Accessible eyewear brand Messyweekend has secured inflight retail listings with Eurowings, Discover Airlines and Marabu Airlines, aided by its travel retail partners Blueprint and Hanse Distribution.

“We are thrilled that Messyweekend has been listed onboard Eurowings, Discover Airlines and Marabu Airlines,” said Hanse Distribution’s Sales Director Inflight Jakob Barthe.

“With more listings coming up, it is safe to say that the Danish eyewear brand resonates with travellers and retailers.

“Together with Blueprint we offer travel retail an eyewear novelty that is excitingly different.”

The Danish handcrafted eyewear house, established in Copenhagen, has major plans for travel retail in 2024 as it seeks to establish itself as the go-to brand for accessibly priced lifestyle eyewear.

The brand entered the channel in November 2022 with Gebr. Heinemann at Copenhagen Airport.

This was followed by QAEZ International and on-board Lufthansa last year, with the help of German partner Hanse Distribution.

The brand now has further inflight listings in the pipeline and is also targeting airports and cruise ships, with Southeast Asia, Canada, Mexico and Brazil on the hit list.

“Messyweekend has built a solid proof of concept, with Gen Zs in particular, for eyewear embracing premium materials, sustainability and highly accessible recommended price points at EUR100,” said Thomas Kaneko-Henningsen, Partner at business development consultancy Blueprint, which is supporting Messyweekend’s expansion in travel retail.

“By 2028, the Gen Z customers will outnumber Millennials as the largest global airline passenger group and now is a relevant time for travel retail to introduce relevant brands like this.

“We are grateful for Hanse Distribution extending a warm welcome to Messyweekend. Hanse Distribution’s ongoing commitment, expertise and ‘can do mindset’ makes a critical difference when accelerating Messyweekend’s footprint.”

Making luxury eyewear accessible for everyone

Established in 2017, Messyweekend set out to close the gap between cost price and retail prices of eyewear by offering a quality product with an accessible price tag.

Its eyewear comes with a lifetime warranty, in recycled packaging. Furthermore, its Clean Oceans programme contributes to the clean-up of plastic pollution in oceans and rivers with every purchase.

To date, more than 260 tonnes have been collected thanks to the brand’s involvement with the initiative.

“We want to make luxury eyewear accessible for everyone with no compromises and travel retail will be one of the most relevant channels to reach our target audiences at speed,” said Messyweekend’s Co-founder and COO, Mads Koch Petersen.

“We want to stand for what makes us happy, what makes us forget everyday life, and what makes the weekend feel a little bit longer. Every day should feel like a Friday.”

Further raising the brand’s profile is its high-profile collaborations with, among others, F.C. Copenhagen (the biggest football club in Scandinavia), Norwegian low-cost airline, and Jamie Nicholls, a former Olympian skier

Currently, Messyweekend is available in 26 countries and sells more than 200,000 products annually.

This year, the brand will open its first two brick and mortar stores, both in Denmark, as well as six pop-ups or shop-in-shops that will be launched internationally.

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