Velvet Eyewear® is a female eyewear and accessory brand that is sexy, pure, and sophisticated, yet relaxed and comfortable. Our style is influenced by iconic American fashion and culture inspiring designs that are truly timeless. Velvet styles are contemporary, hand-finished and made from high-quality materials at affordable prices.

Our style and creative vision is that of our Founder and Creative Director, Cindy Hussey. Her talents come naturally, stemming from an ancestry of famous European painters, engravers, musicians and designers. Her immaculate eye for detail and practical sense as an optician since 1987, enables her to lead a design team that creates luxurious eyewear and accessories. Velvet embodies all of the attributes that are so important when it comes to eyewear: clean designs that feel good and set trends for females, beautiful high-quality materials, colors that are fashion-forward yet very wearable, and the ultimate affordability.

SUSTAINABILITY MISSION

Velvet is inspired by our deep roots in the arts, a true love and understanding of design, and fierce yet feminine details that help define our style. We are minimalists and thoughtful about our approach in product sourcing, packaging, and shipping. We never outsource our warehouse duties and delivery, therefore we are able to oversee and implement strategic ways to reduce packaging waste, bulk, weights, and ultimately reduce the carbon footprint of every Velvet product from us to our customer’s home.

We believe eyewear should be affordable and be replaced more often. Newer eyewear helps protect your eyes better and more comfortably from the environment. For these reasons, we also take back, recycle, and reward our customers for returning any Velvet products through our Recycle Program. Our partners have been with us for years and understand our design processes, our needs, and our ethics. We continue to invest in improving our impact socially, environmentally, and economically through investments, initiatives, and donations. We are forever conscious of our place in our community and strive to make a positive impact.

GIVING BACK

Closest to our hearts are the children, the arts, and the Veterans. Although we do not have a formal one for one program, we never forget those in need and we rarely say no when asked for help in causes that are dear to us.

We have partnered with Wine, Women, and Shoes for many years in an effort to reach these causes on a national level. Locally, we support our Veteran’s Hospital and the Boys and Girls Clubs with donations, our time, and creativity. We also recycle materials and make donations to the Materials for the Arts to assist them in their support of schools, theatre, and teachers. We value the importance of our role in supporting and inspiring others and will continue our charitable commitment as we grow.

Southern California is known for outdoor life and action sports. Between the ocean, mountains, sand, and snow, there was no better place to start an all FEMALE sunglass brand than in (Carlsbad) California. Velvet had a team of "hard-charging" girls that were surfing, snowboarding, skiing and skating. They shared in the marketing, product development and most importantly, the love of the Velvet brand and the vision of founder, Cindy Hussey.

"I had been in the optical business since 1987 and wanted to create a true women's eyewear brand. With every design + detail created for a female face. I had seen so many sunglass and goggle brands with unisex styles just painted pink, blue or some other color categorized as “women's.” We needed a real women's brand … so Velvet was founded and launched into the Action Sports Industry with super star names like Shannon Dunn, Kasia Meador, Carabeth Burnside and more!

Shannon Dunn competed in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics wearing her signature Velvet goggles, known as the "Flurry". It was the first female snowboarding goggle, designed by both our founder and Shannon to fit a female rider's face. The lenses were designed for clarity and protection, with the ultimate anti-fog venting feature.

In 2003 Velvet caught the eye of ski company K2 Sports,The goggle and lens patents that were owned and developed by Velvet were proprietary and quite a game changer for the Snow Industry. By 2004, Velvet was sold to K2 and Cindy went on to develop more female specific products for both Velvet and the K2 brands (goggles, sunglasses, accessories, and clothing).

In 2006, Cindy (our founder) moved from California to New York City with her eye on the optical market and her roots as a designer and optician. She landed in the Big Apple, single and confident. So confident that she purchased Velvet back from K2 in 2008 and after two years of designing Velvet and a host of other brands such as Trina Turk, Milly, and Beverly Hills Polo Club, the Velvet brand was launched again for the FEMALE eyewear market!

Every single detail was considered with the new launch of Velvet and it was important for the new "Velvet" to be part of the original in every way possible. Even the new Velvet logo was developed from one of the small design elements of the original Velvet logo.

Color, design, fit, quality, and affordability have always been the mantra at Velvet. Any brand can offer a green style, but it's the artistic eye in our founder and the years of experience that make our styles and colors better, more wearable, and referred to by others in the eyewear industry.

In December of 2014, our founder was named "Most Influential Women" in Optical by her peers.

Fast forward to 2018 … the sand and sea were calling! While the daily inspiration, connections & convenience of the city was good for Velvet, Velvet was growing and the strategic decision to move to Boca Raton, Florida was made.

A bold + lucky move. And here we are!

Velvet has been about girls since 1999, so it's no surprise that we have collaborations with some of the most creative, smart, caring women in the world. Their enthusiasm and beauty makes us smile on a daily basis. The way Velvet communicates to you, our customer, has evolved since 1999, but our message + mission has not changed. We have always been about YOU. That hard-charging female that deserves everything and more!

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