Chase Fisher & Blenders Eyewear: A Keynote for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

In the competitive landscape of consumer eyewear, Chase Fisher defied conventional wisdom to build Blenders Eyewear — a $90M powerhouse — by blending authenticity with bold marketing strategies. Picture this: A guy who loves surfing suddenly notices millions paying crazy money for sunglasses. So he thought, why not try to sell sunglasses at a price point that is both affordable and of higher quality than existing brands on the market? From starting out with just $2,000 in his pocket, Chase Fisher has now built a $90M eyewear empire. But how did he pull off this massive success story?

In this EssentiallySports exclusive, our host, Andrew Whitelaw, sat down for a candid conversation with Fisher. The CEO and Founder of Blenders Eyewear shared some interesting insights into his entrepreneurial journey, revealing how unconventional thinking and key partnerships unlocked unprecedented growth for Blenders Eyewear.

Fisher shared, “I was the kid that struggled in school, I’m dyslexic. I had a learning disability, I had a speech problem, I had a stuttering problem, like I was the kid that was set up to fail. If you look at Chase Fisher on paper, you were like No way that kid’s going to make it by the traditional education standards.”

He added, “So I was held back, I was in special education, like I really struggled at a young age, so for me I had to build my confidence outside the classroom.” Away from the traditional route of success like school, then college, then job—Fisher was a surfing coach.

He spent most of his time on the beach teaching people how to surf. From there, he recognized a huge discrepancy in the price of sunglasses—in one of the sunniest places on earth, San Diego. Fisher then came up with the idea of Blenders Eyewear—a name inspired by a street sign in Pacific Beach.

He explained, “When I started blenders, that was my first real crack at doing anything significant in my life, and for me it’s like I am the story of you can too, right? Like I was told that you needed to have 4.0 to be smart, you know, to go out and change the world. You had to be a valedictorian, you had to be an honors student, and I was like that’s not me.”

Well, sticking to his dream and choosing to walk on the path full of broken glass, Fisher realized something. The ones he used to look up to were now waiting in line just to hear his success story. “So full circle moment it’s like wow all those kids that I grew up idolizing of like s*** they’re going to be the kids to go out and change the world are now calling me and saying Chase how’d you do it you know can I come work for you,” Fisher added.

Here’s the most interesting part. Alongside the hard work, Fisher was actually lucky in his journey as an entrepreneur. For Fisher, that lady luck came in the form of Deion Sanders. 

Chase Fisher and Deion Sanders: The Game-Changing Partnership That Redefined Success

Fisher’s journey as the founder of Blenders Eyewear wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows like the beaches of San Diego. He had his fair share of struggles in the first few months of launching Blenders. For weeks, his sunglasses weren’t getting sold. His surf lessons weren’t enough to pay the bills. So he decided to work at GNC, to keep his life and the dream alive.

But it didn’t happen the way he thought it would. Fisher was once humiliated at the office for not having the right attire and was forced to go back home. The day he walked out of GNC, Fisher realized this couldn’t go on. “I don’t ever want those seven minutes again that I just had. That was the fire starter for me. That’s what kicked me into gear to have a zero-options mentality.” So, when Fisher was still struggling with his business booming, his father suddenly whispered an idea in his ears.

Remembering his father’s words, Fisher said, “Chase, you gotta look at what Deion Sanders is doing. You gotta check him out. What he’s doing for college football and for leadership is groundbreaking. He’s gonna be big, you better get on his radar.” Well, listening to his father’s advice paid off exponentially for Fisher’s Blenders. Riding on Sanders’ popularity, Blenders launched an exclusive collection where it had only prepared 16,000 units. However, what they didn’t know was the “Prime Time Effect.”

Instead of 16,000 pairs, over 70,000 glasses were pre-ordered, leaving Blenders’ logistics in shambles. That exclusive collection alone brought in $4.5M in pre-orders. Just imagine a company that once took roughly three years to hit $1M in sales pulled in $4.5M in just pre-orders. Simply crazy, right? Well, anything is possible in the world of endless possibilities. Fisher, for one, showed you can do it without a 4.0 GPA on your resume.

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