Innovative Eyewear, Inc. 2023 Year-end Review

MIAMI, Jan. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative Eyewear, Inc. ("Innovative Eyewear" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: LUCY; LUCYW), the developer of cutting-edge smart eyewear and operator of the Lucyd®, Nautica®, Eddie Bauer® and Reebok® brands for smartglasses, is pleased to disclose a summary of notable achievements in 2023, primarily in the product development sphere. The Company believes these developments have significantly advanced its goal of building the global standard in smart eyewear.

Model wearing the Lucyd Lyte® Jupiter XL style. Courtesy of Innovative Eyewear, Inc.

Frame & Software Innovations

• Launched the Lucyd Lyte 2.0 line in 15 unique styles, including seven styles for women, which we believe is the most ever launched in a smart eyewear line.
• Upgraded our core product to add spring hinges, thinner temples and improved sound and microphone quality with our Lyte XL line, adding 6 new styles that fit most men, and will fit as 'oversized' on most women.
• Launched the patent-pending Lucyd app which enables handsfree connection to ChatGPT when the glasses are connected to most Apple devices. Additionally, the app provides a number of free AI features such as texting GPT. This app made our glasses the first-ever voice interface for ChatGPT when it launched in April 2023, which we believe illustrates our team's ability to innovate quickly in response to market and tech trends.
• Completed development of three additional product lines which we believe will be launching this year: Nautica powered by Lucyd, Eddie Bauer powered by Lucyd, and the Lucyd Lion Safety Glass.

Intellectual Property

• Filed patent applications on the ChatGPT app and our glasses designs, bringing our number of owned or exclusively licensed patents and applications to 66.
• Acquired a non-exclusive license to a portfolio of 46 smart eyewear patents, bringing our total number of owned and licensed patents and applications to 109.
• Received notice of allowance on 14 design patents.

Marketing and Brand Initiatives

• Launched the Nautica Powered by Lucyd line with eight new styles of smart eyewear, our first fashion-branded collection. Watch a video introduction to the collection here.
• Augmented our partnership with Authentic Brands, Inc. by acquiring a multi-year exclusive global license to the Reebok® brand for smart eyewear.
• Thanks to improved products and marketing, we have seen growth in most verticals in 2023, including a larger social media following. Our Instagram following has grown to over 12,000 people, and our newsletter subscribers have increased to 32,000.
• Our count of partner optical stores has increased to over 300. Notably, we have begun a multi-store test campaign with a leading eyewear chain in Canada.
• Engaged dozens of influencers to promote our products, including a notable brand ambassadorship with Emmanuel Ogbah, defensive end of the Miami Dolphins team. As a result of this partnership, Lucyd Lyte glasses were featured on the HBO's Hard Knocks program being worn by several Miami Dolphins, and in the Dolphin's team Instagram stories.
• The Company was featured in a number of leading business news outlets in 2023, including Forbes, Benzinga and Modern Wall Street.
• The popular ScreenRant website rated Lucyd Lyte the #1 Bluetooth sunglasses for style variety. 

In sum, the year included what we believe were positive trends in the Company overall, including landmark improvements to our core products, accelerating market traction and an expanding intellectual property portfolio. "2023 was a challenging year in global markets, but I am pleased to share that our Company is growing, and making great strides towards our goal of mass-market consumer adoption of smart eyewear. Thanks to new enhancements of our core product and marketing initiatives, we are satisfying more customers than ever with our brand promise to Upgrade Your Eyewear®. We anticipate 2024 to bring many exciting new developments surrounding the launch of our first co-branded lines with Nautica, Eddie Bauer and Reebok, and the launch of the Lucyd Lion Bluetooth Safety Glass line," said Harrison Gross, CEO Innovative Eyewear.

About Innovative Eyewear, Inc.

Innovative Eyewear is a developer of cutting-edge ChatGPT-enabled smart eyewear, under the Lucyd®, Nautica®, Eddie Bauer® and Reebok® brands. True to our mission to Upgrade Your Eyewear®, our Bluetooth audio glasses allow users to stay safely and ergonomically connected to their digital lives and are offered in hundreds of frame and lens combinations to meet the needs of the optical market. To learn more and explore our continuously evolving collection of smart eyewear, please visit www.lucyd.co.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including those relating to the Company's business operations, projections, market position, future product lines and developments and intellectual property portfolio. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and assumptions. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe-harbor for forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking expressions, including, but not limited to, "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "future," "intend," "may," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K under the caption "Risk Factors."

Investor Relations Contact:

Innovative Eyewear Inc.
Scott Powell
Skyline Corporate Communications Group, LLC
Office: +1 (646) 893-5835
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Innovative Eyewear, Inc.