This is the fourth article in a blog series in which a member of staff who has been working at Yamamoto Kogaku for three years introduces the history of SWANS. In this article, I will explore SWANS' long history of support and collaborative development with professional athletes.
The beginning of a Racing Service
Our relationship with professional athletes actually began with motorsports.
In 1962, the motorcycle boom was triggered by the completion of the Suzuka Circuit, a sacred place for motorsports, and SWANS began developing a goggle model for racers. In developing the goggles, our staff went to the Suzuka Circuit many times, asked professional racers what they thought of the goggles, and made improvements.
This was the beginning of SWANS' "Racing Service", in which we develop products together with racers and enhance their performance with those products.
Development of sports sunglasses in collaboration with professional athletes
In 1992, the Barcelona Olympics were held, and marathon runner Yuko Arimori, who is still under an advisory staff engagement, won the silver medal wearing our "Gullwing" sunglasses.
The unique perspective of a professional athlete
Until now, we have been producing eyewear for snow goggles and swimming goggles, but sunglasses for sports have surprisingly not been developed to this point.
"Gullwing" was the first sunglasses developed from the viewpoint of professional athletes, which was not possible with the conventional know-how of manufacturing eyewear.
Expanding relationships with professional athletes
Bass fishing was also booming in Japan, so the company signed a contract with bass fishing pro Shinichi Fukae in the same year. Later in 2001, we developed sunglasses for fishing, "WARRIOR", together.
Around this time, the company began signing contracts with professional athletes and accelerated its aggressive development of sports sunglasses.
Upside-down sunglasses “e-nox-α” introduced
In 2004, the Athens Olympics were held, and Mizuki Noguchi won the gold medal wearing “e-nox-α” sunglasses, which were developed for marathon running.
The creative design of the sunglasses, which looked as if they were upside down, was a big topic of conversation around that time.
Of course, there is a reason for the upside-down design.
In order to prevent the sunglasses from sliding off the glasses when the body bounces up and down during marathons or running, the frame was extended from under the lenses to create a low center of gravity.
The current marathon model "E-NOX NEURON 20'" also uses this technology, and the history of eyewear that supports runners has been firmly inherited.
Signing with professional golfer Ryo Ishikawa
In 2007, SWANS signed an advisory staff contract with Ryo Ishikawa, a professional golfer.
SWANS was struggling to raise the awareness of its sunglasses for golf at that time. However, the signing of the contract with Ryo Ishikawa, SWANS' brand awareness as a golf sunglass brand rose dramatically.
Codeveloping the high visibility "Ice Blue Lens"
The "Ice Blue Lens", which later became a part of ULTRA LENS for GOLF, was co-developed with professional golfer Ryo Ishikawa.
The development of these lenses began with Ryo Ishikawa's comment, "I want to follow the ball disappearing into the blue sky with my eyes when I hit a driver shot."
This was the start of a product that took a step forward from "Sunglasses" which protect the eyes from ultraviolet rays and flying objects, to "Eyewear" which is used to enjoy sports activities more.
This is the introduction to the history of SWANS and Professional Athletes.
In the next article, I would like to talk about SWANS and YAMAMOTO KOGAKU CO. LTD., of today.
