2 U. students create unique ski goggle company

SALT LAKE CITY — As avid skiers, University of Utah students Jake Nelson and Schaeffer Warnock have gone through many pairs of ski goggles.

The two recently launched a new line of customizable, interchangeable and inexpensive ski goggles customers seem to love.

Nelson and Warnock created Aura Optics after raising $27,000 to start the company through a Kickstarter campaign last year. Their original design implements their style in addition to features they’ve modeled after goggles they’ve liked, Warnock said.

“We’re trying to create a very cool, fun environment for our customer base with great customer service and just a really cool overall user experience with our brand and our products,” Warnock said.

Aura Optics includes five highlighting factors that make them a “high-quality position goggle,” Warnock said.

The five factors include:

• The spherical lenses, which match the cornea of the eye, giving the skier a more clear vision, as well as a wider peripheral vision.
• The AuraFlow, a ventilation system with five pivot points allowing air to go in and out of the goggles in addition to an added non-moisturized air within the lens to prevent moisture coming in and fogging the goggles.
• The HighFit, which allows the goggles to sit higher on the nose, allows for more breathing passage, which also helps the goggles not fog as easily and “enhances performance and comfort.”
• The SoftFit, a soft, flexible frame that helps mold to the skiers face and blocks out the wind, helping make it a durable, long-lasting goggle.
• The HandsOn — a full, anti-fogging lens treatment. The HandsOn also includes the interchangeability within the goggles, Warnock said. “Basically, what sets us apart is that our goggles are much more customizable than what’s out there,” Nelson said, adding that customers can change the color of their straps and interchange the lenses.

“We’re basically giving the same quality you get out of like a $200 pair or more ... for $120," he said.

Nelson, who is studying parks, recreation and tourism and multidisciplinary design, and Warnock, studying business marketing and business management, came up with the business idea in the summer of 2013 and received their first pair of sample goggles that December, Warnock said.

After pitching the idea at an “Entrepreneur Club” contest at the University of Utah, the two received $2,500 to complete a video for their Kickstarter campaign, Nelson said.

They sold a few pairs of goggles for athlete testing last year, but this has been the first ski season they’ve been in business, Nelson said.

“We put a good athlete team together and have just been focused on getting brand exposure and getting the name out there and producing some really good content with good athletes,” Nelson said.

The Aura Optics company team, comprised of Nelson, Warnock and team manager Paul Hanley, put together an athlete and media team that produces ski and snowboarding content and gives the company exposure “by producing photos and videos for social media and marketing purposes,” Warnock said.

In exchange, Aura Optics gives them filming exposure, which can help build their portfolios and further their careers, Nelson said.

Customers who have purchased Aura Optics products have provided great feedback, Nelson and Warnock said.

“We’ve had some really, really cool customers that we’ve dealt with personally basically just telling us how we’re doing and we just have their full support,” Warnock said. “It's just really nice to see people telling us ‘good job these goggles are fantastic, they’re better than any goggle I’ve ever owned.’”

The two entrepreneurs are still students at the University of Utah.

Nelson said it’s been interesting running a company while still in school, adding that it’s kept them busy and it’s really intense but that it is “pretty cool to kind of like see things starting to come together before we’re even graduated.”

To learn more about Aura Optics or to purchase a pair of goggles, visit its website.

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