Supperclub eyewear
Building a Lifestyle Brand
TLDR— As the Founder & Designer, I created Supperclub Eyewear™, an entry-level luxury eyewear brand. My love for product design led me to taking an idea and launching a product line that I was highly proud of. Equipped with years of experience in product development, I navigated the design, sourcing, and launch of a physical product line with the help and creative muscle of Stef Angeles, my wife.
Supperclub Campaign
My Approach
Pen to paper. Well, more like stylus to touch screen. Creating eyewear was a great exercise in gestural sketching. Swooping lines and organic curves contrasted with rigid breaks and material callouts… so good. I really enjoyed the PROCESS here. Once rough sketches were completed, I digitized flat views in vector format so I can send out to my vendor for prototyping. From there, material choices and revisions to sizing… done. Oversimplification, I know.
Challenges
Lack of actual tools to prototype in-house. I had to improvise and use jewelers tools.
Sales and marketing… let’s put a pin in that
Finding the right manufacturer
Doing all of this while balancing a full-time job
again… sales and marketing.
Outcome
We created an amazing line of high-quality eyewear that found an immediate audience. We were stoked at the support and love we received. We got featured in blogs immediately! And to be honest, it was humbling and intimidating. My wife did an amazing job with the creative direction and social marketing gaining us 4k followers in a matter of days.
My Contribution
Brand Creation & Strategy
Research & Development
Marketing & Social Media
Design & Specifications
Sourcing & Manufacturing
Logistics
Responsive Website
Sketch exploration for the ‘Roadsters’
Love for the Process
One of the greatest feelings as a designer is to come up with something on pen and paper one minute, then seeing it physically in your hands the next. Amazing.
This was my favorite phase. Creating. Iterating. Learning.
This. Is. Design.
The Details
Sketched using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro
Digitized in Illustrator
With scrap acetate, I made prototypes with hinges bought online and donor lenses
RIP: A Retrospective
Supperclub will always be one of my greatest achievements. My very own company. Created it with my wife on our terms. We did it all. Product design, branding & marketing, photography, social, fulfillment, customer care, etc. This was us.
Good news: we succeeded to gain back our initial investment and then some with our profits.
Bad news: we were ill-equipped to scale and grow a business. Our hearts were with creating… we struggled to turn this into a real business.
Stay tuned. I plan to do a deeper dive on this.
The Takeaway
We actually created a thing. This was ours. No-one can take that away from us.
I like to think of this as a success not a failure. The love we received, the global support, our vocal fans… amazing.
Btw… I didn’t give up. I still love this too much. I’m itching to create again. Stay tuned.
Key Learnings:
Going into business with your spouse… what they say is real. But we made it out stronger <3
Limited runs is the way to go for small brands
Believe in your product, back it up 100%
Don’t be cheap. Gift strategically, but gift generously. Let your product be out there.
Be genuine.