It's not every day you end up on the front cover of a magazine, yet alone a high fashion eyewear publication. My friends at Theo, who make the most amazing glasses in the world, put me on their cover and included this interview.
theo: You started
your company Straight plc in ’93. What is it that you do exactly?
Jonathan Straight:
I run a business that supplies waste and recycling containers as well as environmental
garden products like compost bins and water butts. Today it employs 150 people
and turns over about £30m. And we really want to make a difference. That’s why
we want to implement lasting changes that will impact the whole waste sector
and the environment itself. As a progressive organization, we are always open
to new ideas about how we can improve.
theo: Let’s talk
about eyewear. When did you first start wearing glasses?
Jonathan Straight:
At the age of 12 or 13 I realised that I could not see the blackboard at
school. I was bundled off to the family’s optician to be fitted up with a pair
of old man’s glasses which of course I hated – and had to wait weeks for them
to be delivered. If I went out I would not wear them and so I spent much of my teenage
years not being able to see properly.
theo: When did
you discover there was more to glasses than health service eyewear?
Jonathan Straight:
About 20 years ago, my brother and I were in an optician’s store in leeds
because he needed some specs. Opticians, particularly in sleepy shops in Leeds,
never had anything interesting, but this shop seemed to be pushing the
boundaries, and I saw a frame on the shelf which looked like a combination of
two frames in one, a top bar and round lenses – it was quite unusual. But the
frame was plain black – I asked if there were any other colours. I was told
that there were other colours available to order, but I would have to order the
frame unseen and of course I had to take it. The frame was available in gold and
this seemed like a safe choice. The frame was by LA Eyeworks and was called Pluto.
The thing was that the frame when it arrived was actually yellow.
theo: That could
not have gone by unnoticed!
Jonathan Straight:
No, indeed, it didn’t! The reaction I got was unbelievable. They were just so
different. Everyone was talking about them and asking me about them. So when
the interest began to wane, I went back and ordered another frame from the LA
Eyeworks catalogue, this time a frame called Padre in green. Again, the
reaction was amazing.
theo: And how did
you come across theo?
Jonathan Straight:
One day I went to this exhibition in Birmingham where LA Eyeworks was present
and I met the LA Eyeworks man. At that time this was nobody but Alain Bekaert!
And here was a new experience – being able to view a whole collection. Alain was
an unconventional salesman. He would pull out a frame and say “Put it on ... Do
you luuuv it or do you aaayt it?” Just liking something was not enough. I chose
I think 4 or 5 frames. This cost a small fortune – but suddenly I was a serious
player and probably could call myself a collector. Alain told me something
else. He said that there were only two designers in Europe worth worrying
about, one being LA Eyeworks and the other being theo. theo – I had never heard
of them. All I could get out of Alain was that theo were from Belgium, oh, and
how to spell it.
theo: That sounds
very Alain-like! Were did you go from there?
Jonathan Straight:
As soon as I was back in the office, and in between my work on developing the
market for recycling bins, I wrote to the Belgian Embassy to chase up this
brand I had never heard about. They swiftly provided me with a telephone
number, so I called to ask for a catalogue. A few days later perhaps the most
amazing piece of promotional literature I have ever seen to this day arrived. Pages
consisting of photocopied spectacle frames annotated with type were sandwiched
between two carpet tiles, one of which was laser cut with the company brand and
the whole lot was held together with industrial nuts and bolts. But it was the content
that was most interesting. I had never seen anything quite like it, and I was
seriously excited.
theo: So you went to your Leeds store to buy theo?
Was it already available there?
Jonathan Straight:
No way you could find it in Leeds back then. Fortunately my business was
growing and this brought me to Holland where I was visiting a supplier. I took
this opportunity to arrange a visit to theo in neighbouring Belgium. It was in
the theo shop that I met Wim for the first time. I left with 8 frames and headed
straight out of Belgium and back home. This has become a recurring yearly arrangement
ever since.
theo: Would you
say your distinguished taste in eyewear influenced your success in business? Is
there a connection?
Jonathan Straight:
I have never looked at my story in the context of eyewear. But I must say, the
growth of the business and the growth of my interest in spectacles in many ways
go hand in hand. When I set up Straight Recycling systems – the forerunner of
the current business – I used to market myself using caricatures sporting a
moustache from one side of the page to the other, and of course whatever crazy
frame I was into wearing at the time. My own business was growing, as was my
eyewear collection. If I was going to a trade fair, I used to take a different
frame for each day – and eventually customers came to expect that this would
happen.
theo: You now
have about 250 pairs. Do you have a pair of glasses for every occasion?
Jonathan Straight:
hat’s the joy of having a lot of frames! But I do choose my frames very carefully. For
example, when making presentations to investors I wear a pair that’s not too
plain, not too flamboyant. I am photographed a lot, and for press photography,
heavy and distinctive frames work best for me.
theo: To
conclude: do you, as a respected business man, have some good advice to young
starters?
Jonathan Straight:
Be memorable. Eyewear has certainly helped me to be memorable, and being
written about in the Financial Times as having a waxed moustache, ponytail and
distinctive glasses proves the point. I have built a business and a reputation
predicated on difference and it is interesting how this is now recognised as a
key part of business strategy. Do you know Seth Godin? He’s the author of ‘We
are all weird’. He speaks about mass, and he speaks about weird. Weird is what
is not mass; Godin says that to succeed we should market our goods to the weird
– rather than the mass. If that is what
it takes to wear theo frames, I’m very happy to be weird!
