Currumbin-based Valley Eyewear celebs’ choice for cool shades

A REDUNDANCY payment and some fresh ideas has been more than enough for Michael and Tenielle Crawley to bring new vision to the eyewear industry.

A REDUNDANCY payment and some fresh ideas has been more than enough for Michael and Tenielle Crawley to bring new vision to the eyewear industry.

And having Margot Robbie and Chris Hemsworth as fans hasn’t hurt either.

The entrepreneurs launched sunglasses brand Valley Eyewear in 2012, quickly gaining traction on social media platform Instagram with their bold and innovative silhouettes.

Mr Crawley had worked in marketing at Quiksilver, travelling with the pro-surf team and even designing his own line of sunglasses.

His wife Tenielle, a gun at the sales game and co-founder of Valley Eyewear, worked at Quiksilver’s sister brand Roxy.

When they both found themselves without jobs in 2012, the pair took the opportunity to launch their own business.

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“When the surf industry plummeted the first people to go were the marketing teams,” Mr Crawley said.

“We saw an opportunity to do something unique. When I told people, they thought I was crazy. They said: there are so many sunglasses lines out there, what makes yours any different?”

Mr Crawley said they had carefully thought through that question.

Valley Eyewear co-owner Michael Crawley. Picture: Jerad Williams

Firstly, they wanted sunglasses priced at the middle market and sold solely through fashion boutiques and eyewear stores.

“We are not a surf wear label. We wanted to be in fashion stores or premier eyewear boutiques,” he said.

“At the same time, we know $400 sunnies are not attainable for most people. I wanted to make something that was fashion forward with quality lenses and that targeted that middle market.”

Mr Crawley started by obtaining intellectual property rights over his designs and logo, renting a single garage on the beachfront for use as a studio and warehouse.

He wanted both his designs and marketing to stand out from the pack.

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“I wanted our silhouettes to be fashion-forward, edgy and dark,” he said. “You can spot Valley Eyewear from miles away. We also don’t market them in the traditional way with just babes on the beach. We choose unusual locations for our photo shoots like Bulgaria or Joshua Tree National Park (southern California).”

The Gold Coast’s Valley Eyewear promotional shoots don’t follow the traditional formula and take place in some exotic locations around the world.

Mr Crawley said the first year was a struggle.

“It was really hard in the first year. It was hard to get into stores. The whole Instagram thing was taking off. We had started to get a good following and got into a few shops off the back of that. What happened was if they did not stock us in the first year they tended to by the second.”

By late-2013 Valley Eyewear had gained General Pants as a stockist in Australia and Instagram posts of their designs had earned traction for the fledging label.

Soon, they could count a glittering array of celebrities as fans.

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They included Margot Robbie, Iggy Azalea, Chris Hemsworth and Katie Holmes.

However, he said, not all celebrities who endorse a product on Instagram have the desired effect.

“It is still hit and miss,” he said. “People like Chris Hemsworth do well. When he wore Valley Eyewear we saw a big spike in sales.”

Today Valley Eyewear is stocked at more than 300 shops around the world, including fashion retailer Nordstrom in the US, and sales have topped 150,000 pairs with revenue in FY17 exceeding the $2 million mark.

Mr Crawley said they recently expanded from the single garage to more than 400 sqm of space in Currumbin, employing a team of nine.

He is excited about the future and wants to continue to expand the range of optical frames, which can be fitted with glasses prescriptions.

The venture has been purely funded from cash flow thus far, but Mr Crawley said they are seeking financial backing to take the business to the next level.