Everyone has seen the rotating block of reading glasses at drug stores across the country, and it was the sight of these glasses that inspired Karen Ganovsky and Dianna Seddon to create what they believe to be the most unique pair of reading glasses on the market. With the appearance of a necklace and all the functionality of reading glasses, the piece can blend into one’s outfit and suddenly become a useful accessory.
“We hit that point in our lives when we could no longer read without reading glasses. The issues we ran into were [that] we had so many of them,” Seddon said. “We’d have them on our heads, leaving them around and constantly losing them, constantly having to buy new ones. The other issue was that many of the traditional readers are ugly, and if you want to keep up with them, you have to keep a string around your neck like a granny, and we didn’t want that.”
Seddon then pointed to her necklace. As she opened the pendant, I then realized that these were the glasses. The model she was wearing aptly named the “Dianna,” can be seen in the above image and seemingly transitions from fashion to function, becoming a handheld pair of reading glasses to be used at a moment’s notice.
“When you go out to dinner or shopping, the last thing you want to do is pull out a pair of ugly readers or fumble around in your purse for a pair of glasses that you only need for a second,” Seddon said. “We came up with the idea that we could create attractive readers to wear around your neck that doesn’t look like readers until you need them.”
The idea became reality in 2015 when the original plans and designs were drawn up, and shortly thereafter, Seddon’s husband and Ganovsky’s brother, Kevin, got involved to help the business partners along. Kevin’s experience with his company Sanus Marketing had his use of patent law and manufacturing at the ladies’ disposal. Peng Lee, Kevin Seddon’s business partner, was brought in as an engineer and helped bring the designs to life by building and testing their product prototypes. Two years, a trip to China and many long nights later, the company is stocked and ready to go. While the original intention was to manufacture the glasses in the U.S., they ran into similar issues that other glasses manufacturers found.
“Nobody makes glasses in the U.S. No company has the machinery in the U.S. to make glasses, and we try to buy American when we can, but if you want glasses made, you pretty much have to go overseas and most-often you have to go to China,” Kevin said. “But, we really didn’t want to go that far. It helps that Peng Lee speaks Chinese as it allows for less problems during the communication process.”
During the early stages of production, the company spent a year receiving feedback, testing out different inventory models and perfecting the design and reliability of the glasses and then turned their attention to some of the finer details. With a solid product, they began to focus on packaging, chain variations and even new designs. New to the lineup is a pair named the Lee (Men’s) & Maria, which feature a complete pair of glasses that are collapsible into a necklace, which was actually one of Seddon and Ganovsky’s original designs.
“We had multiple designs in the beginning, but what we found was that it’s extremely complicated, so we came first with designs for how people really wanted to use these products. That’s how we came up with the quick view designs, and now we have come full circle and created the complete collapsible model,” Seddon said.
When the company began, they were unsure of the retail market, but after several months of production and strategizing, they are confident in the progress they’ve made.
“The learning curve for all of us was design and manufacturing and also learning the retail market and what their needs and wants are. We’re learning that on the fly, but we’re getting a lot more yes’s than not when we get in front of the right people,” Seddon said.
In just a few short months of attending trade shows with their product, Neckglasses has already struck deals with Boomer Eyewear, which will place them on their extensive website as well as on Amazon. Museums have found a place for the functional jewelry for patrons who may need a way to view displays. The Carnegie Museum and Denver Museum of Art will carry the line of products. Ganovsky and Seddon will also appear on HSN later this year to promote the product. Until then, they will keep answering questions about Neckglasses everywhere they go.
“We’ll go to dinner, and it doesn’t matter where we are, but she’ll open them up, and people follow us out of the restaurant or the store, and they’ll ask us ‘where did you get those?’” Kevin said. “There’s a lot of readers on the market, but there’s nothing like this.”
Steven Gagliano is a writer for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at steven.gagliano@hottytoddy.com.
