Deion Sanders has brought immense success to “Prime 21” sunglasses. Riding on the Colorado coach’s current fame, Blenders Eyewear has raked in a massive amount of $4.5 million already.
Brobible noted that it all started when Jay Norvell, a rival coach, criticized Sanders’ signature eyewear and posture during interviews some days before the Rams faced the Colorado Buffaloes.
Norvell remarked, “When I talk to grownups, I take my hat and my glasses off. That’s what my mother taught me.”
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After Norvell’s comments, the sunglasses quickly went viral. Unaffected by the jab, Coach Sanders even went ahead to provide his entire football team and others with the sunglasses.
The whole “First Take” crew donned the shades during Sanders’ appearance on ESPN, and even famous actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wore them as the guest picker on “College GameDay.”
Blenders Eyewear’s CEO, Chase Fisher, revealed last week that about 65,000 to 70,000 sunglasses have been pre-ordered and are still flying off the virtual shelves. Although they were originally slated for release on September 20, the demand prompted the company to accelerate their availability.
The sunglasses are priced at $67 in honor of Sanders’ birth year, 1967, at the personal request of Sanders.
Fisher said that they didn’t even have to market the product. “Normally, we do a lot of marketing through paid social (media), but with his presence and the amount of news and eyeballs we’re getting, and the amount of media around him, it’s kind of just like working on its own.”
The CEO also expressed that since he started the company in 2012, he hasn’t gotten more calls, emails, or texts like now because of the sudden boom.
Sanders and Blenders Eyewear officially declared their partnership recently and announced that Blenders will also serve as the “preferred eyewear partner of CU Athletics.”
“Deion was in the market for a sunglass deal, and he was very passionate about getting a sunglasses deal for the season,” Fisher shared.
The company sent him some samples, and their collaboration took off from there and has since had a “truly massive” impact with its first preorder sales campaign in company history.
Front Office Sports reported last week that demand was so large that if customers ordered that week, they wouldn’t get their pair until December.
The outlet predicted that this may only be the beginning, as the popularity of the sunglasses may increase if Sanders and his Buffaloes continue to be the biggest story in college sports, if not all.
