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Today Gear & Beer is here to take away your arms!
The arms of your sunglasses that is because today we're talking about Ombraz, the armless shades that are shaking up the sunglasses world.
Ombraz co-founder Nikolai Paloni joins Colin, Justin and Producer Dave to talk about the brand and weigh in on Colin & Justin's likes, dislikes and questions about the company he founded.
This weeks beer pairing? Stone Brewing Arrogant Bastard Ale.
Because when you're trying to change up a category as established as sunglasses, some may say you're a bit of an arrogant bastard!
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Episode Transcript
Colin (00:02):
Welcome to Gear and Beer, the podcast for Gearheads beer buffs and adventurers with discerning tastes, and the latest edition to the Rock Fight Podcast Network. I'm Colin True. I work for brands and makers in the outdoor industry for over 20 years.
Justin (00:15):
I'm Justin Hausman, senior editor at Adventure Journal, a professional gear reviewer, and still certified cone beer expert.
Colin (00:23):
And you have your voice
Justin (00:25):
Fully. I do. Intact. Have you always had the little bit about Makers, brands and makers in the outdoor industry? Is that new?
Colin (00:31):
Did I add Makers twice? No, I, no, I didn't last week. But no, I usually say that I go like, I
Justin (00:37):
Thought maybe it was a dune reference because you got super into Dune.
Colin (00:41):
I did not get, I thought Dune too was okay. I didn't find it to be the transcendent experience that the rest of the world thought that it was.
Justin (00:48):
It was okay.
Colin (00:49):
It was good.
Justin (00:50):
I think that's what they call, I'm pretty sure that's what they called it. I think that's what the said. Regi. What are the desert people called?
Colin (00:58):
Reman?
Justin (00:59):
Reman called the Sand Works. Who's the
Colin (01:01):
Super fan now?
Justin (01:02):
The Maker. That's what they call it. Yeah.
Colin (01:05):
Oh, there you go. Alright, super fan. Alright, so today we're excited to have our first ever brand representative with us to answer questions and weigh in on the product we're discussing. That brand and product is Obras, the armless impact and scratch resistant sunglasses that are trying to change the way we protect our eyes when we go outside. And here today to drink some beer and talk about his own gear is one of the founders of Obras, Nikolai Bologna Pologne. Did I say that right? That's
Nikolai (01:31):
Correct, yeah.
Colin (01:32):
Is it Hardo?
Nikolai (01:33):
Yeah.
Colin (01:34):
Alright. Nikola Polone, welcome to the show, man.
Nikolai (01:36):
Thank you. Thanks for having me on. It's great to be here.
Justin (01:38):
I didn't realize this was our first brand rep on the show. It is,
Colin (01:45):
Yeah. Yeah. Founder making
Justin (01:46):
History. Yeah. That's a bigger deal than a rep. That's right. Yeah,
Colin (01:50):
That's right. That's right. We've been working on this for a while. We've been circling for a while. Glad to have you here. So you're in San Diego right now down with me.
Nikolai (01:57):
I am, yeah. It's awesome to be here as well. I've been on the road for five months now. I live in a little short bus and I'm working on retail expansion for OS right now. So that's taken me all around the mountain west. And after bouncing around the mountains and deserts for the last four months, I finally arrived in San Diego where it's a super manageable temperature and very pleasant. So good to be here.
Justin (02:23):
That's their slogan. Yeah.
Colin (02:24):
Well today Justin and I are going to give our honest thoughts about Umbra as sunglass wearing outdoor enthusiasts. We're going to talk about our likes and dislikes because that's what we do here on Gear and Beer only. This time Nikolai's going to have to weather the storm with us, weigh in on any of our criticisms, and also bask in our praise for the products, for the things that we like about his products. But before we get to that, we do have a couple of housekeeping items for our gear and beer listeners. Be sure to follow and rate gear and beer wherever you're listening. If Apple Podcasts is your preferred podcast app, leave us a written review and send a screenshot of that review to my rock fight at gmail dot and we'll send you a gear and beer and even a rock fight sticker. And hey Justin work. Can our listeners follow along or even reach out to us?
Justin (03:06):
Well, they can email us, Colin. They can email us at rock fight@gmail.com. We are on I Instagram, well, my rock fight. Did I say it wrong? What you just said, rock fight. I did. God, really?
Colin (03:22):
Sorry. They can send an email there. I don't know where it's going to
Justin (03:24):
Go. Yeah, we'll find out my rock fight@gmail.com then over Instagram. Our handle is rock fight.co. But while you're on, you know what? Also visit the website, sign up for a newsletter. Comes out every Sunday filled with I would say what? 20 minutes column of good reading. 10 minutes, what do you think?
Colin (03:45):
Yeah, let's call it 10
Justin (03:46):
Plus. You might put your coffee down, leave, come back later on. It's a nice chunk. It's a nice chunk of content on there. Well, I read one letter at a time. I'm teaching my five-year-Old How to Read with the Rock. It's a solid three minutes. Anyway. We go slow. We go slow. Also, Colin, can you give the people your home address so they can send you some cough drops? You sound like hell.
Colin (04:13):
I know. Well, you know what I need? I need to sip on a beer.
Justin (04:17):
Oh, okay, sure.
Colin (04:18):
Maybe. Let's see
Justin (04:19):
If that works. I wish we had some.
Colin (04:21):
And we do need to start today's episode by cracking open a beer. And the only person in the world who could find the right pairing to go with a pair of own bras is the official cone of gear and beer. That's you Justin, Mr. Justin Hausman sitting right here. So what beard did you choose for today's episode?
Justin (04:33):
So your instinct is to go with something kind of light and unique because ombres are definitely light and they're definitely unique, but I don't know, it didn't feel right. But being in San Diego, well the two of you're in San Diego and I have a San Diego area code, so I'll always have an affinity for the place. But we went with a local-ish, well I guess local Stone Brewing based in Escondido.
Colin (04:58):
I'm actually going to go there for dinner tonight by the way. Right there.
Justin (05:00):
Yeah, kind of north, slightly. East County San Diego, one of the OGs of the craftier movement in California. I have nationwide really mostly known for their IPAs, but the one that I chose, I couldn't help myself. I felt like if you were going to try to reinvent something as obvious as glasses and how they work, there's some arrogance there. So we're going with the arrogant bastard ale today. Nikolai, I'm not calling you an arrogant bastard, or at least not a bastard, but you probably are a little bit arrogant to figure, you know what? Fuck it. We're going to change the sunglasses game for real. Change the sunglasses game. I mean, I was
Colin (05:35):
Like, how long have people been wearing sunglasses? Well,
Justin (05:37):
I was just going to say, I remember I got pitched, oh God, four years ago, five years ago. I'm not sure when you guys first came out, but I did a review on Adventure Journal of these probably I would guess five years ago. I don't know if it was that long ago or not, but that's where I cognize her name from. And I remember at the time thinking like, oh,
Colin (05:55):
You're the one.
Justin (05:56):
I don't know. I don't know if this is the first ever style of glasses that don't have arms. I mean, maybe there've been others, but I couldn't think of another time where there was a pair of sunglasses that didn't have something bizarre on them that made sound or lights or whatever. Just a completely different take on how glasses can attach to your head. I thought it was pretty cool and I still do. Well, thank you. Anyway, arrogant am bastard Dale to go with an arrogant product.
Nikolai (06:21):
Ironically, I couldn't find an arrogant bastard down here in San Diego, but I found a double bastard, which I feel like is even more fitting and amplifies your point for Yeah,
Justin (06:32):
You're going to want to go easy on that bad boy, I'll tell you that because this one's 7.2% and it's just the regular. So that's got to be up eight or 9%
Colin (06:41):
Now. And Nikola, you're not much of a pale an IPA guy if I'm not mistaken.
Nikolai (06:45):
No, no, not much at all. I try to stay away from them. I actually, as a matter of fact, I have a Modelo here as backup as well.
Justin (06:56):
Well, I love the tagline. They've used this forever. This is an aggressive beer. You probably won't like it that's been there. It
Colin (07:04):
Also says drink fresh NUMs skull on the can, which is kind of cool. That's
Justin (07:08):
Cool. Yeah, I haven't had this in years. It's been a long time.
Colin (07:12):
Well, should we crack these things open?
Justin (07:14):
Alright.
Colin (07:14):
All right. Here we go guys. Everybody ready? 3, 2, 1.
Justin (07:21):
Sounds like Friday. Oh,
Nikolai (07:22):
That's great.
Colin (07:23):
It does sound like Friday.
Justin (07:25):
Smells
Colin (07:25):
Like cheers.
Justin (07:26):
Smells like a gnarly beer.
Nikolai (07:30):
Wow, that's bad.
Colin (07:32):
Oh, that's bitter.
Justin (07:38):
Yeah.
Colin (07:39):
Well, Justin Cone, what are we tasting here? So this
Justin (07:43):
Is a big old IPA. That's beautiful.
Colin (07:47):
Yeah, the bitterness is not abating, it just persists.
Justin (07:53):
This is the kind of IPA that people that like to make fun of IPAs are probably thinking of. I mean, this thing is, it's a malt bomb. I mean, it's brown, it's syrupy, it's
Nikolai (08:04):
It's unreasonable.
Justin (08:06):
It's got a real aggressive, it's dark. A really aggressive, like a stringent bitterness to it. Like a dry, this beer is dry as shit. I mean most IPAs now are pretty juicy.
Colin (08:16):
Kind of helped my voice a little bit though.
Justin (08:18):
Yeah. But this is definitely not a daytime. Beer could easily, this would probably be pretty good with food. And I could see this at night winding down with a little bit of it. But
Colin (08:26):
Man, you need something salty with this. This
Justin (08:27):
Definitely to punch. It's punching you in the face for sure. I mean weird. It's not that hoppy. You don't really taste the hops, you just feel the bitterness.
Colin (08:35):
But it's so bitter. I've had one gulp and I still taste the bitterness as I'm sitting here. Yeah. Or you Santa cla, it
Nikolai (08:41):
Persists. The bitterness grows almost.
Justin (08:51):
I mean, strong ail is sort of Justin. I see classified in some places as a, it's kind a catchall term. It doesn necessarily. Would you put a strong a doesn specific, but yeah, I guess I would. I mean I feel like strong ails are usually pretty malty. This thing has a serious malt backbone to it. I feel like that's pretty standard with a strong ale. Strong ails are usually, that's kind of like a European style. This is probably using European hops. It does, doesn't it? The classified thing is so weird to me, but it doesn't have the most American hops now really have that juicy quality to them. That's where you get the tropical that you associate with most IPAs now tropical like mango and pineapple and stuff. This does not, this tastes like it has that tea flavor that we talk about sometimes, which
Colin (09:35):
Yeah, totally does.
Justin (09:36):
That's just a stringency. That's what you're tasting. There's definitely got a piney resonant. This is what all IPAs used to taste when people got into IPAs in the late nineties when this came out. This is what they all kind of look like feels. So I have a feeling this is probably old world hops, maybe a couple of American hops mixed into, but just a shit ton of malt. That's where they get the big alcohol from. But yeah, I would say this is definitely a strong male.
Colin (10:00):
Well, we'll see if anybody finishes theirs by the end of the episode, I'm a feeling that, yeah, I'm sort of, not only is my voice raspy, but it's sort of knocking me for a loop drinking this. Although Nikolas had two gulps and he says he's the guy who doesn't like IPAs.
Nikolai (10:14):
It's growing on me and I have,
Justin (10:17):
Yeah, there we go.
Colin (10:19):
Alright, well, so here's the situation everybody. I'm going to lay this out for you. It's not summertime right now. We're outside. It's a bright winter's day. We just got to the exposed summit of an incredible peak with 360 degree views. We pulled out a few cans of Summit beers, maybe a couple cans of arrogant bastard now doubtful, but maybe and want to take in those views. But man, is it bright out there? The sun's reflecting off the snow and makes it pretty tough to see. So thankfully though, we've each strapped on a pair of OBR sunglasses and we can high five and sip our tasty beverages before heading down the hill. So Justin, as you sort of think about the scenarios you've worn these glasses in or just in general, maybe even harkening back to the thing you wrote for AJ years ago, what are your thoughts about using obr?
Justin (11:03):
My thought is, so I've had, gosh, I want to say I think I have four pairs of these. Whoever was doing your PR at first just kept sending them out. And I have a couple different styles, but my thought is I use them a lot in the winter. It's odd that you bring that up because there's nothing better than something like this under a beanie because it doesn't hurt your ears. And so if I know I'm going to be wearing a hat for a long time, or again in the winter, especially something like a Beanie Abras are great because the cord, I mean we should describe them. So they don't have plastic arms. They're just the lenses and the frame, the front frame and then a cord in place of the arms and you just kind of cinch it behind your head. So anybody who wears sunglasses all day, eventually you get that kind of pain on above your ears.
(11:52):
And so it's great if you know you're going to be in a beanie, it's fantastic. So I usually wear these in the winter for that reason. Not as much in the summer because I feel like I'm taking things off and putting things on a lot. If you're wearing a hat with these, you got to take the hat off to take the glasses off. It's just another step. You can't just pull 'em off with one hand. So these are typically winter glasses for me. They're also so easy to fit into pockets. They don't have the arms so I can just throw 'em in my puffy or whatever. And they're easy to deal with in the wintertime.
Colin (12:25):
I do want to get to the kind of functionality the day-to-Day use you just talked about. But before we get to that, Nikolai, since you're here, what was the inciting moment? What was the moment when somebody, was it you or was it your partner? Jensen would said, you know what? Fuck these things and the arms, you sit on 'em in a car. What happened? That resulted in us sitting here today talking about your product.
Justin (12:49):
Which one of you is the arrogant bastard?
Colin (12:50):
Well, good point. He's not here to defend himself. So true.
Justin (12:53):
And was there an arrogant bastard
Nikolai (12:55):
Involved in this process? Yeah, I'll kind of give you the background, but I actually didn't wear sunglasses most been most of my life. And my business partner Jensen, he took a year off from college. We went to college together and he went to India and while he was in India, he went on a backpacking trip and someone sat on his sunglasses on the first day. And so being the Scandinavian blonde haired, blue eyed kid, he gets pink in the sun after five minutes. He needed sunglasses. So he wrapped a quarter on the broken hinges and wrapped that quarter on the back of his head. And that's how the first pair of MacGyver Obras were born. So it was based out of a need and it was like a product born out of necessity. I feel like we've all been in a situation where we've broken a pair of sunglasses at the worst possible time when we've actually needed them. And so that's kind of how it all happened. And then he got back to college. I saw him immediately. We were kind of in the same group of friends and just fell in love with the idea and was immediately like, dude, this would be sick. We got to do something. And years later we ended up living in Seattle together and started tinkering we the idea together. And that's kind of how things started developing.
Colin (14:11):
So when did the first pair of bone bras was brought to market and how long has it been?
Nikolai (14:16):
So we launched for the crowdfunding campaign. We originally, so many people were always asking about these and we were always like, okay, this is kind of a new concept. It's kind of risky to bring a new concept to market. So once we had heard enough organic interest on the streets, we realized that the right way to go about this was to crowdfund the launch because it kind of hits both the sales, marketing and fundraising boxes that you need to start the business all in one. And we didn't want to give up equity because giving up equity in an untested landscape for an untested product, you end up giving up way too much. So we crowdfunded the launch in 2018, it was March, 2018 on Indiegogo, and then the first pair ended up hitting the market in December of 2018 and we launched with One Style. So it was pretty constrained.
(15:18):
There weren't many options out there for a while, but they were really well received. And I think it just kind of spoke to how many people actually are frustrated with sunglasses and how sunglasses haven't really changed in over 200 years. The original design with the arms and hinges of some sort, the armed design, it hasn't really changed. And I know there's been a ton of MacGyver pairs of obras over the years that were probably born out of the same circumstance that Jenssen's P was born out of. But we've kind of been the first ones to bring the idea to market and to build a whole brand around it.
Colin (15:54):
How much did Mr. Wonderful offer you?
Nikolai (15:59):
We haven't had a chance to talk to him.
Colin (16:01):
It seems like a product you'd see on Shark Tank.
Nikolai (16:05):
We are told that all the time. I
Colin (16:06):
Bet.
Justin (16:07):
Yeah. That's interesting. How long can you be in existence before you go on Shark Tank? Could you do that still if you wanted to?
Nikolai (16:17):
We could still do that if we wanted to. There's companies that are bigger and smaller than us that are going on Shark Tank. It would be cool. I think it would be like a, we've kind of stayed pretty niche since inception and I think Shark Tank would be a really cool test to introduce the concept to the masses.
Colin (16:35):
But do you need to, so you've had some level of success still kicking after five, six years and now you're on a tour to open up wholesale. How's that going? How is it getting, because that is probably a thing that a lot of people listening to this are probably a little more retail dependent. We got that the rock fight audience, which carries over to gear and beer, tend to be the more wholesale version of the outdoor industry. And if you don't get, so how is it going? Are you finding success getting in place to shops?
Nikolai (17:02):
Yeah, I think we did such a good job paving a solid foundation as a brand that by the time I started going into shops and talking to people, a lot of people, a lot of the employees and buyers had already heard of us. So it wasn't like I'm this brand new concept that it's just year one and no one's ever heard of us at all. And this is completely new. A lot of people were like, I've heard of you guys. My friends have pears. I've seen them around in the wild. So I think that's kind of a really cool thing about Obras. We were born in 28. We launched in 2018 as a direct to consumer company. And it was kind of like, I'd say the peak of D two C before any of the major big players got in. That kind of happened during Covid.
(17:48):
But we were really able to build our foundation, develop our operations and supply chain, build a brand in a very controlled environment. The Internet's kind of known as an out of control environment, but as a brand, you really get to craft your own voice. You're in charge of your story, you can really tell it in the way that you want online. Whereas once you're in retail, you have a bunch of sales reps and different people telling your story to customers. And of course you have your merchandising. But I think that really laid a strong foundation for us retailers to be open to us. It's been well received. So just to answer your question too, when I started this trip four months ago, we were in eight shops and now we're in 64 shops,
Colin (18:37):
Rep of the year.
Nikolai (18:39):
It's been fruitful
Colin (18:42):
And rep of the year. Nikolai. All right. And arrogant bastard.
Nikolai (18:47):
Yeah, arrogant bastard.
Colin (18:50):
I think the thing that I like about it, and look, I think I told you when we first met, I've struggled a little bit kind of adopting the product on a daily basis because it was something that Justin was alluding to and I want to hear what you have to say about that. I think we purposely avoided talking about that when we chatted before because just the fact that I can't just kind of pull it off and I've got my dog on leash on one hand and now it's kind of a thing. But that all aside, I'm still really excited about the brand and the product because it's a kind of classic outdoor tail. It's like there is a need there. I see situations where even with my minor complaints, I would want to have this product and the best products and the products that have sort of changed the outdoor landscape or helped landscape, the outdoor landscape grow, have been ones that have solved a need to figure out something like, hey, somebody can have a better time doing something if they apply this technology or this design or whatever it is.
(19:42):
And this absolutely falls in that bucket. I mean, just to your point about the fact that it won't break, you're not worried about it. I had a pair of gooders just this morning, the arm cracked off because it's a $25 pair of sunglasses that I've owned for two years. I should probably be pretty pumped. They've made it for two years. So it's those green ones I always wear. I'm pissed. I like those things. So the fact that even if it's a backup pair of sunglasses, if it's a, oh, I'm going on that river trip, if like to Justin's point, I'm up in the snow and I want to not have something chunky under my beanie. There's a lot of applications here and that makes it a really cool product on that alone,
Nikolai (20:16):
It's like we're almost embarking on, we're almost foraging the path on a new category of sunglass. And that comes with a lot of education and a lot of what you just mentioned as being pain points. They're, at first they're compromises, but you very quickly learn to work around them. And these very quickly become people's favorite everyday sunglass just purely because of the comfort, honestly, the comfort, the worry-free nature of them. I do think that there's a group of people that Omers probably aren't for, but I think our goal as a concept and as a company is to cement the armless armless sunglasses as an option for people to consider as they're shopping for sunglasses. So when people are like, I need a new pair of sunglasses, we want them to be like, am I getting armless or am I getting traditional? And if they're getting armless, they're getting a pair of ERs.
(21:14):
So there might be, there's a whole fashion segment out there that we, I don't know if we quite cater to that scene that the Gucci, the Prada crowd crowd, or even Raybans in a sense, they're a little bit more like timeless traditional. We try to utilize timeless styles and designs and just inject the utility, the armless utility into 'em. And that's kind of the other thing I'll say about Obras is we try to not make it a loud thing that these don't have arms. When you're wearing a pair, it doesn't look weird. It doesn't look like you're wearing a sleeping mask or a pair of goggles. You almost can't even tell that that it's a cord instead of a pair of arms maybe unless you're bald.
Colin (22:04):
I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you there on that one. I put these things on and my 13-year-old daughter was real quick to point out about the sunglasses. What are you wearing, dad?
Justin (22:14):
I'm surprised. Actually, that was my first thought when I first got 'em. I was like, oh, you can't even tell. I mean I guess maybe you can from the side, but yeah, I've never had anybody say anything to me about those don't have arms ever unless I've them.
Colin (22:28):
Well, that could be my daughter looking to make fun of me too. Yeah,
Justin (22:30):
She's 13. Yeah. Yeah,
Nikolai (22:33):
You're getting tortured right now.
Colin (22:34):
I do think there is a you stylistic choices in the rest of your life, I think pay off better with these kinds of sunglasses. If you're just kind of the standard dad wearing your new balance shorts and you're your cuffed jean shorts or whatever, maybe it's not going to look as cool on you as it is someone like yourself, Nikolai, who looks like you should be wearing a pair of sunglasses like this. You know what I mean? Yeah. The
Justin (22:56):
Mustache helps.
Colin (22:57):
Yeah. Yeah,
Nikolai (22:58):
That's fair. That's fair. I appreciate it. I don't know, I've also had so many dads and parents reach out to me and be like, these are the perfect dad or parent sunglasses. My kid can't pull them off my face. I didn't even think about that. Do all stuff that I need to do with the kids and not worry
Colin (23:17):
About stuff. Justin, you got at least another year of that.
Justin (23:18):
Well, I didn't even think about that. I mean that's what my two year old's favorite thing in the world to do is I'll take my glasses off. Yeah, that's interesting.
Nikolai (23:25):
And then there's the whole segment of kids, which don't even get me started. Kids are known, they're notorious for breaking everything and just tearing through stuff. So I feel like at some point there's a pair of baby obras on the horizon. Yeah,
Justin (23:38):
That makes a lot sense. That's great. I forget, where does the name come from?
Nikolai (23:42):
Obra means shade in Italian. That's right. I knew that. And part of our thing is we plant 20 mangrove trees for every pair we sell 20, which actually makes us the most carbon negative brand in the world. And Umbra is like shade and Italian. So we plant shade, shade for your eyes and shade for degree of landscape.
Colin (24:04):
So the big criticisms are the kind of like I described, you put them on, you want to fiddle with 'em or you want to take 'em off and then maybe you're constrained with your hands and you can't get 'em back on. How do you address, what would you say to, you're standing at a shop talking to somebody, those little nitpicks, which I mean I guess they're not really nitpicks to your point. You're talking about something that's existed for hundreds of years and now you're saying no, this is different. So what you've been used to your entire life, this is different. What are the little tricks to what's the user's guide to obras?
Nikolai (24:35):
So you know how with normal sunglasses, there's different ways to store them. Some people put them on their forehead, then there's other people that put them on the back of their head in that way. And then there's other people that drop 'em around their neck. And there's all these little tips and tricks that we've developed as a society for this product of normal sunglasses that we've had for a long time. I think that we're dealing with the similar kind of thing where as people wear them more and as you wear them more, you figure out these little tips and tricks. So for me, for example, once I have my pair around my neck adjusted, I can put 'em on and off with one hand super easily just like that. I can be driving down the road, they're already adjusted, they're put right in place and I can take 'em off in the same exact way.
(25:21):
And you learn these kind of tips and tricks and ways to wear them. And if you have a hat on, you go cord goes over the bill of the hat and then you can take them off in the same way. If you have long hair, you wear them under your long hair instead of over your hair and then they don't mess up your hair or interfere with anything. If you're wearing a helmet, you learn to wearing a beanie or a helmet, you learn to either wear 'em over or under the beanie or over or under the helmet straps
Colin (25:53):
Before we moved into the sustain stuff, ter stuff. Justin, do you have anything you want to zoom in with?
Justin (25:59):
Yeah, actually I do. So one of the other things that I've had an issue with these and I want to hear your take on solving it, it's
Colin (26:09):
Getting good. Here
Justin (26:09):
We go. Is no is the only thing that keeps me from wearing them doing more things is I can't figure out how to keep 'em from fogging up. They just feel like they sit so close to my face. But I feel like the second generation, because I was sent some of the first ones that you guys made and then a year or two later was sent. The second generation, I think it has a slightly different whatever. The little plastic in the bag is different, the nose pad's different and maybe that's what that's for. But that's been my only real issue is if I want to wear 'em while I'm riding a bike or something like that. They fog out pretty easily. But is there a way around that that you can tutor me on?
Nikolai (26:50):
So since we started, we've had three key points of feedback that people have highlighted. Fogging has been one of 'em. So one of the things we're doing, you're right on a pair of obra sits a lot closer to your face than a normal pair of sunglasses. And that does sometimes result in some fogging issues. So we've actually developed a product around that that we're releasing later this year in 2024 called the Nose Pad riser. And it's an attachable like clip in riser. I'm actually wearing them on my sunglasses here. This is a prototype, but it clips onto the nose pads your obras, like another six to eight millimeters off your face. It also changes the look quite a bit. This is a camina here and I'll show you without
Justin (27:35):
This, they have that big dip
Nikolai (27:37):
Without this riser. Yeah, they usually have this big dip, but with the riser they look quite a bit different. So I think it's going to kind of unlock a different look for people but also a different functionality.
Colin (27:51):
Alright everyone, before we keep going, I need to tell you about our amazing teammates at Darby Communications. If you run an outdoor an endurance or an active lifestyle brand, there is no better PR or digital marketing belay partner or drinking buddy than Darby. They can help your business reach new heights and they might just keep you from falling on your ass. I mean, since we started working with Darby, more and more people have been reaching out to us here at the rock bite because of that messaging. Look guys, if they can help us, they can help anybody, hit them up@darbycommunications.com. Do it today.
(28:27):
So the last thing I want to talk about we touched on a little bit already is on the sustainability side and what we refer to as our stuff ome, which is sort of taking a look at even if your product's awesome, what are the other choices in the marketplace and are we making too much stuff? I think you kind of fall in this unique category that there's probably thousands of different kinds of sunglasses out there, but no one else is doing anything close to what you're doing. And frankly, by the technical nature of your product, it's probably going to last a lot longer than a lot of your competitors, which is pretty cool. But tell us about, I know there was something you guys worked on called the Green Ticket Report. I want to give you an opportunity to talk about that. It sounds like something that's kind of aligned with the values we have here on gear and beer.
Nikolai (29:05):
Yeah, I appreciate you bringing that up. Yeah, since day one when Jenson and I started brainstorming the idea of founding, we've always been pretty frustrated with the amount of crap that exists in this world and how disposable things are. So we really wanted Obras don't break. So there are a pair of sunglasses that are supposed to last, but at the same time we know that basically manufacturing anything, the best way to be sustainable or carbon negative is to buy nothing and make nothing, is to try to reuse as much used stuff as possible. And we knew that just manufacturing stuff is going to be an emitter. And so we wanted to, and at the same time, it was kind 20 16, 20 17 when we were starting to tinker and that was when the whole we're green. The whole everything felt like it had a green message and it was green washy and it was like companies were getting busted for making certain claims and then it turned out that those weren't real. So we were like, let's make an aggressive commitment. Let's make this something that's, it's not just check in a box. It's something that's a big part of our brand and a big part of our mission and it's something that we're passionate about and it's something other than the product and the business that's going to keep us motivated and inspired. It's like a non-financial goal, a non-growth goal. It's like trees planted. It's pretty sweet.
(30:45):
And so early on we were curious as to how much carbon that offset, what was the impact of those trees. And so I did my own research and I put together a little carbon audit. We actually had an intern, this PhD student reach out to us at one point and we put him in charge of this project and we had him, he had resources, his university resources to look into and all this data he could dive into. So he put together the initial carbon report. We then checked it and found that we were conservatively 400 times carbon negative through our 20 trees planted. And then with green ticket for years, we used that 400 x number. And then we were like, we can't really make these claims without having a third party verify this. Well, you can. That's you can. And a lot too challenges you. You're going to get called out and you're going to get challenged. And unless you have a verified, trusted third party go through it, it's going to be, or
Justin (31:52):
Like a mangrove tree on staff that can talk about how you planted it.
Nikolai (31:56):
Yeah, right.
Colin (31:57):
Man, these guys are great. I didn't have any after we work
Nikolai (32:00):
Every day we go out, we plant, we all have a quota. No, I'm kidding. We partnered for a long time. We partnered with an organization called Eden Reforestation Projects and they managed a bunch of projects in Madagascar and all over the world and they planted the trees for us. So a portion of every pair of owners would go to that to Eden. And we actually recently Eden, there was some things that happened and they split and we're working with the original Eden team still planting trees in the same planting projects and forests. So basically we were like, we need a third party team to check our carbon claims. So we hired a company that had worked in the outdoor industry before this Chilean firm called Green Ticket. They're based down in Patagonia. And they did a super thorough analysis of our entire supply chain from extraction of materials to manufacturing process to transit to the US to transit from our fulfillment center to the furthest distance that we ship orders.
(33:10):
And they found that we were 1,713 times carbon negative. So even better than our conservative estimate had been, which was really, really cool. And that's with our Chinese supply chain. And this is something I haven't mentioned either, but we recently, about eight months ago, we transitioned our entire supply chain from China to Italy. So one of the reasons for that, there were many, but one of the reasons for that was we found this workshop in Italy that was the most sustainable workshop in the world. They had transitioned to fully renewable, fully renewable energy. They had cut their water consumption during production down by 99% and they were kind of like, they're the most sustainable factory in the world. So made in Italy in the most sustainable factory in the world. So those numbers, the 1,713, that should actually improve by about, don't quote me on this 30% over the next year as we fully transition our inventory, but that's always been something that's been crucial to our brand. It's something we care a lot about.
Colin (34:21):
That's amazing. The challenges too of doing good. When you're small and building, to your point, you're still in ramp up mode. I'm sure it was not cheap to move from China to Italy. I'm sure you lost some margin on that move, but by doing the right thing and creating a better story, you're just investing in the longterm.
Nikolai (34:45):
We feel like that too. And supply chain is just one of those things. You want to do it right the first time and never change it again. You want to have the same partners you had today, you have today that you have 30 years from now. And the more you change that up, the more you introduce risks into your product quality, into everything. And yeah, it's important to find those partners early on.
Colin (35:11):
Well Justin, would you now pair arrogant bastard with We are starting over again. Did he make it through the gauntlet on the other side? Do we have to find a nicer beer to pair with Nikolai the next night he comes on the show?
Justin (35:21):
No, not at all. I mean, he's nice. He's not a bastard, but you have, I mean seriously, you have to be a little bit arrogant to be like, we figured out something that nobody else ever has. I mean, I don't think arrogance is a bad thing. You've got confidence in yourself. You're like, you know what, there's a niche here. Nobody else has done this, but we can figure it out. I mean that's arrogant. It's being arrogant. It's got to be arrogant to be successful in business. Oh,
Producer Dave (35:45):
Lemme was just going to say this started off a little bitter, but with each drink it gets smoother and smoother and it really grows.
Justin (35:51):
That's the work of the alcohol. It's also weird, your shirt, you took your shirt off, which is weird.
Colin (35:55):
Dave's just the whole time has been spinning his shirt over his head. He's muted. We can't hear
Producer Dave (36:00):
Him armless all the way. That's right.
Justin (36:02):
Oh yeah. Yeah. I can't feel my arms.
Colin (36:05):
We can wrap it up there. But Nikolai, what else is coming down the pike at obra? Is there anything else you want to tease about? Anything fun coming out or just keep looking for him at retail?
Nikolai (36:14):
Keep looking for them at retail. We've got the risers coming out pretty soon here. We've got the shield frame coming out in 2025 and I just want to add that armless is the new topless. So yeah, there, try 'em out it it's a good time.
Colin (36:30):
There's a handful of strip clubs in San Diego. I dunno if you want to swing by there and try to see if they'll put a little rack at the front door.
Nikolai (36:37):
Yeah, a rack if you will. Yeah, there you go.
Producer Dave (36:39):
I do see a lot of product extensions though. The brim less hat, right? The armless sunglass the to shoe. I think you've legless pants
Justin (36:48):
Something. Armless.
Producer Dave (36:49):
Armless shirt. The legless pant. Yeah. Right. Really this could go the
Nikolai (36:52):
As
Producer Dave (36:53):
The at. Well the classics. You got to go with the classics
Nikolai (36:58):
Already.
Colin (37:01):
Well thanks for coming on the show man. We really appreciate it.
Nikolai (37:03):
Yeah, I appreciate you too guys. Thanks for having me on.
Justin (37:06):
You got it.
Colin (37:08):
So gear and Beer, it's a production rock fight, LLC. You heard him. Our producer today, it was David Carstead Art Direction by Sarah Genser. I'm Colin True for Justin Hausman and our guest, Nikola Polone. Thanks for listening and here to take us out. It's the Voice of the Rock Fight Podcast network and his voice is better than mine right now. It's Krista makes, he's going to perform the gear and beer theme song. We'll see you next time.
Producer Dave (37:29):
Cheers.
Chris DeMakes (37:36):
We have experienced of Tales to Tell, just like you with your pals out on the We Adventure gear there with the perfect beer. Now let the games begin. So glad that you're here at the
(37:56):
Break.
(37:58):
The trailhead, we're going to crack open the cooler by beverage. We can, those losses we line.