Pit Viper is an American company based in

South Salt Lake, Utah South Salt Lake is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah and a core inner suburb of Salt Lake City proper, and thus part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The population was 26,777 at the 2020 census. History Jesse Fox Jr. developed the are ...

. The company designs, develops, and manufactures sports performance equipment and lifestyle pieces, including

sunglasses Sunglasses or sun glasses (informally called shades or sunnies; more names Sunglasses#Other names, below) are a form of Eye protection, protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damagin ...

, safety glasses,

eyeglasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses (American English), spectacles (Commonwealth English), or colloquially as specs, are Visual perception, vision eyewear with clear or tinted lens (optics), lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front ...

, sports visors, and ski/snowboard goggles, utilizing a 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s aesthetic combined with an irreverent, absurdist marketing approach.

History

The company was founded in 2012 by Chuck Mumford, who began by modifying military surplus ballistic sunglasses (made in the early 1990s) and reselling them under the brand 'Pit Viper', based on a nickname he earned while skiing. He soon partnered with Chris Garcin to produce stickers for the glasses, and they began creating an online storefront and perfected the social media marketing approach for which they would become known. When the original military surplus glasses ran out, the company ran a

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in order to manufacture the glasses in-house. The company met success and, in 2023, was estimated to employ around 100 employees with an annual revenue of around $40 million. The sunglasses have been featured in skiing publications such as ''Powder Magazine'' in addition to larger publications such as the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. In addition to skiing, the sunglasses have had significant success in the cycling market, with the company now offering a road cycling kit and, more recently, launching a mountain bike apparel collection. The company has attracted the following of multiple high-profile athletes, including extreme skier Glen Plake and NFL players

Patrick Mahomes Patrick Lavon Mahomes II ( ; born September 17, 1995) is an American professional football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Mahomes has led the Chiefs to seven consecutive AFC Championship Game app ...

and

Rob Gronkowski Robert James Gronkowski (born May 14, 1989) is an American former professional American football, football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. Nicknamed "Gronk", Gronkowski played nine seasons for the Ne ...

as well as freestyle skier

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and the first female African American

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Cup pit crew member Brehanna Daniels.

References

{{reflist Sunglasses Eyewear brands of the United States American companies established in 2012 Manufacturing companies established in 2012 Eyewear companies of the United States Companies based in Salt Lake County, Utah 2012 establishments in Utah