“Panda Sunglasses are more than meets the eye”

by Suchi Rudra

In just three months, Panda Sunglasses moved from Kickstarter project to Nordstrom showrooms.

While still in school at Georgetown University, Ko and two of his friends had come up with the perfect fashion accessory: bamboo sunglasses. Like TOMS Shoes, a brand that donates one pair of shoes for each purchase, the sunglasses would be both eco-friendly and socially responsible.

Ko says he found much inspiration in the shoe brand and also wanted to make an impact and create change in the world. But that wasn’t something the international business major saw himself achieving with a desk job in a large corporation.

“TOMS is a social giving movement but with products on the bottom of your foot. So we thought, what is the first thing that someone sees on you? If it’s sunny, sunglasses. Clothing and shoes can be stand out pieces, but sunglasses are also a way of expressing yourself,” Ko says.

In late fall of 2011, Ko (known as Head Panda of Development) and his team posted the Panda Sunglasses idea on Kickstarter, where it was more than successfully funded. By January 1, 2012, the stylish, handcrafted bamboo sunglasses had brought in $19,485, a dramatic increase from the original goal of $3,000.

Fast forward to three months later, when the entrepreneurial trio, fresh out of college, had snagged a spot “in the super bowl of fashion trade shows” at ENK in New York City.

“We were just three guys who didn’t know what we were doing, and we stood out like a sore thumb,” Ko recalls. “Our booth–between leather handbags and fur coats—had a gigantic, green bamboo backdrop, so we attracted lots of attention. Finally, three women asked us who we were, and by the end of that 30-minute conversation, they told us ‘We’re from Nordstrom and we like your product. Let’s talk.’”

As a Chinese-American, Ko realized that while bamboo had become something of a luxury and eco buzzword in the US market, “if you go to any Chinese home, you’ll find lots of bamboo. It’s the most common wood in China and in Asia.”

One other fact that customers may appreciate about this eco-friendly and light weight material—bamboo floats on water. “So if you’re in the pool or at the beach, you’ll never lose your sunglasses,” Ko adds.

The actual process to create the product wasn’t anything unusual and involved pairing up an eye wear manufacturer with a wood shop.

“We weren’t inventing a new process, just putting the parts together for a new final product,” Ko says.

But the company’s partnership with the nonprofit TOMA Foundation gives the product an edge. For each pair of sunglasses purchased, TOMA provides a free eye or medical exam plus a free pair of prescription glasses or sunglasses to someone in need.
Ko believes that his generation is lucky to have the Internet to learn about virtually any subject in the world.

“Getting coffee with someone works, but finding that person is done through the Internet. A startup fashion brand can go from Kickstarter project to where we are in two years, and that was unheard of before. And we aren’t trained in fashion,” he says.

However, for Ko, it’s not just about luck. Ko’s entrepreneurial spirit was already evident during his grade school days. Growing up in Rockville, MD, 16-year-old Ko had a great passion for hockey and played on a community team. His own school, Richard Montgomery High School, didn’t have a hockey team—so he started one with the help of his parents and the community. And with some encouragement from his mother, Ko also decided to do something about the sweaty stench of hockey pads. Ko created a hanging rack for the pads–“a skeleton stick figure made of PVC piping”–which he first made for himself and his teammates, but eventually sold on eBay and then through a (now obsolete) website he created, HockeyRack.com.

“That was a great learning experience. I wrote my college essays about this: you have an idea, you follow through, you think outside the box,” Ko says.

Although Panda began with just 5 designs, the company of 6 employees currently offers 25 types of bamboo sunglasses ($120 each) in a range of colors and stylistic elements. Ko says they don’t do seasonal collections and lines in the traditional fashion sense, but aim instead for a more natural and adaptive release of new designs on a rolling basis.

With a lifetime warranty, free international shipping and partnerships in Mexico and the Philippines, half of Panda’s business comes from its online store. The rest of its revenue comes from sales at various fashion retail stores and boutiques across the country.

In the next couple of months, Panda plans to launch a line of bamboo watches, with bamboo clothing to follow later this year. Ko says he and his team are still figuring out the details on the production side to ensure the clothing manufacturing process remains eco-friendly.