CARLSBAD -- Eyewear maker Spy Optic Inc. of Carlsbad has filed for an initial public stock offering of $20.7 million. The company makes sunglasses and goggles for the youth and action sports markets.
The company filed the offering Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell its stock on the Nasdaq National Market. In its paperwork, the company said it intends to use the money to pay back up to $300,000 in loans from private lenders and to use the rest for general corporate purposes.
Spy Optic reported a net loss of $432,000 for the six months ended June 30.
Founded 10 years ago, Spy Optic had 98 employees as of Aug. 31, according to the filing. Spy Optic sells its eyewear in about 4,100 retail stores in the United States and 2,000 foreign locations. The United States accounts for 81 percent of its sales.
The company targets sales to people born between 1977 and 1994, the so-called "Generation Y." This is the second-largest demographic market, next to the baby boomer generation.
Spy Optic competes with sports and fashion eyewear makers such as Oakley, Arnett and Smith Optics, as well as youth apparel maker Quiksilver.
A call to the company was not returned.
Carlsbad is home to a cluster of outdoor sports companies, most notably Callaway Golf Co. "Taking advantage of our location, Spy employees regularly surf, skate, wakeboard, motocross, mountain bike and snowboard," the company states on its Web site (www.spyoptic.com).
Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641 or bfikes@nctimes.com.
