Take a pair of competitive sailors, throw in an unmet niche, add a dash of Polynesia and you’ll start to get the vision behind the glasses Newport Beach-based Kaenon Polarized sells in some 1,000 stores.
The sailors are Steve and Darren Rosenberg. The brothers say they’re out to fill a need they first noticed while fighting off glare during sailing competitions.
Steve cut his teeth at Foothill Ranch-based sunglasses maker Oakley Inc., where he worked in various positions, eventually gravitating toward marketing. In 2001, he joined Darren, a lawyer, in starting Kaenon.
The company’s name draws on their love of the sea—it’s derived from the Polynesian word for freedom.
Kaenon’s upscale glasses are designed for athletes, everyday wearers and those with prescriptions. They sell for $170 to $300 a pair.
The company’s revenue is up 30% in the past year, according to the Rosenbergs, who shy away from talking hard numbers.
The Business Journal estimates the company’s yearly revenue at $5 million to $10 million.
Technology
Kaenon’s glasses are based on a patented lens technology called SR-91. The combination of lens materials and Kaenon’s Glare 86 polarizing element cuts the glare of the sun off water, snow or other settings where reflections intensify the effect.
Seeing through Kaenon’s glasses is like looking through glass and not the polycarbonate materials most sunglasses are made from, says Hamid Karamian, owner of SunGlass Plus in Costa Mesa.
“It’s the clearest lens,” Karamian says. “Based on the tone and tint of the lens, it blocks out a portion of blue light and takes distortion out so you can see much clearer.”
Kaenon’s glasses are billed as being practically unbreakable and come with a lifetime guarantee against cracking, splitting and peeling.
Peeling—or delamination—occurs on many sunglasses because the polarized material that helps block glare is layered on the lenses, according to the Rosenbergs. To prevent that, Kaenon’s products have the polarized material embedded in the lens, they say.
“As an athlete, I was very demanding on what I needed and required from a protection standpoint,” Steve says. “Through my experience (at Oakley) and through (talking to) all kinds of athletes, you see what’s out there and what was needed. And for me, it was just a matter of being naive and ignorant enough to think that I could go do it.”
Once Steve left Oakley, he started to work on developing lenses and putting them through various tests, a process that took nearly two years.
The injection-molded frames of Kaenon’s glasses are made in Italy. The metals are made in Japan.
Nordstrom is one of the department stores carrying the glasses. A number of shops selling clothes inspired by surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding also carry them. So do some boutiques and prescription lens stores, including SunGlass Plus in Costa Mesa and Seal Beach Eyes in Seal Beach.
The company has 30 different styles of frames in three key product categories: luxury, core sport and everyday frames.
What Kaenon calls lifestyle glasses—those for everyday wear—are the bulk of the company’s business. Many of Kaenon’s styles spill over from one category to another.
“We’re able to customize the visual experience with our lens for any sport, any activity and any individual’s preferences,” Darren says. “Then we wrap it in a style that fits that lifestyle and add frame colors and frame shapes, from pure sport style and performance across the spectrum to lifestyle.”
Athletes, Stars
Professional athletes like the glasses, according to Darren. They’re wearing the sports performance glasses and everyday styles, too, he says.
Kaenon’s big-name wearers aren’t paid endorsers, according to the Rosenbergs. They include Los Angeles Dodger Andre Ethier, professional golfer John Daly and surf champ Shea Lopez, among other stars.
“When you don’t pay athletes or people to wear your product, it speaks for itself,” Steve says. “At the end of the day, just try it on.”
The glasses also have gotten some Hollywood play, without any product-placement efforts by Kaenon.
“A perfect example of that is there’s a golfer named Kevin Streelman who’s playing on the PGA Tour wearing the exact same product (that) actor Jason Stratham wears in ‘The Expendables,’” Steve says. “So here you have this iconic actor and a professional golfer wearing the same exact product. There aren’t too many brands that can have that leverage on both sides of the spectrum.”
Even so, marketing remains a challenge for Kaenon, which competes with Oakley, part of Italy’s Luxottica Group SPA, and other upscale glasses makers.
Without a big marketing budget, Kaenon relies on word of mouth and other grassroots marketing.
“People wearing (Kaenon sunglasses) tell their friends,” SunGlass Plus owner Karamian says. “And customers who have worn Kaenon will often come back and buy three pairs.”
Kaenon also wants to grow its name in prescription glasses as it strives to boost sales from existing retailers. It already sells in several optical shops.
“Every single brand that we have is (able to have a prescription put in it),” Darren says.
Gomez is a former Business Journal editor and freelance writer based in Long Beach.
