💪 Take No Sh*t, Do No Harm.

The doJi Shades Story

Every great story has a moment where the outcome seems predetermined.
The giant towers overhead.
The crowd expects the smaller player to step aside.

This is one of those stories, except the ending didn’t go the way anyone expected - except for us.

The Giant Makes Its Move

It's the beginning of the year, and my husband, children and I have been deep in planning.   We have recently brought on new partners on our influencer side, gone deep into the depths of market trend research, and currently in production on a big wave of all things new for the brand.   We came into the new year on a mission- to reset, to focus in, and bring more amazing products to life for our customers.

We built out, measured out, and sent out our initial designs to begin the CAD and molding process, as well aligned our budget to the production and mold costs for Q1.    All things pointing in the right, strategically planned direction and then...

A top competitor—one of the biggest names in the space—reached out to our production facility with a simple demand disguised as a threat:

End your relationship with doJi Shades, or we’ll pull our business.

You can only imagine the panic that shot through my body in this very moment.    I personally am not here to piss people off.  I steer clear of the "cut-throat" confrontation of competition and am humble enough to understand we are still growing, and we are still learning.    But HEARTBROKEN, was an understatement in this very moment.   

What now?  Where do we go?  How much time do I have? Why is this competitor doing this?    And within all of these questions, confusion, and disapointment - I simply could not fold.

My husband has been a serial entrepreneur since he was 19 years old.    He has gone toe to toe with the giants of the beverage industry, the recycling industry - he's created programs in sub-contracting with Apple, and the most admirable part - he refuses to quit, or lose.

Of course, I took this straight to him.    And in the moment of feeling like I was spinning in an absolute death spiral, he looked directly at me with an arrogant smirk and said, YOU'RE WINNING.    He reinforced examples of prior companies, prior events, prior threats and simply said to me - "You know you're doing it right, when your competition is talking about you."    Let that one sink in.

He told me the next step is to fly so far under the radar, they won't even expect what happens next and gave me two options - "Throw in the towel, or take your damn gloves off and fight."

Ten Minutes That Changed Everything

In a moment that would define our future, our team moved—fast.   My husband literally hung up a zoom call from his current company, and took me straight into the war path.  He opened up his phone, got on calls with two prior business partners and before you could even blink - we were heading to a new production facility.

Within 10 minutes, doJi Shades picked up its pieces and took All Engineering, All CAD Development, All of Our Proprietary Molds, and all Intellectual Property straight to a new, and better partner.

No panic.
No scrambling.
Just execution.

What the giant intended as a knockout punch became the spark that forced us to level up.

Turning Pressure Into Power

Starting fresh wasn’t a setback—it was an upgrade.

At the new facility, we re-engineered the entire product line:

• Enhanced performance and durability

• Improved fit and comfort

• Refined design details

• Tighter quality control

And then something unexpected happened.

By restructuring production and cutting out inefficiencies, we reduced our manufacturing costs.

Not by sacrificing quality.
By building smarter.

The Ultimate Winner: Our Customers

Most brands would quietly pocket the margin.

We didn’t.

In fact, we moved on from our Buy 1 Get 2 Free deal, we dropped all single pair pricing and right now one of the ONLY sunglass brands that provide the quality we do, free shipping like we do, for under $50 on EVERY pair.   We passed the savings directly to the people who matter most—our customers.

Better product.
Better pricing.
Same doJi attitude.

What was meant to crush us instead made doJi Shades stronger, leaner, and more competitive than ever.

The Part of The Story They Don't Tell You.

When David fought Goliath, he volunteered to fight, he chose to be there. 

David won because he was prepared.
Because he moved fast.
Because he believed in what he was fighting for.

We don’t tell this story to brag.
We tell it because it defines who we are.

doJi Shades isn’t here to bully suppliers, flex power, or block innovation.
We’re here to build, protect our people, and deliver value—no matter who’s standing in the way.

The part of the story they forget to tell you is pretty clear to us - As David voluntarily stepped up to the fight, Goliath actually thought for one second that this little guy might just kick my ass.

Never give up, even on the bad days.   

Jess Smith

CEO, Founder - doJi Shades 🕶