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Who are we?

Cab9 Eyewear on
cab9_eyewear_founders_paul&jono

 

Born in the Alps 3 years ago, Cab9 Eyewear has gone from producing a limited number of sunglasses for friends and local seasonaires to shipping orders to customers around the globe. Many of you have been asking who's behind the brand and how did it start, so this week we sat down with Cab9's founders, Paul and Jono, and got to know a bit more about how it all came about.

Where are you from? 
P: I’m originally from the UK but I’ve lived mostly in Spain, France and even Russia for a while.

J: I'm from Derby originally but have lived in the French Alps for the last 18 years and in The 3 Valleys for 13.

When and why did you start Cab9 Eyewear?
P: We started in 2015 after several years talking about it!
J: It all came about after chatting (over a few beers) about how the sunglasses and goggles we were using often weren't performing as well as expected given the cost. We then started investigating if we could create a better product more suited to our needs and here we are.....

P: The plan was to use our expertise from years spent in the mountains and being involved in snow sports to create a range of affordable sunglasses that would perform in challenging environments and also look great. Somehow we seem to have pulled it off!

How do you test your products?

P: We're fortunate in that we also run a snowboard school in the 3 Valleys in France so we're able to thoroughly test our designs, not just ourselves, but by giving samples to the instructors, our clients and to our network of friends who range from pro-snowboarders and skiers, to surfers, skaters, mountain bikers... The feedback we receive is then put into the final versions of our sunglasses. One aspect of testing in the mountains on the snow is that the light conditions are particularly extreme, we find that if a pair of sunnies work well on the mountain slopes they'll perform pretty much anywhere.

What's your favourite model and why? 
J: The Edge. I feel with all the research and testing we went through for this model we have produced a pair of sunglasses which really hit the performance and quality we were after from the start.

P: It would have to be The Edge as well, not just because it’s our most technical design, but because of the blood, sweat and tears we put into it. We actually raised the money to produce this model through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. We needed €10,000 to be pledged or the project wouldn’t get funded. We were just short of our goal up until the final few days but after a nail-biting finish we got the funding we needed and we were able to get it into production. Receiving so many positive comments from our customers saying how much they love these sunnies made the hard work all the more worthwhile.

What's your favourite aspect of running Cab9?
P: There are lots of great aspects, from being your own boss to never having to worry about losing my sunglasses haha! But one aspect that's really cool is seeing the brand develop. We started it from nothing and seeing where it is now is a satisfying feeling. Of course, it hasn’t been without its ups and downs and there have been plenty of hurdles along the way, but the progression - that’s what I enjoy.

J: Yeah, it's great learning about developing new products and then being able to test them to see which features really work. Having the freedom to do what we want is also a great aspect of running Cab9!

Where are you looking to take Cab9? What are your plans for Cab9 for the future?
J:  We will continue to develop the brand and the products aiming to make the best eyewear out there! It's been a great journey so far and I'm just excited to see how far it goes and where it takes us!
P: We’ve got plenty of cool projects in the pipeline but as a small independent brand we have to choose carefully what we work on next. I see the Cab9 name becoming increasingly more well known and expect to see the Cab9 family continue to grow, but it’s important for us to stay true to our original concept of affordable quality and to continue to offer the kind of personal service we’ve become known for.