RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)–Buried in orders for its handmade sunglasses and with its sights set on new products, a local startup has moved its manufacturing abroad.
Nectar Sunglasses, founded in Richmond in 2012, began outsourcing its production and shipping operations about two weeks ago. The move will allow co-owners Sean Holmes and Dylan Roukous to get out of their office at 2401 W. Main St. and focus on marketing and brand expansion for their 18-month-old company.
“When you get an order for 500 sunglasses, it takes you a good while to make that by hand,” Holmes said. “We’ve been so bogged down by just having to do orders all the time. [Now] we can actually take a step back and focus on [other] needs.”
The glasses are now produced overseas, and orders are shipped out of a fulfillment center near the Richmond International Airport. Those chores used to be performed out of the company’s office and workshop in the Fan.
Holmes would not say where the glasses are being produced, but he said the company chose to move its manufacturing overseas to take advantage of production infrastructure that was already in place, rather training new employees to put the sunglasses together stateside.
The restructuring of its logistics comes amid the best sales stretch in company history, Holmes said.
