Designing the Future of Performance Eyewear with Run Data

September 28, 2021

Method Seven is teaming up with PWR Lab to launch a free running challenge. Data shared by participating trail runners will help design the optimal product for the world’s most advanced eyewear lens

Santa Cruz, CA (September 28, 2021) – Among the run community, adoption of fitness tracking devices has become widespread and commonplace. This growing trend generates data that not only provides powerful insights into runner behavior, but is now also revolutionizing product development.

Method Seven (M7), a manufacturer of high performance eyewear, and PWR Lab, a leader in Lived Experience Analytics, are embarking on a first-of-its-kind collaboration. “We’re spearheading a new partnership model,” says James Cox, M7 CEO. “PWR Lab has the wearable data standard and can layer UV index maps on top of any run. Through this event, a community of runners will contribute to the innovation process in a way that’s never been done before.”

To support design initiative in the trail running scene, PWR Lab and M7 are hosting a free community trail series running event. Runners who register for the M7 Trail Series will appear on an interactive Leaderboard for 10 weeks, competing in a series of progressively longer challenges from 5k up to 30k. Runners who register for the M7 Trail Series will appear on an interactive Leaderboard for 10 weeks, competing in a series of progressively longer challenges from 5k up to 30k.

In addition to driving innovation, participating runners’ data will also result in donations for trail development and maintenance. The M7 Trail Series leaderboard will include a total mileage tracker for participants during the challenge, and Method Seven has pledged a $0.01 per mile donation to the Silverton Singletrack Society for each of the first 500,000 miles logged.

Registration is free. Those who participate and connect their GPS devices for this event will also have an ongoing opportunity to continue to share data with M7, helping inform and drive future product development.

“We’re going to layer the data like a cake, starting with GPS watch data from participating runners. We will then spread UV / weather data on top to give M7 an opportunity to design a new lens using technology optimized for trail running.” said Adam Stepanovic, CEO of PWR Lab.

Event registration, donation collection, and a participant user group are all hosted on UltraSignup, the hub for trail and ultra-races across North America. The M7 Trail Series is the first event to leverage a new integration between PWR Lab and UltraSignup, enabling runners to track progress using their wearables data. According to Jay Kelley and David Callahan with UltraSignup, “We are excited to bring new tools and capabilities to our race directors, so they can more deeply engage with their racers. Our recent integration with PWR Lab is a great way to benefit the community as a whole.

This is a particularly exciting and important R&D initiative for M7 which creates eyewear for people in some of the world’s most extreme visual environments, from medicinal growers with prolonged exposure to high-wattage lights to pilots traveling at mach speeds.

Entering into the long-distance trail running space is a logical next step for M7. Trail runners spend significant amounts of time interacting with the elements, including prolonged UV exposure, and need high quality optics to see every rock and root obstacle along the trail.

Check out our collaborative fact sheet for a more detailed overview of how PWR Lab partners with sports brands.

REGISTER HERE to join the event.

Method Seven is a collaborative group of scientists, engineers and problem-solvers looking to unlock the potential of human vision by mastering the spectrum of visible light.

PWR Lab connects brands to active consumers via the wearable device data that reflects their actual lived experiences. The brands we partner with achieve greater value and affinity with customers while fueling more comprehensive research and innovation based on a deeper understanding of personalized, real-world activities.

UltraSignup is the hub for trail and ultra races across North America. Runners gather on the site to search and register for the majority of U.S. trail and ultra races, all in one place. They can also search decades of results, along with UltraSignup’s proprietary runner rankings. Race directors, in turn, are able to effectively reach runners around the world through UltraSignup, while benefiting from a robust suite of race management tools created specifically for trail and ultra races.