Sunglasses often accompany you on your wildest adventures, but they can easily be left behind or slip off your head as you push yourself to your limits.
Aristotle Loumis doesn’t want people to choose between having a great vacation and losing their designer shades, so his company launched a club where you can get discounts on replacement pairs in exchange for telling the tale of how your last pair was lost.
Ellison is a Chicago-based retailer that sells sunglasses handmade at a family-owned factory in Greece. Owners of the company’s designer sunglasses can also join Club Ellison, paying a single $10 membership fee to unlock the replacement program. The goal is to keep you from turning to corner-store sunglasses in a pinch.
“If you buy a pair of Ray-Bans and you lose them on the boat, what is your alternative?” Loumis said. “You either go buy a new pair of Ray-Bans at $150 or $200, or you go buy something with less value and lesser quality. Unfortunately, [with] those lower-quality frames, you feel that they're lower quality. They don't fit your face, they provide less protection for your eyes, they just don't satisfy you.”
Club members get half off all new frames, plus free worldwide shipping to reach members on exotic vacations. But the company isn’t just encouraging its customers to go on adventures — it also takes employees on exotic philanthropic trips.
Earlier this month, Loumis and his team traveled to Nicaragua to build 30 houses as part of the company’s mission. The company partnered with travel impact company Journey to put on the trip and plans to take more philanthropic trips in the future.
Ellison also gives back in other ways, donating half of all membership costs to help stop blindness through eye care clinics and provide glasses to children in need.
But the heart of the company is still stylish glasses. Loumis designs the glasses with help from Greek manufacturers. The company also works with artists to design unique boxes for its shades. Loumis works with about 10 people and is currently raising funds to improve the company's reach.
Image via Ellison.
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