First Quarter Revenue Increased 70% Year Over Year

MIAMI, May 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative Eyewear Inc., (NASDAQ: LUCY, LUCYW), ("Innovative Eyewear" or the "Company") the developer of smart eyewear under the Lucyd®, Lucyd Armor®, Reebok®, Nautica®, and Eddie Bauer® brands, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2026.

Net revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2026 (the "current quarter") was $773,561, an increase of $319,060 or 70% from the three months ended March 31, 2025. The first quarter of 2026 marks the 11th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth. This top-line revenue growth was primarily driven by volume increases from sales of the Company's highly successful Lucyd Armor^® smart safety glasses, which represented approximately two-thirds of the Company's total smartglass units sold in the current quarter.

The volume increases from Lucyd Armor^® were partially offset by lower volumes in certain of the Company's other smartglass product lines, reflecting a strategic realignment of the Company's product mix. Specifically, the Company is intentionally shifting sales volume toward the higher-ROI Lucyd Armor^® safety category; sunsetting certain prior-generation collections to make room for the recently launched Reebok^® Powered by Lucyd optical collection for the wholesale channel; and the typical seasonal softness in the sports category during the winter months. In total, however, the year-over-year growth in revenue of 70% represents an acceleration from the full-year 2025 growth rate of approximately 63% and reflects continued positive momentum across the Company's smart eyewear portfolio.

The Company also recognized $62,397 of other non-operating income during the current quarter, compared to $125,088 in the prior year quarter. These amounts were primarily comprised of dividends from investments in money market funds and interest income from investments in U.S. Treasury bills. The year-over-year decrease in such amounts was primarily due to lower dividend yields and interest rates in the current market and macroeconomic environment.

The Company aims to continue its revenue growth momentum supported by the following commercial initiatives currently in progress:

• The Company is in the process of listing Lucyd Armor® for sale online with a major national retailer.
• The Company is beginning a pilot product launch with a top 5 national optical retailer.
• The Company is in negotiations with a major Canadian optical chain for a rollout of Lucyd Armor® in approximately 300 stores.
• The Company is in discussions with a major auto parts chain for a white-labeled Lucyd Armor product with the chain's branding.
• A major energy sector company is conducting a pilot of Lucyd Armor® for workforce communication applications.
• The Company is in commercial discussions with a top 3 hardware retail chain regarding a potential online product listing.
• The Company recently completed onboarding with Newegg.com, a leading online retailer focused on consumer technology and electronics, with reported annual revenue of approximately $1.3 billion. The Company expects its products to go live on the Newegg platform later this month, expanding its online distribution reach and access to technology-focused consumers.

Also, during the first quarter of 2026, the Company received the prestigious Red Dot Award for Lucyd Armor^®. The Red Dot Award recognizes the world's leading products that demonstrate functional and aesthetic design excellence, and notable recipients of the award have included some of the world's leading tech and consumer goods companies.

Gross profit margin for the first quarter of 2026 was 23%. This was slightly ahead of the Company's gross profit margin for full fiscal year 2025 (21%) and the second half of fiscal year 2025 (22%). The prior-year comparison reflects an unusually elevated Q1 2025 gross profit margin of 49%, which was primarily attributable to the positive impact of one-off credits and inventory adjustments totaling approximately $132,000 and is not representative of the underlying run-rate gross margin for the business. The Company does not currently anticipate material changes in gross profit margins from current levels.

Total operating expenses in the first quarter of 2026 were $2,547,210, an increase of $422,886 or 20% from the prior year quarter. This increase was primarily driven by higher general and administrative expenses, which increased by $498,703 year-over-year primarily due to the combination of higher amounts paid to outside service providers for various corporate and compliance functions, and higher payments due under multi-year license agreements. Sales and marketing costs were essentially flat year-over-year, while research and development costs decreased by $72,467 from the first quarter of 2025, primarily driven by the timing of product development cycles. 

The Company's net loss for the first quarter of 2026 was $2,309,368 or $(0.37) per share, basic and diluted, compared with $1,778,703 or $(0.72) per share, basic and diluted, in the prior year's quarter. Weighted average shares outstanding for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025 were approximately 6.25 million and 2.45 million, respectively.

The Company ended the quarter with approximately $5.68 million of combined cash and cash equivalents and investments, compared with $6.51 million of combined cash and cash equivalents and investments as of December 31, 2025. Net working capital (current assets less current liabilities) was $7.66 million at March 31, 2026, and $8.39 million at December 31, 2025. The Company had no outstanding debt as of March 31, 2026, and long-term liabilities of only $0.02 million.

During the first quarter of 2026, the Company raised $1.41 million of net cash proceeds from equity offerings.

Harrison Gross, CEO of Innovative Eyewear Inc., commented, "I am very pleased by our strong start to the year, as exhibited by our ongoing and accelerating revenue growth. We intend to build on this momentum as we seek to drive further growth this year through ongoing discussions with prospective partners across the big box retail, traditional optical, hardware, automotive, industrial MRO distribution, and construction and logistics channels. We are receiving constructive feedback from key retail and optical accounts on our near-term product roadmap, and we are working to convert that engagement into incremental revenue. We are very optimistic about the growth of the smart eyewear category, the future of our Company and our outlook for 2026 and beyond."

About Innovative Eyewear, Inc.

Innovative Eyewear is a developer of cutting-edge ChatGPT enabled smart eyewear, under the Lucyd®, Lucyd Armor®, Reebok®, Nautica®, and Eddie Bauer® brands. True to our mission to Upgrade Your Eyewear®, our Bluetooth smart glasses allow users to stay safely and ergonomically connected to their digital lives and are offered in hundreds of frame and lens combinations to meet the needs of the optical market. To learn more and explore our continuously evolving collection of smart eyewear, please visit www.lucyd.co.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including those relating to the Company's business operations, projections, market position, revenue growth, commercial discussions, pipeline opportunities, prospective customers and channel partners, anticipated product launches and retail listings, future product lines and developments. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and assumptions. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe-harbor for forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking expressions, including, but not limited to, "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "future," "intend," "may," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Commercial discussions described in this release have not resulted in definitive agreements and there can be no assurance that any such discussions will result in executed agreements or generate revenue on the timing or in the volumes described, or at all. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K under the caption "Risk Factors."

Investor Relations Contact:
Scott Powell
Skyline Corporate Communications Group, LLC
Telephone: +1 (646) 893-5835
Email: IR@skylineccg.com

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SOURCE Innovative Eyewear, Inc.