What the Solar Eclipse Taught Us About Product Certification

The importance of product certification was further solidified as we watched the chaos of the eclipse glasses unfold. Sitting in a field with several dozen people looking up into the sky, I glanced around to see each person wearing different colored eclipse glasses: American flag, gold, glitter. My glasses are plain white, simply manufactured and without much frill. In between glancing up at the moon’s progress, people around me were checking their feeds. “Did you hear the recall from that company giving out free glasses yesterday?” a group in front of me discussed. “Yeah did you hear about the Amazon recall? Serious fail.”

Earlier this year we at Blacksmith had noticed some of our clients placing large orders on solar glasses and decided to join the fun. We found a factory that was ISO certified and on NASA’s approved list. From there, production was a breeze. Many companies had bought the items from Amazon and other sources as promotional items. They quickly found themselves posting embarrassing recall messages on Facebook and signs on their doors. Some discovering the potential risk only a few hours before totality. Not the best PR. We, on the other hand, saw the sales on our simple blank white glasses sky-rocket because it was easy for us to produce the ISO certificate.

We had direct contact with the factory, they clearly understood our product requirements:  ISO certified and NASA approved lenses manufacturer.  The factory gave us the certifications before the glasses were even delivered. This was a pretty small order for us (only 5,000 units total) but the same care and quality went into the production as our larger runs. In addition, our staff inspected the facility and our independent quality control team checked the glasses.

Acquiring product certification was a simple step that secured our units for sale. All of this hard work beforehand meant we had an awesome solar eclipse glass selling and viewing experience!