'We found our Jordan:' Blenders Eyewear sells over 65K 'Prime 21' sunglasses
Blenders Eyewear was ready to roll, and Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell provided the moment.
Ahead of last Saturday night’s Rocky Mountain Showdown, which Colorado won in double overtime, Norvell took aim at Deion Sanders’ sunglasses.
“I sat down with ESPN today, and I don’t care if they hear it in Boulder, I told them, ‘I took my hat off, and I took my glasses off,’” he said. “‘When I talk to grown-ups, I take my hat and my glasses off.’ That’s what my mother taught me.”
Since those words hit social media, everything has changed. The entire cast of “First Take” wore the shades when Sanders appeared on the ESPN show on Friday. When Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson appeared as the guest picker on “College GameDay,” he was rocking the shades.
According to Chase Fisher, Blenders Eyewear CEO, between 65,000 to 70,000 sunglasses and counting have been pre-ordered. When Norvell made the comment, plans were for the sunglasses to be released on Sept. 20. Fisher said they knew they had to bump up the time.
The “Prime 21” shades sell for $67, the year Sanders was born (1967). He personally asked for them to be priced at that number, which was originally $69. Quick math says the company has made more than $4.5 million off the sunglasses from pre-orders.
Fisher was in Boulder this weekend for the game. Confirming the $1.2 million that Sanders has said, the CEO characterized that number as “pre-game sales.”
“Yesterday, it kind of hit me. I was like, literally and totally out of my mind,” he told On3. “And overwhelmed to a degree that’s unthinkable. It’s like, in the last 11 years doing this, I’ve had a lot of high highs and crazy times, but this is just on a whole nother level. Truly, it’s one of the greatest things to have ever happened, honestly. But it’s also like the most overwhelming at the same time, because it’s so hard to just be in the moment with it.”
The entire process has moved quickly. Fisher first started paying attention to Deion Sanders when he was at Jackson State, as his father kept encouraging him that everyone was watching for the former NFL and MLB star. Plus, Sanders is known for his love of sunglasses. Working with SMAC Entertainment and Constance Schwartz-Morini, the final details of the contract weren’t signed until either “June or July.”
Since then, it’s been a rush to push the product out the door. When Sanders wore the shades for the season opener at TCU, he was rocking one of just three pairs at the time. The 150 he handed out to his team this past week were some of the first to ever be produced.
Fisher said he has been in constant touch with the factory and his parent company, Safilo, about production time. Roughly 75% of total sales this weekend were from Sanders’ sunglasses. The website as a whole has seen a notable uptick, too.
“I’ve never known what it felt like to go viral, and now I know I do,” Fisher said. “I think this is one of the greatest right place, right time branding moments in social media history. So, it’s thrown us all for a complete loop. No one ever could have predicted it would be this big. … This is going to be a huge opportunity and a big partnership for Prime and Blenders for many years to come. This is Nike and Jordan, in my opinion.
“We found our Jordan.”
All of this is just a launching point, too. The brand has secured a partnership with Colorado, with the possibility of Buffalo Blenders a possibility. Beyond the viral videos and popularity for Blenders this past weekend, Fisher sees a major brand being built with Deion Sanders.
On top of that, Colorado has played just three games. If the Buffs continue winning and the nation keeps tuning in, more and more fans are going to want to get their hands on the sunglasses. As Fisher said, this could just be the start of a 12-week rush for “Prime 21” shades at Blenders Eyewear.
“I truly believe that I can create one of the most iconic relationships in sunglasses,” the CEO said. “He could do more for sunglasses than anyone in the last 50 years.”