Garrett Leight Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary

Done right, designing eyewear with ingenuity, is about precision as much as it is about style. Today, amid a cultural revolution, surrounded by a new set of social-distancing rules, consumers are set to embark on a fresh path forward. When it comes to eyewear, uncertain times require courageous ideas. Although due to the economic situation, it may sound counterintuitive, the pandemic has led us to think big and forage modified trends.

As the son of Larry Leight, Former Founder & Creative Director of Oliver Peoples, Garrett Leight naturally found himself in the eyewear space. Garrett Leight has always been inspired by vintage eyewear, drawing inspiration from American icons such as Hunter S Thompson and Arthur Miller. Garrett designed his first eyewear collection committed to the idea of representational eyewear but made in a way to fit modern day standards.

In terms of fashion, we can all agree that the era of a full office attire look is no longer as important as it once had been. More to the point, as Zoom meetings are increasingly the norm, our faces evolve to take on the predominant part of our personal appearance. Where we tend to fall short is the understanding the importance of quality eyewear.

This year marks the GLCO 10-Year Anniversary Collection takes some of the best-selling styles (from the first collection) and rethinks them with a modern twist. In 2009, Garrett Leight opened his first eyewear concept store in Venice Beach, CA. Inspired by the unique atmosphere and creative characters of Venice Beach, Garrett founded Garrett Leight California Optical 

In 2010, Garrett introduced Garrett Leight California Optical (GLCO), which quickly became a success in the realm of premium eyewear. Over the years, his eye for design has garnered a celebrity fan base including Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Roberts and Rooney Mara, to name a few. Over the past 10 years, he has grown his brand into an international eyewear destination.

I recently had the privilege to speak with Garrett Leight, Founder & CEO of Garrett Leight California Optical why he’s proud to finally have the first international retail location in Toronto as well as an international e-commerce site, why he aims to treat everyone like a celebrity and make their eyewear experience as enjoyable and seamless as possible and what sets his namesake brand apart is the vision to create the best and most unique eyewear brand experience!

Joseph DeAcetis: Growing up and being immersed in the development of your father’s eyewear designs at Oliver Peoples, what is the most important lesson you learned —to take forward into your path in the future of eyewear design.

Garrett Leight: This is a very hard question. I’ve learned so much from my dad and what he created with Oliver Peoples. From a product stand point, he’s taught me the power of looking to the past. Throughout his many years in the industry, he has collected vintage frames from every era and continues to draw inspiration from them. Whether it’s a shape, a detail, or even packaging, looking to the past can often guide our future. However, just watching him over the years, the thing that has inspired me most is his dedication to being perfect for his customers. He’s so motivated to deliver something original and quality and stylish, and there’s a personal fire and competitiveness that results in something truly special that the customers and even the employees end up benefiting from most. And it’s something that is so hard to find in other brands because it’s an intangible thing that takes not only time to develop, but it has to be genuine. And I believe it’s because of his spirit and his passion that he came to work with every day that was so contagious that made his company great. While a frame can be quite character building and can change both the way you are perceived, and how you perceive yourself, a brand is more than just its products, especially in 2020. 

Joseph DeAcetis: Growing up and being immersed in the development of your father’s eyewear designs at Oliver Peoples, what is the most important lesson you learned —to take forward into your path in the future of eyewear design.

Garrett Leight: This is a very hard question. I’ve learned so much from my dad and what he created with Oliver Peoples. From a product stand point, he’s taught me the power of looking to the past. Throughout his many years in the industry, he has collected vintage frames from every era and continues to draw inspiration from them. Whether it’s a shape, a detail, or even packaging, looking to the past can often guide our future. However, just watching him over the years, the thing that has inspired me most is his dedication to being perfect for his customers. He’s so motivated to deliver something original and quality and stylish, and there’s a personal fire and competitiveness that results in something truly special that the customers and even the employees end up benefiting from most. And it’s something that is so hard to find in other brands because it’s an intangible thing that takes not only time to develop, but it has to be genuine. And I believe it’s because of his spirit and his passion that he came to work with every day that was so contagious that made his company great. While a frame can be quite character building and can change both the way you are perceived, and how you perceive yourself, a brand is more than just its products, especially in 2020. 

 Joseph DeAcetis: Talk to Forbes about how you intend to celebrate a 10-year milestone anniversary for Garrett Leight.

Garrett Leight: Certainly not in the way we intended to, that’s for sure! Like most of the world, our plans for this year were drastically derailed. We had several events in different countries planned, some cool collaborations – all of which never saw the light of day, of course. But that’s life, right? Things don’t always go as planned and I’m so proud of our team to have been able to pivot and act quickly to make sure we preserved the business and stayed as healthy as possible throughout all the uncertainty. We ended up being able to execute on some of the great collaborations that were in the pipeline and take on some projects that were more about helping the community and giving back. We started making face masks as well as face shields and donated approximately 1200 to two different healthcare organizations in Los Angeles. We’ve also begun work on an optical scholarship program which will be a key objective for the company throughout next year and beyond as we try to inspire people to join this wonderful industry. 

To be honest, I think when I look back at our 10-year anniversary year, I’ll be more proud of what we ended up doing this year than what we had planned to do. Just doing our part to contribute to the greater good and spreading love feels like an awesome way to celebrate. 

On the purely product side of things – we revisited four of our most iconic styles from our first year in business and produced 10 year “X” editions. With each one, we went back to the frame’s origins and created slightly thicker, bolder styles that still retain all the versatility of the original designs. Two of the anniversary frames launched earlier this year – Hampton X and Brooks X, and the other two, Kinney X and Harding X are coming in December. We also created a 10 year logo mark, anniversary packaging that comes with every frame, a collectors case that’s perfect for traveling (whenever that happens again) and two great anniversary campaigns that embody the heart and soul of the brand. The Spring Summer campaign featured longtime friends of the brand – the people that have supported and believed in what I was doing from day 1. And the Fall campaign (which comes out any day now), highlights members of our incredible team that was created via a socially distanced photoshoot.

Lastly, on the business side, I’m proud that we finally have our first international retail location in Toronto that opens in November, as well as our e-com which will finally ship internationally – more on that below.

Joseph DeAcetis: Having become a generational leader in the realm of premium eyewear, what do you attribute to gaining a loyal following of some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities and style icons such as Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Hemsworth and Idris Elba- to name a few? 

Garrett Leight: First of all, I’m honored to be called a generational leader in the realm of premium eyewear, so thank you for that. I’m also honored that we have these style icons as fans of the brand. It’s really awesome when you design a frame with someone in mind – for me it’s usually someone I think is crazy talented or have a huge amount of respect for that inspires me – and then they end up really wearing it. I believe it’s a combination of things that have earned us our loyal following. In my opinion any successful brand that seeks longevity always starts with great product. No matter how good your marketing or creative is, if you don’t have design and quality excellence to back it up, there’s no longevity. Celebrities have access to almost any product they want, so if you are weak in that department, you’ll likely have to include a pretty big check to get their endorsement. The cool thing with our fans is that it’s all organic. I think they just dig what we do. I’ve always appreciated a more understated branding approach when it comes to logos, and I think many of the people you listed above do as well. I also believe it has to do with the team and our customer service. We honestly try to treat everyone like a celebrity and make their eyewear experience as enjoyable and seamless as possible. No pushy PR or salespeople – we just want people to feel good and be happy with that they’re wearing. 

Joseph DeAcetis: In your words, talk to Forbes about why you developed a strategy expanding to a direct-to-consumer business model internationally— in 32 European countries? 

Garrett Leight: It was quite honestly overdue. I’ve wanted to do an international store since the beginning of the brand. I had every intention of bringing our services directly to the world, but it takes time to grow. Doing it in Canada felt like the best, most natural next step. I’d visited Toronto several times and loved it. The city, the people, the vibe – it just felt like GLCO would be well received. Not to mention we have a great existing Canadian wholesale business. Looking at the traffic from our website, we knew we had a great base, so when the location and all the pieces started falling in place, I knew it was time to make a move.

It was pretty much the same from an E-com perspective. We have a great European business – so much so, in fact that in 2016 I opened our own distribution center in Amsterdam to service all of our European accounts. France is actually our best market, even over the US, which is somewhat unusual for an LA based brand. So doing this expansion was always in the brand plan, we just hadn’t gotten there yet. When the pandemic first hit, we saw an enormous spike in our US e-com sales which showed me the true potential of our global DTC business. We fast tracked our expansion plan and reallocated resources to prioritize the initiative which launched this month in 32 countries to start.

 All that said, our wholesale partners will always be an important part of our business, and I’m hopeful that as we grow our global brand presence both physically and digitally, it will also increase the business we do through that channel. I believe that our wholesale partners offer a unique experience, and they are the most excellent brick and mortar eyewear experiences in the world. It is my belief that by growing our overall audience, it helps everyone we work with. It has been proven in America as our wholesale business has grown year over year the past 5 years alongside a growing ecommerce business. In addition, eyewear is such a unique product in that there isn’t commonly known sizing, every face is different, and you have prescriptions and the medical side of corrective vision – so the guidance of a licensed optician can be really useful. That’s why brick and mortar and an in-person experience have, and will always be, a key part of our growth strategy and we’ll continue to try and complement our European accounts within a digital landscape.

Joseph DeAcetis: What makes Garrett Leight unique and exciting in comparison from the competition in luxury eyewear?

Garrett Leight: What sets us apart is the vision which has always been to create the best and most unique eyewear brand experience. We approach everything we do including design, quality, service, retail, marketing, and everything in between with the customer’s value in mind. But we also stay educated and stay up to date with how customers are interacting with brands. We ourselves are consumers and try to be objective about how we interact with the companies we love and what keeps us coming back. And this is a constantly evolving relationship and ultimately strategy that we have to continue to assess and deliver. It’s not just about any one thing. What we care most about is providing the customer with a great experience that they can share with others and feel good about both by word of mouth and with the physical products we create. We’ve always been inspired by California’s past, present and future which is completely authentic to me and my family. It plays a huge part in the brand’s DNA and identity (it’s actually even in the full name of the brand). We are great at timeless, classic designs and that’s what our main focus will always be. At the end of the day, we do what we love and what we authentically believe is cool and just hope that it resonates with a larger audience. For the past 10 years we’ve been lucky that it has, and we can only hope the next 10 will be bring us as much happiness and success.

Joseph DeAcetis: Talk to Forbes about how you intend to celebrate a 10-year milestone anniversary for Garrett Leight.

Garrett Leight: Certainly not in the way we intended to, that’s for sure! Like most of the world, our plans for this year were drastically derailed. We had several events in different countries planned, some cool collabs – all of which never saw the light of day, of course. But that’s life, right? Things don’t always go as planned and I’m so proud of our team to have been able to pivot and act quickly to make sure we preserved the business and stayed as healthy as possible throughout all the uncertainty. We ended up being able to execute on some of the great collaborations that were in the pipeline and take on some projects that were more about helping the community and giving back. We started making face masks as well as face shields and donated approximately 1200 to two different healthcare organizations in Los Angeles. We’ve also begun work on an optical scholarship program which will be a key objective for the company throughout next year and beyond as we try to inspire people to join this wonderful industry. 

To be honest, I think when I look back at our 10-year anniversary year, I’ll be more proud of what we ended up doing this year than what we had planned to do. Just doing our part to contribute to the greater good and spreading love feels like an awesome way to celebrate. 

On the purely product side of things – we revisited four of our most iconic styles from our first year in business and produced 10 year “X” editions. With each one, we went back to the frame’s origins and created slightly thicker, bolder styles that still retain all the versatility of the original designs. Two of the anniversary frames launched earlier this year – Hampton X and Brooks X, and the other two, Kinney X and Harding X are coming in December. We also created a 10 year logo mark, anniversary packaging that comes with every frame, a collectors case that’s perfect for traveling (whenever that happens again) and two great anniversary campaigns that embody the heart and soul of the brand. The Spring Summer campaign featured longtime friends of the brand – the people that have supported and believed in what I was doing from day 1. And the Fall campaign (which comes out any day now), highlights members of our incredible team that was created via a socially distanced photoshoot.

Lastly, on the business side, I’m proud that we finally have our first international retail location in Toronto that opens in November, as well as our e-com which will finally ship internationally – more on that below.

 Joseph DeAcetis: Having become a generational leader in the realm of premium eyewear, what do you attribute to gaining a loyal following of some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities and style icons such as Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Hemsworth and Idris Elba- to name a few? 

Garrett Leight: First of all, I’m honored to be called a generational leader in the realm of premium eyewear, so thank you for that. I’m also honored that we have these style icons as fans of the brand. It’s really awesome when you design a frame with someone in mind – for me it’s usually someone I think is crazy talented or have a huge amount of respect for that inspires me – and then they end up really wearing it. I believe it’s a combination of things that have earned us our loyal following. In my opinion any successful brand that seeks longevity always starts with great product. No matter how good your marketing or creative is, if you don’t have design and quality excellence to back it up, there’s no longevity. Celebrities have access to almost any product they want, so if you are weak in that department, you’ll likely have to include a pretty big check to get their endorsement. The cool thing with our fans is that it’s all organic. I think they just dig what we do. I’ve always appreciated a more understated branding approach when it comes to logos, and I think many of the people you listed above do as well. I also believe it has to do with the team and our customer service. We honestly try to treat everyone like a celebrity and make their eyewear experience as enjoyable and seamless as possible. No pushy PR or salespeople – we just want people to feel good and be happy with that they’re wearing. 

Joseph DeAcetis: In your words, talk to Forbes about why you developed a strategy expanding to a direct-to-consumer business model internationally— in 32 European countries? 

Garrett Leight: It was quite honestly overdue. I’ve wanted to do an international store since the beginning of the brand. I had every intention of bringing our services directly to the world, but it takes time to grow. Doing it in Canada felt like the best, most natural next step. I’d visited Toronto several times and loved it. The city, the people, the vibe – it just felt like GLCO would be well received. Not to mention we have a great existing Canadian wholesale business. Looking at the traffic from our website, we knew we had a great base, so when the location and all the pieces started falling in place, I knew it was time to make a move.

It was pretty much the same from an E-com perspective. We have a great European business – so much so, in fact that in 2016 I opened our own distribution center in Amsterdam to service all of our European accounts. France is actually our best market, even over the US, which is somewhat unusual for an LA based brand. So doing this expansion was always in the brand plan, we just hadn’t gotten there yet. When the pandemic first hit, we saw an enormous spike in our US e-com sales which showed me the true potential of our global DTC business. We fast tracked our expansion plan and reallocated resources to prioritize the initiative which launched this month in 32 countries to start.

 All that said, our wholesale partners will always be an important part of our business, and I’m hopeful that as we grow our global brand presence both physically and digitally, it will also increase the business we do through that channel. I believe that our wholesale partners offer a unique experience, and they are the most excellent brick and mortar eyewear experiences in the world. It is my belief that by growing our overall audience, it helps everyone we work with. It has been proven in America as our wholesale business has grown year over year the past 5 years alongside a growing ecommerce business. In addition, eyewear is such a unique product in that there isn’t commonly known sizing, every face is different, and you have prescriptions and the medical side of corrective vision – so the guidance of a licensed optician can be really useful. That’s why brick and mortar and an in-person experience have, and will always be, a key part of our growth strategy and we’ll continue to try and complement our European accounts within a digital landscape.

Joseph DeAcetis: What makes Garret Leight unique and exciting in comparison from the competition in luxury eyewear?

Garrett Leight: What sets us apart is the vision which has always been to create the best and most unique eyewear brand experience. We approach everything we do including design, quality, service, retail, marketing, and everything in between with the customer’s value in mind. But we also stay educated and stay up to date with how customers are interacting with brands. We ourselves are consumers and try to be objective about how we interact with the companies we love and what keeps us coming back. And this is a constantly evolving relationship and ultimately strategy that we have to continue to assess and deliver. It’s not just about any one thing. What we care most about is providing the customer with a great experience that they can share with others and feel good about both by word of mouth and with the physical products we create. We’ve always been inspired by California’s past, present and future which is completely authentic to me and my family. It plays a huge part in the brand’s DNA and identity (it’s actually even in the full name of the brand). We are great at timeless, classic designs and that’s what our main focus will always be. At the end of the day, we do what we love and what we authentically believe is cool and just hope that it resonates with a larger audience. For the past 10 years we’ve been lucky that it has, and we can only hope the next 10 will be bring us as much happiness and success.