At a time when taking on big problems can feel overwhelming or unapproachable, Whistler-based eyewear start-up Coast Optics is showing the unlikely is not the same as impossible. The two-person operation, founded by Sam and Alex, is taking on the established eyewear giants with its greener approach to the competitive sector.
A clear vision for a greener future
There’s the old saying “build it and they will come.” In this case, Coast Optics showed if you build something better, you can overcome brand loyalty. The brand was founded on a combination of a sense that cycling eyewear could be made better, and made greener. Sam and Alex’s work together at Evolution bike shop in Whistler is the basis of both the frustration and the knowledge they used to see a greener path forward.
“We were just getting frustrated with how other brands were conducting business. There didn’t seem to be much care,” Sam explains. Their frustration focused on packaging, seeing an industry that like to claim to be green shipping sunglasses and goggles in layer upon layer of plastics. “One brand was using a fully plastic box, and then had it wrapped in a plastic bag. That’s just ridiculous. It’s just not needed. And I think you only see the extend of it, sometimes, behind the scenes. When the product is on the shelf, you don’t see that backstory.”
“Alex made a fleeting comment that someone could do better than this and I said, “let’s give it a go,” Sam recalls. “It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ever since.”
Rider driven development helps launches Coast Optics at full speed
Three years in, the founding pair is now able to call Coast Optics their primary, and only source of employment. That comes after three years of hustling hard, pulling full time shifts at Evolution, then going home and putting in as many hours developing their own business. While not relying on a hug outside investment made the double days a necessity, Sam says it was also instrumental to the success they’ve found in a relatively short period since launching. The pair used their work at Evolution as a source of guerrilla market research. On top of being riders themselves, Sam and Alex learned what riders wanted better than the competition by, well, asking them what they wanted.
“We had tons of customers coming in daily for goggles. So we’d ask them a lot of questions, like, to the point it almost got kind of weird,” Sam says with a laugh. “So we’d have to tell them after what we were doing.”
That tactic paid off as Coast Optics released a line of goggles, and later glasses, that immediately resonated as a quality performance option, not “just” a green alternative. It also taught that them that price was often a more motivating factor than, perhaps, some major brands have realized. While Coastal Optics driving motivation is a greener vision of eyewear, Sam says they’re fine if price ends up being the main reason why someone takes the greener option. The end result is, still, a greener market.
Green eyewear and local beans at the Coast Optics Whistler pop-up
Leading the competition
Coast Optics is, in the slow-moving world of eyewear, an early pioneer helping develop the green approach to products and packaging. I asked Sam whether he had any concerns that, in proving that a more environmentally sustainable approach to production was possible as a small start up, he had any concerns that the major brands might follow suit. And, in doing so, cut into the niche Coast Optics had carved out so successfully.
“That’d lead to a really negative mindset,” Sam says, immediately reframing the question in a more positive direction. “If we inspired them to change their processes and materials, then we’d feel pretty good about the whole mission statement.”
Plus, Sam adds, Coast Optics is already working on the next steps, not waiting for the competition to catch up. He cites Patagonia, and its move away from PFC coatings before the current regulations forced the competition to follow, as an example the pair follow. And they’re already working on moving their own practices forward.
“We’re far from perfect. We don’t have a load of resources, so we do what we can,” Sam says, “So it’s a balance.”
One aspect of that balance was learning what is possible currently. Coast Optics has moved from recycled frame materials to biobased. “We can get way better durability out of biobased,” Sam explains, adding “And durability is an aspect of sustainability.” After years of searching, lenses remain the one component that Coast Optics still uses new materials for, for similar reasons.
They’re also chasing long term goals that Sam thinks will continue to set the brand apart from the competition, like a recycling program.
“That stuff is going to take time. you need copious amount of product just to recycle and regrind,” Sam explains, adding that he’s happy they still don’t have many goggles coming back to them broken yet. “But that’s also different to what those big companies might care about, and roll out if they just looked at their margins.”
Sam (and Alex) were behind the counter serving free coffee and leading rides throughout Crankworx.
Coast Optics’ big little Crankworx homecoming
While one eye is always on what comes next, Coast Optics spent Crankworx Whistler celebrating two big accomplishments. The brand opened its first physical location, a small, two-week pop-up in the heart of Whistler Village, making Crankworx a bit of a homecoming.
“It’s an absolute dream come true,” Sam says, between pouring free coffees for the steady stream of visitors. “It’s hard to zoom out and realize, because it can happen so quickly. But, when you do, it’s surreal. The first few days were all of our friends coming in and just getting to see their reactions, after they’ve seen us grow in such a short period of time, it’s been amazing.”
When I talked with Sam, Alex was off working hard at the other major milestone for Coast Optics. The pair recently got a permanent storage facility, finally moving out of Alex’s living room.
“It’s just a sea can, but it means so much to us” Sam says, absolutely beaming. “Its our first actual space other than our houses. For the longest time, Alex’s apartment was just full of boxes. It’s like that with a lot of founders, especially organic, smaller ones, where they’re teetering on a line.”
That balance between personal life (and space) and Coast Optics is regaining some sense of normalcy, with the brand growing enough that both founders can make it their full time work. It’s an impressive feat, considering how recently Sam and Alex created the brand.
Coast Optics refines a better future instead of expanding
Whatever comes next, the pair seem prepared, or at least ready to roll with the punches. They launched into the tumultuous post-covid recoil of the cycling industry. Now, they’re navigating the uncertain business environment south of the border. Sam is as level-headed and optimistic about that as any other part of their journey so far.
“There is silver linings,” he says “It’s really strengthened support, funnily enough, from both Canada and the U.S.”
Along with the the Crankworx pop-up and permanent storage space, Coast Optics also launched its second line of goggles. The Alta 2 is, instead of a completely fresh start, a refinement that takes everything they learned from the first goggle and makes it better. That launch included a Yoann Barelli pro model, the brand’s first pro model. Barelli signed on with Coast Optics early as part of his effort to work with greener sponsors. “He took a chance on us, and at a time when we didn’t really have much to offer him,” Sam says, ” So it means a lot to us to be able to start replaying that trust.”