Holly Rush, Costa’s CEO.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Costa intends to make some waves. The “Born on the Water” brand of performance sunwear, one of the fastest growing companies in the category, with double-digit compound growth every year for the past 10 years, is looking to set off new ripples for its storied brand.

CEO Holly Rush, the former Luxottica Wholesale N.A. executive who joined the company in that role earlier this year, told VM that Costa is initiating a series of moves including the development of new types of product (both sun and new optical frames), amplifying its brand history and stories to those unfamiliar with Costa. The messaging to consumers will be delivered via unique social purpose projects in areas like conservation and ocean research, and growing its sales and service presence from its Southeastern stronghold across the U.S., and eventually, around the world.

Rush said, “The consumer comes first. And this brand has a tremendous soul and richness, which has been built in a deliberate way over the past 30-plus years, especially the last 10 years where Costa has experienced significant growth. Costa offers a unique lens technology that enhances the user’s experience. And that brand loyalty has also been built carefully with one-to-one community-based market efforts so that we have a strong relationship with our consumers.

“Costa’s historic strength is the fishing community and college campuses, where we’ve found influencers, learned what mattered to them and started doing things that enabled this to be a cult brand before this was a trendy thing to do.

“Connecting and speaking the consumer’s language is important to us.”

Rush acknowledged that Costa’s strong consumer connection is not that well known in the optical arena. But the immediate goals will change that. “Our first task is to create awareness of Costa. Optical is not where we started but there is a huge opportunity for us there, once we can show folks our relevance to the optical channel, which is a channel we want to support.

“There are unique aspects of Costa that speak to the optical market—our proprietary and special premium lenses, the quality of our frames, our knowledge of and our commitment to Rx via our own lab.” Costa’s new optical collection, set to preview later this month, “will give us the opportunity to serve the industry differently and better.”

Costa’s connection to outdoor water lifestyles propels a range of programs supporting sustainability, ocean preservation, research and more, including the OCEARCH project and the Kick Plastic initiative.
Rush emphasized, “We are absolutely at a transformative moment for the brand. The work started before I was here, of course. We started with core performance products for fishermen but today, the love of the brand goes way beyond that start. A good majority of people just love the outdoors, being on the water. It’s restorative to them and it reflects a more active lifestyle.

“So, you’ll see two things, first, we’ll initiate a broader, organic, marketing effort to appeal to the beachgoer, to someone who’s an adventurous explorer, loves to kayak, paddleboard and sport fish. New products will show up and support a coastal lifestyle. Our core products will continue but you will see a noticeable shift in product assortment, more options for different consumers, including women in a focused way.”

Rush added, “We are addressing premium qualities with our lenses and lens tech and will offer polycarbonate as well as glass. We’ll be price-positioned for the broad market. In the new optical collection, we’re being conscious to make sure all of our signature features are replicated as much as possible for our optical frames, and we didn’t ignore the insurance market so we have a very wide price point range in frames.”

The line will debut at next week’s Vision Expo West. Rush said, “People who love adventure, and live for life outdoors in their Costa sunglasses, will be thrilled to know they can now sport the brand both indoors and outdoors. The optical collection is a natural extension of our very successful premium sunglass range and marks a significant commitment to the optical market.”

Rush proudly pointed to Costa’s business campus here in Daytona, where a warranty repair center, warehouse and a full-service modern laboratory processes Rx’s for Costa’s sunglasses. “We own the whole value chain, from product development and design to the outbound to our customers.

“We are also proud to say our products are ‘Built in the U.S.A.’ and in our state-of-the-art Rx lab, over 200 people are making product for the American market. This is part of story that really resonates with customers and consumers. Frames are sourced in Europe, Japan and Italy and our components elsewhere but we do the finishing here and we are certified as Built in the U.S.A.”

In 2014, Essilor acquired Costa, which was founded in 1983. Said Rush, “We are starting to lean in to the Essilor network and they have been an amazing parent company for this brand. They have a deep respect for us and how it was built. They will help us amp up more awareness of the brand and will help us ramp up our lens technologies to bring in a next generation. We are able to work internally across R&D within Essilor, and of course their distribution potential is a big opportunity for us.”

Concluded Rush, “We are the brand to watch.”

Renato Cappuccitti, Costa’s director of Rx sales, checks in on things at Costa’s Rx lab. Costa’s VP of product development, John Sanchez.