MIAMI, Jan. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative Eyewear, Inc. ("Innovative Eyewear" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: LUCY; LUCYW), the developer and manufacturer of smart eyewear under the Lucyd®, Lucyd Armor®, Reebok®, Eddie Bauer® and Nautica® brands, is pleased to announce a summary of the Company's progress and achievements throughout 2025. The Company believes these developments have significantly advanced its goal of building the global standard in smart eyewear.

Global Market Expansion & Strategic Partnerships

Innovative Eyewear executed a focused distribution strategy in 2025, securing and developing partnerships with major retail and business to business channels:

• Retail & Distribution Growth: Participation at Vision Expo West, MIDO Milan, SILMO Paris and the National Hardware Show resulted in approximately 40 new optical accounts and initial orders from key European markets. New partnerships include Reebok.com, Optical Resources Group, Ocusafe.com, Kits.com, SmartBuyGlasses, and Smartech's TM:RW flagship store in Times Square.
  
  
• The Company is meeting regularly with some of the largest US retailers. Ongoing negotiations with major big box stores indicate the potential for a significant brick and mortar expansion in 2026, in the optical and hardware departments. 
  
  
• Canadian Presence: A new partnership with Eye Recommend exposes Lucyd products to over 600 independent optical practices across Canada. Additionally, listing with Kits.com, the largest eyewear ecommerce site in Canada.
  
  
• Global E-Commerce: Partnered with SmartBuyGlasses, one of the world's largest independent eyewear retailers, to offer Reebok Powered by Lucyd.
  
  
• EU and Canadian safety certifications acquired for Lucyd Armor®, enabling significant expansion opportunities for the Company's popular ANSI-rated smart safety glasses.

Software & Product Innovation

• Core App Update: The Lucyd app has been rebuilt as an applet store for smartglasses and other hearables, packaged in a standard iOS/Android app. This provides enormous user flexibility and allows the Company to serve its software to users of hearables and smartglasses outside of Lucyd, potentially opening a significant new customer base and revenue channel.
  
  
• Translate Applet: The app now features a 17-language real-time translation tool, providing travelers and professionals with fluid, verbal translations. Translation is often cited as a key use case of smart eyewear.
  
  
• Enterprise Communication: Launched secure, hands-free Walkie functionality with custom Siri commands. This allows teams to communicate through private, encrypted channels - ideal for industrial and corporate environments.
  
  
• Product Portfolio: Introduced Reebok Powered by Lucyd smart sunglasses, the Company's most premium product to date, catering to active lifestyles. The Company also introduced four new types of Lucyd Armor to expand the product into a full collection. Additionally, the Moonbeam style was introduced in the Lucyd Lyte collection, a classic "P3" round-frame style that quickly became a bestseller.
  
  
• Significant R&D efforts conducted in 2025 to create two next generation smart eyewear platforms, an ultra-lyte frame focused on AI utility, and the next generation of our core Lucyd Lyte platform with improved audio, smart features and build quality.

Lucyd Armor®: The New Safety Standard

The Lucyd Armor line has emerged as the Company's fastest-growing product category:

• Safety Certifications in Multiple Jurisdictions: The Armor line achieved ANSI (US), Canadian, and European Union certifications, setting the stage for workplace safety sales across leading global markets.
  
  
• Market First: Lucyd Armor is the first smart safety eyewear on the market to offer certified protection, photochromic lenses, high-fidelity audio, handsfree walkie features and prescription adaptability in a single frame.

Financial & Management Updates

• Enhanced Balance Sheet: The Company successfully facilitated the exercise of warrants resulting in $2.2 million in gross proceeds, strengthening the balance sheet to support 2026 growth initiatives.
  
  
• Leadership Evolution: To sharpen its focus on AI and emerging tech, Konrad Dabrowski has transitioned from his role as Co-CFO to Chief AI and Growth Officer, while Oswald Gayle has assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer.
  
  
• Sales Team Expansion: The Company hired a new Marketing Director and expanded its sales staff in 2025, to accelerate growth in the PPE/safety and optical verticals.

Management Commentary

"Despite the complexities of the global trade environment, 2025 was a year of incredible growth and execution for Innovative Eyewear," said Harrison Gross, CEO of Innovative Eyewear. "Our sales and margin performance were built on the rapid adoption of Lucyd Armor, which has become our fastest-selling unit since its late 2024 launch. Preliminary unaudited full-year 2025 sales have increased by approximately 65% year over year."

Mr. Gross continued, "By shipping directly from our manufacturing facilities to international partners, we are successfully navigating US tariffs while capturing market share in regions where smart eyewear is still a new frontier. At the same time, reduction in smart eyewear tariffs from previous levels bodes well for our ability to grow in our home market. We are entering 2026 with market-leading products, a stronger retail footprint, and a clear path toward enhancing shareholder value as we seek to build the global standard in smart eyewear. We are bullish about the future, and grateful to our dedicated team, thousands of customers and loyal shareholders that have made this journey possible."

About Innovative Eyewear, Inc.

Innovative Eyewear is a developer & manufacturer 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, sunglass, sporting goods and safety eyewear markets. 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 retail partners. 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:

Skyline Corporate Communications Group, LLC
Scott Powell, President
1177 Avenue of the Americas, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10036
Office: +1 (646) 893-5835
Email: info@skylineccg.com

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SOURCE Innovative Eyewear, Inc.