29 Dec 2022

Tekcapital Plc

("Tekcapital", the "Company" or the "Group")

Innovative Eyewear, Inc. Announces Multi-Year, Global Licensing Agreement with Authentic Brands Group for Eddie Bauer® Smart Eyewear

Tekcapital Plc (AIM: TEK, OTCQB: TEKCF), the UK intellectual property investment group notes that Innovative Eyewear, Inc. ("Innovative Eyewear") (NASDAQ: LUCY; LUCYW), the developer and retailer of smart eyewear under the Lucyd® and Nautica® brands, has announced that through an agreement with Authentic Brands Group (Authentic), it has licensed the iconic outdoor brand Eddie Bauer® for smart eyewear.

"We are pleased to partner with Lucyd to expand Eddie Bauer's eyewear offering," said Henry Stupp, President, Lifestyle EMEA-India at Authentic. "Eddie Bauer is known for delivering innovation across all of its product categories. Through Lucyd's Bluetooth technology, we reinforce the brand's standards in this emerging category." 

Eddie Bauer is rooted in its commitment to research and invention, beginning with the creation of the first-ever quilted goose-down insulated jacket in 1942. Throughout the brand's history, Eddie Bauer has registered dozens of patents on various outdoor clothing construction and sporting equipment. 

"Few names are as renowned as Eddie Bauer in outdoor recreation," says Harrison Gross, CEO of Innovative Eyewear, Inc. "Our Eddie Bauer smart eyewear collection, powered by Lucyd, will continue Eddie Bauer's legacy of bold and beautiful craftsmanship, coupled with innovation, and will align perfectly with today's adventurous lifestyles. We believe outdoor enthusiasts are looking for designer eyewear that both protects their vision and allows them to remain connected to their digital lives in an open-ear, handsfree format."

The Eddie Bauer smart eyewear collection is expected to launch in 2023.

About Innovative Eyewear, Inc.

Innovative Eyewear is a developer and retailer of cutting-edge smart eyewear, under the Lucyd^®, Nautica^® & Eddie Bauer^® 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 market. To learn more and explore our continuously evolving collection of smart eyewear, please visit www.lucyd.co.

About Eddie Bauer

For more than 100 years, outdoor brand Eddie Bauer has been inspiring, enabling, and empowering people to live their adventure with products that are built to last. Their products are available at eddiebauer.com and more than 200 stores in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Japan, and other international markets. To learn more please visit www.eddiebauer.com.

About Authentic Brands Group

Authentic Brands Group (Authentic) is a global brand development, marketing and entertainment platform, which owns a portfolio of more than 40 iconic and world-renowned Lifestyle, Entertainment and Media brands. Headquartered in New York City, with offices around the world, Authentic connects strong brands with best-in-class partners and a global network of operators, distributors and retailers to build long-term value in the marketplace. Its brands have an expansive retail footprint, including more than 9,100-plus freestanding stores and shop-in-shops in more than 150 countries and generate approximately $23 billion in global annual retail sales. 

Authentic is committed to transforming brands by delivering powerful storytelling, compelling content, innovative business models and immersive experiences. It creates and activates original marketing strategies to drive the success of its brands across all consumer touchpoints, platforms and emerging media. Authentic's brand portfolio includes Marilyn Monroe®, Elvis Presley®, Muhammad Ali®, Shaquille O'Neal®, David Beckham®, Dr. J®, Greg Norman®, Neil Lane®, Thalia®, Sports Illustrated®, Reebok®, Eddie Bauer®, Spyder®, Volcom®, Airwalk®, Nautica®, Izod®, Brooks Brothers®, Barneys New York®, Judith Leiber®, Ted Baker®, Hervé Léger®, Frye®, Juicy Couture®, Vince Camuto®, Lucky Brand®, Aéropostale®, Forever 21®, Nine West®, Jones New York®, Tretorn®, Prince®, Van Heusen®, Arrow®, Hickey Freeman®, Hart Schaffner Marx® and Thomasville®.

For more information, visit authentic.com.

Follow Authentic on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Tekcapital currently owns 5,189,086 shares (approximately 71%) of Innovative Eyewear, Inc. 

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About Tekcapital plc

Tekcapital creates value from investing in new, university-developed discoveries that can enhance people's lives and provides a range of technology transfer services to help organisations evaluate and commercialise new technologies. Tekcapital is quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: symbol TEK) and is headquartered in the UK. For more information, please visit www.tekcapital.com.

LEI: 213800GOJTOV19FIFZ85

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release is for informational purposes only. The information herein does not constitute investment advice nor an offer to invest and may contain statements related to our future business and financial performance and future events or developments involving Innovative Eyewear, Inc., Lucyd or Tekcapital that may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by words such as "expect," "look forward to," "anticipate" "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "estimate," "will," "project" or words of similar meaning. We may also make forward-looking statements in other reports, in presentations, in material delivered to customers, stakeholders and in press releases. In addition, our representatives may from time to time make oral forward-looking statements. Such statements may be based on the current expectations and certain assumptions of Tekcapital or Lucyd's management. Please note that these are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and factors, including, but not limited to those described in various disclosures. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying expectations not occur or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements of Innovative Eyewear Inc., Lucyd and/or Tekcapital may vary materially from those described explicitly or implicitly in the relevant forward-looking statement. Other than as required by relevant regulation or law,  neither Innovative Eyewear Inc, Lucyd nor Tekcapital intends, nor assumes any obligation, to update or revise these forward-looking statements in light of developments which differ from those anticipated.