How eyewear brand Revo is reinventing itself

The performance eyewear brand first launched in the ’80s selling fashionable sunglasses with science-backed sun protection. Over the years, the brand got sold to many big players, including Ray-Ban and Essilor Luxxotica. But in 2018, an eyewear company called B. Robinson — with the help of some outside investors — decided to purchase Revo.

“It didn’t have the same level of investment and the same level of support that it has had as an independent brand,” said Cliff Robinson, the CEO of Revo, as well as the chief executive of B. Robinson.

Now, the company is in growth mode once again and just opened its first U.S. store in New York — less than a year after opening a store in Barcelona.

“The growth has been coming from all these different sectors,” said Robinson. “We’re seeing growth in optical stores. We’re seeing growth in the golf channel. We’re seeing growth in the winter market with both goggles and sunglasses at resort areas. We’re seeing growth from resorts and hospitality.”

Robinson joined the Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about the new strategy with Revo and what’s ahead. The focus now is on reintroducing people to the brand. They may remember it from decades ago, but now the company is trying to get front and center. With that, it’s been working with athletes — including the U.S. sailing team.

According to Robinson, Revo has always had the chance to become a true eyewear leader. “We felt there was this really great opportunity to breathe some additional life — breathe some additional TLC — and really make Revo the independent brand that it had been previously,” he said.

Here are a few highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.

The difficulties of being part of a portfolio company
“I don’t want to say [Revo] lost its way. I don’t want to say really anything negative. It just was now a brand in a much larger portfolio, and — I won’t say languished — but it didn’t have the same level of investment and the same level of support that it has had as an independent brand. And so, over time, Revo didn’t maintain its premium nature, its place in the market, if you will. And so when we [had] the opportunity to buy it back in 2018, it was still prevalent in the market but not at the same level of buzz or awareness that it had been a few years before. Some other brands had sort of come in under it and taken its place. And so we felt there was this really great opportunity to breathe some additional life — breathe some additional TLC — and really make Revo the independent brand that it had been previously.”

Why Revo tested Spain as its first physical retail market
“We thought that [Barcelona] would be a great place to, frankly, test our first store. The Barcelona and Spanish market in general is lower rent, it is lower wages. And so it was a very risk-free way to start our retail experience and dip our toes in the water. I mean, Barcelona also is a wonderful international city where we could really see: Is this great international community that travels to Barcelona going to show interest in Revo? But as I like to jokingly say, it’s also our off-Broadway test. It’s this great, great market, but Spain is not our core market — nothing against the Spanish people. But if it didn’t work and it closed, nobody really knows. If you open in Soho, New York, and it’s a failure, that doesn’t look as good.”

Why Revo isn’t marketing itself as an Olympics brand
“The Olympics gets very complicated. The Olympics is very expensive, and there are a ton of rules and regulations around the Olympics. Having said that, we have a number of Olympic athletes who wear our product. But once you use the word Olympic, it becomes a very different story in terms of the challenges involved. For example, the U.S. sailing team is wearing our product in the Olympics. I can’t say the word Olympics, which we won’t go into all those details. Interestingly enough, the Croatian water polo team wears our product because they have fallen in love with our product through some local associations… We have a number of other athletes across a number of other sports who wear our product. We might have a swimmer who wears our product, obviously not in the pool but because we have great product.”