We recently connected with Shomari Sealy and have shared our conversation below.

Shomari, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

Asking friends and family to support your business I believe is the first step to figuring out if you have a possibly viable business idea. Having a support system around you that can give you honest feedback, critic your idea, and possibly even give guidance is extremely valuable. When starting CIK Eyewear that was the first steps I did before diving deep into the concept. Once I was able to purchase my first batch of inventory my family was the first to support me. My awesome sister was part of my first photoshoot which came out great and I’ve also had other family members also be a part of them as well. My parents are definitely the greatest support I’ve had, from putting money towards my business and buying each pair I have, they’ve definitely been a great support system in every way.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

First off, my name is Shomari Sealy, born in Barbados and I’ve been living in New York since 2003. Currently in the Architecture field I took after my dad who currently has his own Architecture firm back in Barbados. On my father’s side of the family there is a lot of artists that are in different industries, painting, fashion, architecture, etc. Having them around me only helped bring out my creative side and when it came to designing sunglasses it fell in line with how I grew up, a creative. Being from Barbados and moving to America, keeping my culture from the small island has always been important. Friends and family alike from all different Countries, Islands and Cultures always spoke about experiences, places and more from where they or their family are originally from. This all inspired me to create a sunglass brand where you can wear that representation every day and in detail show people where you are from and background you hold. As a Caribbean native it is often common to express our pride through some form of fashion, likely clothing, jewelry and in this case eyewear. Islands like Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica etc. are unique in the ways in which they express their culture. Distinctions in flags, colors and other cultural references allow for unique differences from all backgrounds. These Distinctions are made clear through the CIK Brand as the uniqueness of the eyewear designs allow everyone to express the Pride and Heritage of every country. Though what makes The CIK brand truly special in its ability to celebrate Individuality and personal style through each style choice allowing shoppers to feel like they’ve found a frame that not only matches a place they love or want to learn about but also matches who they are style wise.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Currently my product is hand-made in Italy. Before I found my current supplier, I searched across the US, but I didn’t have any luck. I was able to simply find my supplier through Google to which I then contacted them and was able to order my first prototype of my America design. The first step is that I do a hand sketch and send to their design team which then translates it to a 2D design. We will probably do some back and forth regarding a few changes before I order a prototype which takes a few months. Once I receive the prototype, I can then decide on addiction changes, or I can then place an order. These are the steps I currently go through with every pair of designs I currently have, America, Barbados and Jamaica.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Since I started CIK Eyewear my hardest challenge has been marketing. Late last year I decided to hire someone to help me and also give me some guidance but unfortunately it quickly became a bad experience. I eventually had to make the decision to cut ties with the person I hired, attempt to get a refund. Instead, I am continuing to adjust and take different approaches to marketing like switching my website from GoDaddy to Shopify. I have also been looking for other influencers to work with and possibly looking for more pops up markets to be a part of.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cikeyewear.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c.i.keyewear/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cikeyewearofficial
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@c.i.keyewear