Caption: Barney Waters (l) and Garrett Leight
Photo Credit: Business Wire
LOS ANGELES—Garrett Leight California Optical (GLCO), a Los Angeles-based eyewear lifestyle brand, has named veteran brand marketer Barney Waters as president to lead its next stage global expansion. The announcement comes on the heels of a 20 million dollar investment from The Untitled Group, a New York-based strategic investor that specializes in emerging consumer brands and now holds a majority share of the company. Garrett Leight remains a key stakeholder and executive in the company. Waters joins GLCO from K-Swiss, the American heritage sneaker brand, where he has served as the brand's president since 2016. During his tenure, K-Swiss went from multimillion-dollar annual losses to profitability, with renewed energy and relevance in the market.
 

Waters’ career began in his native UK at the software company Lotus, where he honed his marketing skills over an 11-year period with the brand. He transitioned into the sneaker industry at Puma as their VP of Marketing for seven years, and later landing at the K-Swiss acquired French, heritage boot brand, Palladium that Waters’ ultimately led from $15M in global sales to $110M in under five years.
 
Waters’ main focus at GLCO will be leading the executive team on efficiency, operations and systems, GLOC said in a statement. However, his marketing background will prove highly valuable for the brand as it looks to build out different segments of the lifestyle, from sustainability initiatives and partnerships to the addition of some limited drop ancillary products, the company said.