to survive as a business in this situation. Within two weeks, we changed our production to certified protection glasses, which were highly needed in the health sector. “This was crucial for us and made sure that we didn't have to lay off a single person and that we were still in the game and ready as soon as the restrictions from COVID-19 stopped. Also, we discovered the value of teleshopping during COVID-19, and we still use that marketing channel successfully.” The same is true for their online store- www.invushop.com- that started to take off during Covid and is growing by the week ever since. The way they managed the volatile COVID-19 times makes Jerry proud.

The success story is to be continued

But it's one thing among many that is worth highlighting on their journey: Eyewear has reached break-even in its first year, celebrated milestones of selling their first, then second, and soon their third million of glasses, won an Export Award from Switzerland Global Enterprise and became a finalist at the SEF award with their first application. SEG continues their path of success with continuous innovations, product line expansions, new market development and exploring opportunities in the merger and acquisition era.

Receiving the SEF.Growth label has marked another milestone on their journey. Recommended by the founder of Zippsafe, Jerry applied to the program and didn't regret it: "The experts asked the right questions, including critical ones, that we never asked ourselves before. They made us leave the Eyewear world to look at our operations from an outside perspective. We have an entire to-do list that results from the assessment, such as building an advisory board. I can say the SEF.Growth program was sensational. I really recommend it."