SunGod on partnering with McLaren and working with Norris

McLaren and SunGod share three of their core values: Innovation, Community and Sustainability, McLaren being he first global motorsport franchise the issue a sustainability report, while SunGod describe themselves as a community-built brand, sustainable to its core with the planet being it's playground.

This comes at a time when Formula 1 is promoting sustainable practices with its Net Zero Carbon Initiative that is targeted by 2030.

David Rogal: "SunGod are a British performance eyewear brand. We bridge the fashion world, the active lifestyle fashion world, and the high end performance sports.

"Last month, we celebrated our tenth birthday, and it's gone over ten years from being a fairly small crowd-funded startup where it launched on Kickstarter, to now being, a quite certainly nationally recognized, starting to become more globally recognized, sort of challenger to a lot of the bigger brands that you might see out there, the RayBans, the Oackleys.

"A lot of that is through being more of a sort of community accessible, digitally attractive brand. We're still very much direct consumer, you buy a SunGod product from SunGod, we'd like to process as many of those orders as possible for our own websites. It just means we give people the best experience possible.

"But on the credibility side of the brand, we now have amazing partners, we have people like McLaren, INEOS Grenadiers that used to be Team Sky, who won seven of the last 11 Tour de France. We work in rugby, we work with quite a lot of very recognizable sports properties as well. Alongside that we have individual athletes that use our products to win the Olympics, to win World Championships, to win the X Games. So we're trying to offer performance, as we try and pair it with purpose as well.

"We're a registered B Corp, we're part of 1% for the planet. We use recycled materials throughout our frames, throughout all of our packaging, and also have a very big underlying charity initiative as well, where we're trying to support a lot of good causes. And it's hard to balance this high-end performance where people are winning the hardest races in the world in your products, but then also trying to have like an underlying do-good for people in planet as well; and that's where B Corp has got us there.

"So it's been an amazing journey. And I think, you know, I've been very lucky to be involved in it since the very early days. What happens next is now quite an open book, I think we probably wouldn't have ever thought we'd be working with McLaren and the INEOS Grenadiers not that long ago. So to now have those and to be looking at the wider picture internationally. What we're doing next is super, super exciting."

DR: "It's the performance element, and it's also the global attractiveness of the sport. We started our partnership with McLaren three years ago [2021], and the timing was actually very good. The world of F1, whilst it was always I think, historically ranked as sort of the second most followed sport in the world after football, just got this boost of impact.

"And we were on this this uptick as a brand, which is super, super exciting, and I think the world of F1 is as well, and there's sort of this really slightly romantic pairing between sunglasses and motorsports. You can you look back to the sort of traditional F1 grid photos, where you've got some men with massive sideburns wearing the best Aviators in the world, just looking cool.

"And I think, the Performance Division reactiveness, that there's a really nice pairing - and also there's just such a big global fandom community that follows F1 fanatically - is a really good way for us getting in there as well. So there's definitely the performance alignment and the global platform that it gives you.

"But I think also we have a number of F1 fanatics within SunGod as well. And I think McLaren as a team, the British link, the performance link, the heritage is just amazing, so I think the values are really, really well aligned. In McLaren specifically, they have been known to be leading on things like sustainability, I think they've produced the first sustainability report. They're certainly leading on the innovation side of things, reducing reusing materials.

"So there was a nice link there as well. So I think that's lots of lots of answers. But there's multi multiple reasons why it was just a really pretty natural next step for us having been involved in live performance sports before.

DR: "It does. I think it's important not to brush over the fact that it's still not a perfect sport [in terms of sustainability]. And it's, you know, it has a long way to go to be able to truly say that 'we are, we are doing this in a sustainable manner'.

"But even the car and technical regulations that lead into a lot of the commercial manufacturing regulations of road cars, and the sort of the technology that gets brought over, does often come from Formula 1.

"We're working on some projects at the moment with like, recycled car parts and things like that, which is, it's not going to be the thing that changes the sport, but I think as long as people realize that there are loads of new things that you could do that actually, bit by bit will slowly increase or decrease the impact that the sport has, and shows this other side that we need to be working towards is really important.

"So yes, so with some of our B Corp principles and directions around people and planet. There's good things and bad things. But I think McLaren as a team certainly are the ones that are doing much more of the good things. And I think that was always really, really important to us. But then also, likewise, very important to them. When they had a partner that could come along, it's actually we are a B Corp, we are doing a lot of recycled materials, we are changing the game in this respect. So the pairing that was was really nice."

DR: "I'd have to admit I am now. I wasn't when we first started working with McLaren three years ago. I followed it a little bit. But now it's very hard to not be looking at every race, all the chit chat, the gossip behind the races. Our founders were always very into the sport, we're always very interested in the cars, the automotive industry I've been brought into it, and I'm going to stay around."

DR: "You know what I think it's the fact that it's fundamentally the sort of engineering masterclass of the cars. And in a way, also the raw engineering. If if you watch Formula 1 on TV, through a lot of their promotional marketing, everything's beautiful and polished while, if you actually go to a race and you sit in the garage, and you look at these cars, and you hear them and you see the mechanics around them, you realize this is fundamentally still a mechanical activity, but it's like raw, there's oil, it's not perfectly polished. It's loud. It's dirty, and that thing I find really exciting.

"It's actually the best people in the world driving, it's also like teams behind them, the very best mechanics, aerodynamicists, engineers, material engineers doing everything to the highest possible standard. And that I think, is really exciting. But it takes a little while to to understand that. To appreciate it.

"I think I think the tech as well like that, that coding, the engineering, the digital side of it is just unbelievable. You know, all these people are placed in different areas around the world. But watching split second decisions happening on tracks. It's Yeah, it's amazing."

DR: "That's a great question. Had we been around in those times, I think we probably would have. I think it's the British heritage of McLaren, that is always fundamentally been the attraction point, and their longevity within the sport. I think they've obviously been around for so long and have such an amazing history that it was always going to be one of the target teams to be working with.

"We would have loved to do something cool with the chrome liveries for sure. We did a lot of cool things with Papaya, and you know, even just having Chrome [McLaren's special livery] for the Silverstone races recently. It was awesome. I think it would have held the same attraction."

DR: "So we actually started working with McLaren a while ago, two seasons before, but they have absolutely had a really tough start to the [2023] season. I think fundamentally, and this is sort of like what SunGod is; partnerships have ups and downs, and they're an incredibly ambitious team, they have an amazing leadership team. They've amazing staff, and there was never going to be a doubt that they would be doing their absolute best to turn it around.

"But no, it was not a particularly good start to the season. I think, things like losing Daniel Ricciardo, partly from an image and fanbase mindset, obviously had its challenges. It wasn't pretty at times. But fundamentally, we have Lando, he's unbelievable as a driver. He's British, he's only gonna get better. So there were many reasons to stick around and say, this is obviously going to be turned around, it's just a matter of time.

"So it was a little bit concerning, I won't say it wasn't concerning. But ultimately, halfway through the season now they've turned it around to being up at the very top and so quickly. A phenomenal, very quick turnaround."

DR: "I think, obviously, what you get with Oscar is not the same as Lando, but the positives are his on track performance, and the fact that he's not not a polished personality that has a whole team behind him for years. He's pretty honest. He's pretty raw, and his enthusiasm, cooperation, just you see it within the team, as well as with us as partners. It's phenomenal.

"And actually, I think he's going to do fantastically well, because I think you can tell he's eager to get this right. Eager to learn, eager to get the results, and is just cooperating, from what we've seen very, very well. And I think that's only going to set him off in good stead. So yes, obviously there's a point you sadly lose a personality like Daniel Ricciardo. But I would say mostly the opposite with Oscar."

DR: "It's incredibly exciting. First of all, I think we're seeing quite a large sales lift over in the US without a huge amount of effort from our side, and I think partly that just is we're going globally more, but also, I think Formula 1 will be having a bit of an impact there as well. It's a phenomenally exciting opportunity. I think it's come at a good time for Formula 1 as a sport. And I think it's going to be very expensive, sort of any place for brands to play.

"But I think being with a good team that has a big sort of US interest is going to sell us a one step ahead and ready. I think if you were if you were a fresh brand, trying to get attached to Formula 1 and get attached with on the American races, you have to already be prepared to spend crazy, but I think going in there with a really nice, genuine historical link with a team where we can say we've been doing this for three years, we've gone through some great drivers. It's going to be really nice.

"We're very excited. I think everyone is quite excited to just watch what Las Vegas is going to look like as a racetrack as well. The fanatics and was looking forward to that."

DR: "We did. But we specifically jumped on Miami. So we did like a Miami range of McLaren SunGods which just sold phenomenally well. Whether that was a US audience that were buying into them, or just the McLaren audience buying into them, it's quite hard to dig out that data precisely. But, I mean, even just going into Miami was amazing. It helps that Miami has a ton of sunshine. Las Vegas has a ton of sunshine as well. So that's gonna be a favorite thing."

DR: "We do have some plans in the pipeline for Las Vegas, it's going to be more of a broad, the whole McLaren range is going to have an offering that goes with that to celebrate the introduction of Las Vegas as a race. I can't say too much more than that. But I think it'd be foolish to not get ready to do something quite exciting. It's gonna be like an amazing event."

DR: "Well, I think we'll be around indefinitely. The sport, I think, is only going to grow in popularity. Provided the race officials and organizers and directors keep F1 sort of refreshed and exciting every season, we're gonna be here to stay.

DR: "The plan is to stay with McLaren. You know, we have other teams interested in us, which is a really nice position to be in. I think what we've done with McLaren has been very, very unique, and I've seen some other teams sort of copy that with other brands now. But I think, all being well, we're not looking to move. We'd like being a loyal provided McLaren still do well and we're not going to see terrible couple of years from them, I think the British link is important, I think the Lando link is important, and I think the overall sort of platform we've built with McLaren puts us in a really good stead to keep working."

DR: "So just to talk a little bit about the collaboration and sort of depth which has gone to in a slight unique nature of it obviously when we do eyewear with McLaren. We have team eyewear, we have what we call the core sort of model. Then we also do drive ranges. And in the first year, we worked with Lando and Daniel on a model each, so Lando did the Sierras. Daniel did the Classics. So there were a couple of designs like some of Lando's Neon came on to the Sierras and then some of Daniel's Australian colors came on the classics.

"And then in the second year, we actually we actually spoke to Lando to try and get some feedback on the products themselves. And we was hoping if it's possible to get a particular design created based on some of his own preferences. So we actually sat down with him, which was super fun, because he was very, very invested on trying to lead us into a design that actually felt quite personalized to him. And the end result was the Zephyrs, and so we do have a Lando model in the Zephyrs. We have a Lando driver model of the Zephyrs but we actually also the whole range of the angular nature of it, the sort of flatter lens was all requested by him. And so we pushed product development process through about three months ahead of schedule to deliver a product that actually he would wear and he would really enjoy wearing.

"So that's been amazing to have his personal investment in that sort of project. And, this year, we've done a Zephyrs Silverstone edition, which again, timing was fantastic for his podium there. And also the current library chrome livery get away from that. So it's been a really, really interesting opportunity to collaboratively design lifestyle products that they would wear, which is quite a unique position to be in as a partner, to have that level of input from them was fantastic and a really important part."