How it started: Charlotte-based Johnny Fly Co. turns 10

John Freeman always wanted a pair of $100 sunglasses for Christmas, since he was 10 years old.

His love for sunglasses stuck, and years later, as an adult he started making his own at his dining room table, calling it his 7pm-2am hustle. In 2012, the Charlotte native branded his hobby Johnny Fly Co. It wasn’t a hobby anymore.

Driving the news: The Charlotte-based eyewear and leather brand, which has an international presence, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

• Plus they’re releasing a limited edition shade collection on June 27, which is also National Sunglasses Day, in honor of the anniversary. The small-batch release is called Cosmic and will include three shades called Latitude – NEBULA, Arrow – MARS and ufo – JUPITER. 

Flashback: Eyewear was a huge part of Freeman’s life as a race car driver, an industry he was forced to leave because of the 2008 recession. But he put his love for racing into the name of his business, as Johnny Fly was the nickname a racing announcer gave him.

During the recession, he came back to the family business, Freeman’s Car Stereo. He helped them make a digital push toward this novel thing called social media.

• “Everyone told me it was a fad,” he said.

Yes, but: Freeman needed something that pushed him at a faster pace. He missed the rush of the track, and he knew a 9 to 5 job wouldn’t give him the adrenaline he craved. Becoming an entrepreneur filled the void.

He loved web and graphic design, which helped him take his passion for eyewear to the global stage. But he played with more than just sunglasses in the early days, experimenting with phone cases and designing shoes and jeans. There was even a plan for Johnny Fly Home.

• “If I dreamed it, I made it,” he told me at a coffee shop in NoDa near Johnny Fly Co.’s flagship store.

• He said the strangest thing he made, which never went to market, was light fixtures.
• Ultimately, Freeman decided to focus his energy on eyewear following the age-old mantra to do something you’re great at instead of spreading yourself thin trying to do everything.

Johnny Fly Co. grew from friends helping him assemble sunglasses in his home to a pop-up store in Birkdale Village to the NoDa store to a team of six full-time people, plus a few more for pop-ups and holidays.

What’s next: Johnny Fly Co. is in the process of changing the layout of its NoDa showroom, which is celebrating its five-year anniversary this year. Freeman also told Axios they plan to add an augmented reality component to the website this fall. They’re also adding a warehouse in NoDa near Amélie’s new flagship location.

• Freeman also told me he’d love to see another brick-and-mortar store, but they’re probably a year or so out on that.
• “Getting more frames on more faces,” Freeman said. “That’s the big push.”