Fan Frames focuses on Premier League success

A YORKSHIRE firm which manufactures designer glasses for top Premier League teams, has achieved a major goal by signing up 100 opticians in less than 100 days.

Hull-based Fan Frames, the brainchild of former optometrist, Paul Gibson, 35, who started his working life at 17 as a laboratory technician.

It was when he was offered a partnership by an optician and asked to prepare a plan to grow the business that he developed the idea for sunglass frames with Premier League club logos on them.

Gaining the licensing agreement from the clubs including Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, Fan Frames launched their football spectacle frames in October last year with a target to sign deals to supply 100 opticians within six months.

Now the business, which currently employs five people and is forecasting turnover of £300,000 in the year to April, has hit that figure in half the time.

Fan Frames is the official supplier of eyewear for Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal,

Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, Hull City, Glasgow Rangers and Celtic with spectacle frames costing £140 for adults and £50 for children.

The company also produces club-branded sunglasses which come in aviator or wrap styles and offer 100% UV protection.

Mr Gibson’s ambition is to sign deals with major chains of opticians to enable Fan Frames to take a 1% share of the £3.8bn UK optical market – around £10m to £12m.

He said: “We only expected to reach 100 outlets by March so to do it less than three months after launching is a result. 
“We are selling much faster than we thought we would given it’s a brand new concept. Not only are practices buying the frames, they are reordering earlier than we thought they would too.”

“Word of mouth has helped. We got an order from one optician who heard about the frames from her dentist,” he said.

Fan Frames hopes to get into the big league when it attends Optrafair at the NEC in Birmingham in April.

The company is planning to release more styles for younger children and is in talks with a major supermarket chain about stocking one of its other product lines. Talks are also taking place with a distributor in the Philippines and Singapore.

Mr Gibson added: “Towards the end of the year, we are looking at taking on more people and moving to new premises as the business expands.”