Veteran-Owned and Family-Driven, Wiley X Continues to Redefine Protective Eyewear Excellence
By Stephen Hunt
When Wiley X was founded in 1987 by United States Army veteran Myles Freeman, Sr., its mission was to produce the world’s best protective eyewear. In the decades since, Wiley X, which relocated from California to Frisco in 2022, has become an iconic American brand and the most trusted name in protective eyewear, building a legacy of continually creating innovative eyewear without compromising protection.
One Wiley X core value is that people matter. Protection is at their core – a value the company takes seriously, dedicating the utmost commitment and resources to testing products. Wiley X is also devoted to doing the hard things necessary to set itself apart from competitors. The company, which has its products in big sporting goods stores like Academy and SCHEELS, in addition to 4,000 optical shops and outdoor stores, doesn’t produce “safety glasses” or “gas station sunglasses.” Wiley X does those extra things because it drives them to “perfect the ordinary while pushing the boundaries of the extraordinary.”
In pursuing excellence and building an iconic brand nationwide, the team and family behind Wiley X also prioritize holding themselves to a higher standard, which is further demonstrated in the meticulous testing of its products. Every pair of eyewear undergoes rigorous testing in the U.S. and internationally to ensure the product meets or exceeds the highest possible ratings for safety and optics. Like most high-profile brands, Wiley X has brand ambassadors at the top of their fields endorsing their eyewear, including NASCAR driver Michael McDowell, professional fisherman Jacob Wheeler, and competitive shooter Becky Yackley.
With an impeccable track record of delivering top-quality eyewear to its customers, clientele which includes first responders, active and former military servicepeople, and outdoor enthusiasts, Wiley X also prioritizes giving back to the community – an integral part of the company’s DNA. The company is heavily involved with organizations assisting veterans, like the Boot Campaign, which provides personal care for veterans by supporting their mental and physical well-being and quality of life, and the North Texas Warrior Golf Association, which has improved the lives of hundreds of combat-wounded veterans through golf.
Several years ago, Freeman Sr. passed away from cancer. Still, his sons, Dan Freeman, now company CEO, and Myles Jr., company president, had already been directing Wiley X for some time, even before its move to Texas, and this veteran-founded, second-generation, family-owned business was in great hands with these dedicated siblings in charge.
A True Family Affair
Dan Freeman remembers Wiley X’s humble beginnings in Daly City, California, a San Francisco suburb, as Protective Optics, which sold rack sunglasses to automotive dealerships. His father co-owned the company but bought out his partner after about six months. In those early days, Wiley X was headquartered in a small real estate office, and Dan fondly remembers starting there as a high school senior when he helped ship products on weekends.
In 1994, Dan graduated from California State University, Sacramento and joined the company full-time, helping develop products. However, both father and son knew they had considerable room for improvement. “My dad is an Army veteran, and he always remembered what [eyewear] he was issued when he was a young man and was like, ‘man, this is garbage,’” Dan remembers. “It’s not really safe and we can do better.”
Dan also ventured abroad to gain all the knowledge he could about coatings, frame materials, and every facet of manufacturing high-quality eyewear so he could help the brand evolve. Additionally, he suggested a name change because he saw Protective Optics as too generic.
“I told my dad I wanted to get to a W-X logo because they’re cool looking letters, aggressive, have sharp corners. I don’t know if it was me being a Looney Tune fan when I was little,” Dan recalls. “I don’t know how Wiley [like Wile E. Coyote] popped in my head, but it did, and I kept coming back to it. I said, ‘This is it.’ I brought it to my dad, and he was like, ‘Yeah, it’s cool, I’m in.’”
In 1996, Myles Jr. joined the company after some coaxing from his younger sibling. “I was leading customer service at a home warranty company I had ownership in. My brother wanted me to lead the sales division,” Myles said. “He was juggling a lot of balls and wanted to bring me in, but I was making a bit more than they could afford. It took a couple years, but I sold my stock in the home warranty industry and led the sales division.”
“I had no sales experience but found out quickly a customer service background served me well because it’s all about good communication, relating to your customers, providing that ultimate level of customer service, being relatable, likeable. That’s what set the tone for establishing a sales direction for the company. To this day, there’s a strong customer influence, a customer service influence, within the business. Customers say we’ll never leave you because you guys provide the best customer service in the industry.”
Both Dan and Myles Freeman Jr. consider it a huge blessing to have worked closely with each other for several decades alongside their father, who founded the company and always treated them as equals. “Myles and I worked with him for 25 years. We were super close,” said Dan. “That was his dream, to be able to work with his sons. That was fulfilled. Plus, he always said we changed his life. My dad was incredible starting early in moving the business [over] to Myles and I stock-wise and all that stuff. He did everything right. We learned with a lot of respect. He let us make our mistakes. He’d give his opinion. He’d say, ‘I don’t know if I agree with you, but if you want to give it a shot, let’s do it.’ He was [our devil’s advocate] for sure.”
Myles Jr. considers Wiley X a family business with an environment free of most of the usual drama accompanying other family-owned operations as another big positive. “It was great. A lot of people ask, ‘How do you work around your dad and in a family-owned business in general?’ They hear the horror stories, but we’ve always gotten along really well,” he said.
“It was always majority rules with everything. Two out of three, if they strongly felt that way, then you lived with it. Even if you might not have been happy about it, you got over it and next day it was business as usual…Never took it for granted and my dad worked almost until he was 80. We had a lot of great years together. Our offices were next to each other. We had windows between the offices so we could give the thumbs up, thumbs down, hand signals. Really good things were happening. I miss him a lot. He was a really good man, taught me a lot.”
Seeing the Bigger Picture
In 2020, Alameda County, where Wiley X was based in California, was the first county in America to shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic. Alameda County was also the last county to completely reopen. During the pandemic, the company successfully pivoted to remain in business, even if the seeds for eventually departing the Golden State were already sown.
“We got a large government contract for face shields, so we converted our lens manufacturer and our display manufacturer into a shield manufacturer – shields they needed for hospitals and stuff like that,” Dan said. “We got a $7 million contract and that kept us alive.”
After hiring a firm that helped them find the most ideal spot to relocate to – a destination that would be an excellent fit for the company’s new headquarters and would include a new building, Dan and Myles Jr., their families, and their employees, some of which travel frequently and thus needed to be near a major airport, Wiley X settled on Frisco and relocated here in 2022.
“We didn’t want to leave northern California. We left because it’s getting so nuts out there,” Dan said. “It [Frisco] is centrally located, so it’s better for our customers and our employees who have to travel, especially for the military folks, and it’s a beautiful community. It’s super safe, which is really important for me. This community supports our law enforcement, which is super important to us, and it aligns with our personal values and the company values…[We’re] Super happy we landed here.”
Myles Jr. concurs that incredible synergy has come from the partnership between Wiley X and Frisco. “It’s a family-oriented community, a real patriotic area, really strong on supporting veteran causes and first responders,” he said. “That’s something we’re really passionate about. Everything aligned perfectly, and we have no regrets. In fact, we’re very pleased.”
As president, Myles Jr. oversees Wiley X MEA (Middle East, Europe, Africa) division and the company’s philanthropic efforts. “We’ve donated to animal shelters, things that were near and dear to my dad’s heart. He was a very giving individual,” he said. “We donate to causes that mean a lot to my father and parents but us individually and the company as a whole. It’s very self-rewarding, very gratifying.”
“The Medal of Honor Museum that is being built in Arlington, (TX) we’re a founder circle sponsor, which I’m very proud of and know my dad’s looking down proudly on us on that. He instilled that thought within us [the importance of giving back.] We want to carry on his legacy because he was just a great man.”
With 2024 nearing an end, the Freeman brothers and the rest of Wiley X are already looking toward 2025, which will be a big year for the company on several fronts. The on-site pro shop will open in the first quarter, something which has been a work-in-progress for some time; the company will begin producing its first products, which are 100% Made in the USA. Wiley X will also unveil a new company logo and focus on telling the inspiring story of the brand and everything it stands for.
“We’re leaning into our community. There’s still a lot of proud Americans out there. That’s what we’re leaning into,” Dan said. “We’re saying hey, we’re going to provide you with a great product that we want them to see and say hey, I’m going to spend my money with these guys because they’re an American company, second-generation, family-owned. Those are the values that matter more than talking about the hinges on the glasses. It’s leaning into the roots of the brand that are much deeper and stronger than just the product. We’re staying out of the politics with the brand, but people know where we stand just based on the brand values. That’s where we want to stay.”
Stephen Hunt is a 20-year Frisco resident and proud American.
