Innovative Eyewear surges on release of ‘Lucyd Armor’ smart safety specs

These industrial-use glasses have a walkie talkie feature and auto-tinting lenses, among other things

Rowan Dunne

Published

October 29, 2024

Innovative Eyewear Inc (NASDAQ: LUCY) stock rose by almost 29 per cent Tuesday after the company released a new set of safety spectacles with nifty AI and tech features.

The ocular specialist, which distributes its glasses under the Lucyd, Reebok and Eddie Bauer brands, says these are the first American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-certified smart safety glasses to hit the market. Innovative Eyewear has filed patents for the optical tech.

“We’ve combined cutting-edge technology with rigorous safety standards to offer professionals a smarter, more efficient way to stay protected on the job,” chief executive Harrison Gross said in a news release.

Features the safety glasses bring to the table include light adaptive lenses; hands-free AI integration via Bluetooth with tools like ChatGPT, Siri and Google Voice; and a walkie talkie feature.

The device’s battery can last for up to eight hours. It is currently available to order online and will be hitting brick and mortar locations in the future.

“Lucyd Armor will revolutionize the job site by bringing hands-free connectivity like never before,” the company boasted in a Facebook post.

The product is currently going for US$183 + shipping on Lucyd’s website. It took two years to research and development (R&D) to create.

ALERT: AI PUMP "Innovative Eyewear shares are trading higher…smart safety glasses with integrated AI features" $LUCY pic.twitter.com/9j3orQJlJI

— Steven Spencer (@sspencer_smb) October 29, 2024

Lucyd hosts first digital fashion show for AI eyewear

Earlier this month, the vision solutions provider showcased some of its artificial intelligence-integrated glasses on a virtual runway with AI-generated models.

“As the first eyewear ever to feature instant connectivity with ChatGPT, it is only natural to be the first eyewear to be worn by AI models,” the company said.

Gross described the digital mannequins as “the future of product photography and marketing” and said they represented a significant leap forward in digital advertising.

“To bring the point home, a video using practical effects and real models would have easily cost 20x more than the creation of this digital event,” Gross added, “and the final product would perhaps not be as exciting and unique as our first AI runway.”

In Q2 results, Innovative Eyewear reported an 82 per cent increase in revenue year-over-year. The company currently only has approximately US$75,600 in debt and a cash balance of US$5.9 million.

However, the eyewear supplier has reported substantial net losses and negative free cash flow over the past year.

Hefty costs associated with R&D may be setting Innovative Eyewear back.