Featured Image Credit: Nike/Racerbvd/Capnmolasses/Reddit
Topics: Fashion, Nike, Sport, Weird, Social Media
Anish Vij
Topics: Fashion, Nike, Sport, Weird, Social Media
It turns out that Nike’s UV-Blocking contact lenses were a real thing and we're all stunned to learn of their existence.
Ever since the release of Jordan 1s in 1985, the Nike brand has become part of the culture in both sports and fashion.
With innovative designs and clever marketing, the US-based company now has an eye-watering $197 billion market cap.
However, one product that's gone under the radar was their contact lenses.
Nike spokesman, Dean Stoyer, said at the time that the product would be a 'mass-market opportunity'.
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"It obviously depends on how the optometric world will embrace it," he added.
"We did this because we see in this something for [the] percentage of our consumers who have always looked for every advantage they can get."
Nike’s MaxSight contact lenses were basically developed with filtered ultraviolet light to reduce the sun’s glare while playing - acting a bit like sunglasses.
The product was designed by Bausch and Lomb to reduce distortion, and provide athletes with a competitive edge.
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But for $60 per lens, it certainly wasn't cheap.
"It's for anybody who takes their sports seriously who wants to crank their game up to the next level," said Dr. Hal Breedlove, an optometrist at Coastal Vision in Virginia Beach, Va.
"For a vast majority of individuals who wear this lens, it will give them the edge over someone of equal skill not wearing them.
"But it won't make a mediocre high school player get a scholarship at Notre Dame. If they want them, the Little League kids can come on in and afford these things."
Baltimore Orioles second baseman, Brian Roberts, reportedly used the product and it seemed to massively improve his game.
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Before that season, he had a 264 batting average.
With the lenses, this improved to a 321 average after starring in his first All-Star Game.
Former NFL player Kyle Vanden Bosch also swore by the contact lenses and bought out Nike's supply when they discontinued the product.
"There's no question that when you put the Nike name on a product, the consumer's confidence goes up," said Dr. Jack Gardner, chairman of the American Optometric Association's sports vision section.
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"It's that stamp of legitimacy."
Taking to social media in 2024, people have been shocked to learn that the coloured tinted lenses were launched in 2002.
"Fr if I was a opposing team and I saw these for the first time on the mf that I'm blocking... I think I'd be scared s**tless," one person commented.
"That's wild," admitted a second person, as someone else said: "I need these. Seriously photosensitive over here."
Despite the appeal, the lenses were discontinued in 2008 for unknown reasons.
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LADbible has contacted Nike for an update.