Perth tradie’s fashion idea creates business called Safestyle that makes $1m a month

The plumber left school in Year 11 – but a business that he started in his bedroom has boomed, and even saved people’s lives.

When plumber Tim Lewis caught a glimpse of his safety glasses in the car mirror on a drive home, he decided he needed something more “stylish” and sustainable.

Little did he know that this “light bulb” moment would lead to a business that started in his bedroom and now sells $1 million a month in product just online.

“I never liked wearing the standard wraparound safety glasses and every day tradies would throw them in the bin and treat them as disposable and it was bad for the environment,” he told news.com.au.

“They were just uncomfortable, they were ugly and they were cheap and nasty. They served one quick purpose, but as soon as people would finish the job, they would throw them in the toolbox or throw in the bin and their only use was for just a quick fix on site.”

Tim Lewis created Safestyle as part of a passion project and it now makes $1m a month. Picture: Supplied

The tradie said it led him down the path of wondering why a more “fashion forward” pair of eyewear – that could be worn both on the worksite and weekends – hadn’t been created.

“Why are there glasses that people throw in the bin and then put expensive designer sunglasses on? Why isn’t there high quality polarised sunglasses that you can wear from worksite to the weekend?” he said.

“At the time there was no quality in the glasses as well and no one really respected safety glasses and looked at it as a disposable item."

He designed the initial pair in his bedroom. Picture: Supplied

He said his research quickly uncovered that nothing like it had been done worldwide, so he set out with lofty ambitions back in 2017 as he was keen “take on the giants of the safety industry”.

“I quickly saw there was a huge gap in the market and started researching the Australian safety standards and my mission was to create the world’s first stylish safety glasses, but that still met the standards,” he said.

The 29-year-old created basic sketches for the glasses in his bedroom which later led to 3D samples being created before seeking final approval from his tradie mates.

“I had to basically take the risk to back myself and spent my whole life savings to produce the first pair,” he said.

He likes to wear his glasses to the beach. Picture: Supplied

The Perth man launched his business Safestyle in November 2018, having ordered a whopping 3000 glasses to take to market.

He also shut down his plumbing business and packed orders from his bedroom.

“I was very nervous. I showed enough friends and I basically believed in the product and I wanted to give it the best shot,” he admitted.

“I ended up getting 900 pairs sent by air and I launched them on Instagram and Facebook and by word of mouth, and the remaining 2100 came on a sea container and by the time the sea container came I had already sold out of the first 900 and that’s when it started taking off.”

The glasses are made of 100 per cent recycled poly carbonate which is shatter proof with no metal parts, and the business has now sold more than 500,000 pairs, he added.

He said the glasses aren’t just for tradies. Picture: Supplied

But Mr Lewis, who left school in Year 11 to complete a plumbing apprenticeship, said it hasn’t all been “easy sailing” creating a business from scratch.

“Once I launched it was difficult to keep up with demand on my own, the logistics, the basics of marketing, sending out product, and it was quite overwhelming,” he noted.

“But once I let go of trying to do everything myself and reached out for help, things got better and four months in I hired a friend to help.

“Another little challenge was another couple of big brands were just tyring to copy my design and at first that upset me, and then I just took it as a compliment and used it as motivation.

“Basically from that day we ramped up even more and shifted gear and made sure we were dominating the protective eyewear space and pushing boundaries and leading the industry.”

The former plumber now leads a team of 30 with Safestyle selling a pair of clear lenses for $29, while a polarised version goes for $65, which Mr Lewis said are awesome for the water and fishing.

Some of the Safestyle team. Picture: Supplied

Safestyle sells its products directly to the biggest mining companies and is also stocked in 500 stores.

“We are making $1 million a month through our online presence but there is also retail on top of that,” he said.

“It’s amazing – my goal at first was just to sell to my mates and once I received some amazing feedback, I realised that this actually could grow into something quite large. But still, the goal stayed the same as the early days – I wanted to make sure I could cover my wage as a plumber and anything else would be nice.”

Tim Lewis has sold 500,000 pairs since launching. Picture: Supplied

While the glasses have prevented worksite injuries, Mr Lewis said an unexpected bonus was seeing the disasters it has also stopped on weekends.

“We had some people in some pretty crazy accidents on the road and the paramedics rocked up and there had been a big shard of steel lodged into their Safestyle glasses and it hasn’t pierced them and instead stopped it on impact,” he revealed.

“The paramedics said he would have been killed on impact if he hadn’t been wearing Safestyle and our customer was so grateful and we have graphic pictures of this.

“I never thought this would have led to something like this. At first I thought I was starting Safestyle to create something a bit more fashion forward, but it’s opened up another whole new market to push education on impact-rated eyewear that protects on and off site.”

More products are in the pipeline. Picture: Supplied

As for the future, Mr Lewis said there were exciting projects coming on the “sustainability side of things to make sure no more plastic goes into landfill”.

He also plans to create “products that outlast everything else on the market”.

There’s also a desire to expand into global markets with the brand recently opening a warehouse in the US.

Originally published as Perth tradie’s fashion idea creates business called Safestyle that makes $1m a month