Eyewear is not usually something that we here at ‘Glam Damn It' get excited about. That was until we saw the latest fly' offerings from 9Five, the ‘Skateboard inspired' eyewear brand.

Joonbug caught up with Mike Metcalf, one of 9Five's creators, to find out how the brand came about and to get a feel for what we should expect from them in the future.

Can you tell me about the '9Five' brand, how did it start initially and when was its inception?

MM: 9five Eyewear started to come together in late 2008. Our first season shipped to retailers in Spring 2009. 9five is an eyewear line inspired by skateboarding.

What about the ‘9Five' name, how did that come about?

MM: 1995 is the year I started skateboarding. The name 9five doesn't necessarily relate to the year itself, but more to skateboarding, and everything we have experienced as a result of our time skateboarding.

Your eye wear is pretty cool. I tried on a pair of ‘Majors ‘recently over at El Mercado in LA. Are they intended to be unisex? (They looked good on me!) . Which style is your best seller and any plans to expand the range?

MM: Our eyewear is designed with the male consumer in mind, but almost all of our styles look great on females as well. All styles sell well. There isn't really one which outshines the others.

Your headgear is available exclusively online. Any plans to expand the headgear line into stores?

MM: The fitted hats were initially made exclusively for our professional skate team. We sold the limited supply we had left on our website, and currently are not planning on including hats into our regular collection. We want to keep our focus on the brand's core product ‘eyewear.'

So, the 'GRN Apple Tree' and '9Five' collaborative pieces- the cult classic T shirt and cardigan- were released exclusively on March the 1st. Can we expect to see them in LA based stores shortly?

MM: Our last shipments of that shade went to 5 & A Dime, Overload Skateshop and Karmaloop. If you're looking, I'd start there.

Tell me a bit about your work with them -GRN Apple tree-. Do you see yourself collaborating with any other designers/brands in the future?

MM: Working with GRN Apple Tree was the easiest thing ever. We came up with the idea at a tradeshow and had a design done the next day. Everyone over there is real cool. We have some other collaborative projects in the works as well... 
 
I notice you are jointly presenting ‘March Madness' in Brooklyn on the 19th of March. Can you tell me about that? What is it exactly and how did 9Five get involved?

MM: Some of us have been fans of Grind Time for awhile. All of us are hip hop heads and have been for years. Grind Time hit us up just looking to get some shades but we wanted to take it a little further and title sponsor their entire event. We're flying out to New York to check the event next week. Looking forward to it.

You have a new line, set to drop on April the 15th, which was showcased at X large in LA mid February. Can you give me a sneak preview of what items we can expect to see in the new line?

MM: We have basically stepped our game up ten fold. Everything in our new line is handmade acetate with a quality level that crushes our previous offerings. We are excited to be entering this premium class, and still be able to keep our price point where it was.

What other exciting developments can we expect from 9Five?

MM: This is a big year for 9Five. We'll let our actions speak for us.

Finally, anything else you would like to address to Joonbug readers?

MM: Thanks for reading this. Check out www.9fivesite.com.