Zeal Snow Goggles 2024/25 Preview

Retail Buyers Guide: Snow Goggles 2024/25 Retail Buyer’s Guide
Brand: Zeal Optics
Interviewee: Marketing Zeals

What are the main customers’ demands when buying snow goggles?
Ease of use, style, fit and anti-fog sum it up pretty nicely!

What were your biggest sellers in 2023/24? Why?
Our Rail Lock System (RLs) goggles continue to dominate sales for Zeal Optics, and the two styles with RLs and Observation Deck Technology (ODT), Cloudfall and Lookout, were our top sellers, especially around this seasons Haa Aaní collab with artist Crystal Worl, Weston, Pret, Smartwool and MountainFLOW Ecowax to support wild salmon habitats. Our Automatic+ lens technology also continues to change the game, bringing the power of polarized protection and photochromic technology, so you never have to change your lenses again.

What type of snow goggles from your 2024/2025 collection do you expect to grow the most?
We expect the momentum to continue with our RLs and ODT goggles and are introducing a new Cloudfall XL, a bigger badder version of our Portal XL.
We are also thrilled to announce a new collaboration with snowboarder/artis Pat Milbery, the Open Hearts Collection, which includes four SKUs in Cloudfall and Lookout to support the mental and physical health benefits of spending time in nature.

Cloudfall

What are the technical highlights of your 2024/25 collection?
Beyond the success of RLs and ODT, at the heart of everything we do is our lens technology, which comes in three distinct levels that build off each other.
At the base is our Optimum lens collection, which features technologies that meetor surpass most brands’ top-of-the-line lenses including an amazing hard coat, hydro/oleophobic coatings, color filtration and our Everclear Anti Fog, which is infused in the lens so it can never be wiped off.
Next is our Optimum Polarized collection, which is seeing rapid growth as customer realize that the rumor created by other companies that you can’t see ice and hardpack through polarized lenses is complete BS. Snow reflects glare three times more than surf and Polarized lenses protect your eyes for a lifetime of riding while highlighting icey slopes
Last but far from least is our Optimum Polarized Automatic+ collection, a patented line of lenses that change tint gradually, so you basically get 30 lenses in one for a unique tint and color for every light condition.

What construction techniques and materials are you using in your 2024/25 goggle collection?
In addition to moving our production to an eco-focused factory in Vietnam for ‘24/25, we have drastically updated the raw materials we’re using and this season will mark the first time the collection is certified by the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) as part of our Re-Shred program.
Zeal’s straps are made from a minimum of 70% REPREVE, a certified and traceable yarn made from 100% recycled materials, including post-consumer plastic bottles and pre-consumer waste. The plastic bottles are sourced in partnership with communities and Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs). The recycled bottles are chopped, washed and melted at the REPREVE Bottle Processing Center in Reidsville, North Carolina, where they’re transformed into flake and then chip. Finally, the chip is heated, extruded and spun into the yarn that becomes our straps.
The soft portions of our goggle frames are made from 100% post-consumer recycled TPU, which is primarily made from recycled shoes and footwear. The harder materials in our Rail Lock System frames are constructed from 100% post-consumer recycled PC/ABS, which is sourced from recycled electronics.
Our goggle bags are also made from 100% post-consumer rPET and we’ve removed all plastic from our packaging, which is made entirely from FSC-Certified paper.

What colours and designs are you featuring in your 2024/25 collection? Any standout collaborations?
Next year’s collection features a fun take our inspiration from nature. Look for some futuristic fun, deconstructed natural features and vibrant colors that play perfectly with trends in helmet and outerwear lines.

The Open Hearts Cloudfall

Are you implementing sustainability in your products and production processes?
Pleasea see above – we’re thrilled about this news!!

What are your marketing stories for 2024/25?
The biggest focus is on a concerted launch in Europe, starting in Italy, and growing across the Alps as we align more closely with Kering Eyewear’s European presence.
We’ll be focusing our messaging on our next level lens and frame technologies, our Re-Shred program and the Open Hearts collaboration, which we’ve partnered with Tree-Nation on in Europe to focus on urban tree plantings to bring nature to people.

How are you helping retailers to sell this category?
Great margins, unique products, not competing with them on B2C and a robust in-store marketing program!

What is your situation regarding stock and deliveries?
We’re looking strong coming into the season with nearly all orders shipped and everything has been on time to date. We’re hoping for a big winter globally and have minimal stock available for AO orders.

Cloudfall