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What, specifically, are the challenges and opportunities for Rx Sunwear business given our current economic climate and what is predicted for the economy going forward?

At Rudy Project, we see continuing opportunities for Rx sunwear, the recession notwithstanding. We believe that given market demographics and fitness trends that the market for Rx sports sunwear will continue to grow. We also believe that Rx sports sunwear represents a significant opportunity for incremental practice revenue that is too often overlooked.

Our experience has shown that the biggest challenges are education, both from us to the dispenser and the dispenser to their patients. We have found that knowledge of how to fit and dispense 8 base wrap lenses is not widespread. To that end, last year we partnered with Jobson in sponsoring a CE course entitled, High Performance Wrap Sunwear Made Easy – Boost Sales of an Untapped Market. Many of our our sales reps are opticians or have a lens background and are committed to educating their accounts on how to fit and dispense wrap sunwear.

What should ECPs keep in mind about your company’s involvement in/dedication to Rx sunwear?

We have a number of people on staff who are dedicated to maintaining excellence in our Rx Program, including an ABO certified optician, who provide fitting consultation and ongoing training for our sales Reps and dispensers and ECP’s. We continue to invest in education and we now offer weekly webinars on how to fit and dispense our Rx sports products. We are committed to growing the market for Rx sports eyewear and we have demonstrated that we are willing to invest our resources to make that a reality.

Which specific categories of Rx Sun lens products – polarized, high-base wraps, PALs, single-vision, mirror coatings – or others you’d like to mention – do you feel offer the biggest ‘upside’ business opportunity for optical retailers and ECPs this year? Why?

Rudy Project specializes in 8 base Rx sports eyewear. Rudy Project offers ECP’s a wide range of Rx sun products. For example, we are just now introducing our FreeForm TEK lenses which were designed specifically for Rudy Project frames, are digitally surfaced for the most exact, customized vision and are branded with our own invisible markings. The lenses are made from our ultra light exclusive ImpactRx material which offers superior optics (higher ABBE value than polycarbonate), are completely unbreakable, and have high chemical resistance and thermal stability. Our FreeForm TEK lenses are powered by Eye Point technology which simulates the human eye in every angle, prescription and field of vision. The FreeForm TEK lenses are available in photochromic clear, red, green, copper, brown, polarized grey and brown and photochromic polarized Grey. Simply stated, these lenses represent the absolute best Rx sports vision available today. Combined with our feature packed Italian frames with 360 degree adjustable temples and nose pads, we believe Rudy Project sunglasses fitted with FreeForm TEK lenses represent a huge market opportunity for those patients who want the best sport vision available.

We also offer a complete range of Rx sport lens options in polycarbonate and polycarbonate polarized. For those patients on a more limited budget, almost all Rudy Project technical performance frames can be Rx’ed using our low profile Rx adapters.

In which of your company’s specific product lines are you putting the most sales and marketing support during 2009? Which products and programs are ongoing from 2008 and which will be new?

In 2009, our sales and marketing emphasis in the optical market will be on the introduction of our FreeForm TEK lenses. In the general sport market our emphasis will be on the Free Gear Project. When a consumer purchases a sunglass “kit” (basically one of a specific range of sunglass and a hat), they will receive over $250 in value of Free Gear – Rudy Project cycling helmet, sport bag or back pack, spare pair plano lenses, hat and t-shirt. This program will be made available to our optical retailers as well.



What can you review with ECPs/optical retailers about how you are managing your Rudy Project RX Sun programs?

Essentially orders are placed directly with Rudy Project and are immediately transmitted to our partner lab. Dedicated Rudy Project personnel at the lab oversee the production process and completed work is sent directly to our ECP’s, generally in no more than 7-10 business days, although we are working on reducing this time even further.