THEMAGIC5

Transforming the Swimming Sport Experience

In the sporting world, swimming ranks among the most popular activities. It is therapeutic to do it as a hobby. Not only does it work the muscles, but it also calms the mind. No less than the discipline of meditation is a good swim.

The appropriate equipment is essential for swimmers who want to pursue swimming as a sport in order to apply and compete at their highest level. One challenge that swimmers frequently encounter while training is the uncomfortable, universally sized goggles.

THEMAGIC5 devised the idea of customized swimming goggles to aid swimmers in excelling in their sport. THEMAGIC5 creates and manufactures sleek-looking goggles that are custom-fit to each swimmer’s specific needs using innovative tech.

In the interview that follows, Rasmus Barfred, a co-founder of THEMAGIC5, describes how he and his co-founders set out on with goal to enhance swimming for countless sportsmen all over the world.

The highlights of the interview are as follows:

Please tell our readers about THEMAGIC5, its unique selling points, and how you transform swimmers’ experiences with your custom-made swim goggles.

The first manufacturer of custom-fit swim goggles is THEMAGIC5. Every swimmer, athlete, and pool user voiced the same issues with their goggles We want people to be able to appreciate swimming’s contemplative, immersive character without being distracted by a bad pair of goggles.

We produce a personalized fit for each person who orders goggles using an app-based facial scan, and we may refine the fit as needed depending on consumer feedback. Each pair of goggles made is modified for the individual customer, and the data we have collected from more than 40.000 consumers has helped us to create a fitting so exact that we only issue refunds for 1% of our orders due to fit problems.

As a seasoned leader, what do you think the athletic goods market will look like in the futuregiven the adoption of cutting-edge technology like AI and machine learning?

With the popularity of wearable activity trackers and the advent of fitness programming apps, we have observed for years that athletes and people who value their active lifestyles are drawn to high-tech items. People use technology to learn more about themselves and tailor their workouts, so it makes sense that they would want customized equipment to make the process easier.

The next wave of customization will involve a significant change in hardware, as more and more things are “infused” with technology that improves their functionality rather than only being used for tracking. We believe that “customization” will be expanded to include not only varied options for size, color, and design, but also, to a greater extent, the fit and functionality of the technology that merely results in products that work better.

The sustainability angle is a fascinating side effect of this. For swimming goggles, for example, the mindset has been that you need to try out various goggles to get the least awful, which results in product waste along the way. With THEAMGIC5, you get the appropriate product the first time.

What initial difficulties did you encounter in light of the current pandemic, and how did you motivate your business to continue operating while who tecting the safety of your employees?

A significant impact was made by COVID-19 on the swimming sports industry. Since all pools were closed for the majority of the year, it was difficult to sell many goggles in that setting. We, therefore,made a concerted effort to provide swimming goggles as an alternate PPE to healthcare workers in NYC as soon as COVID-19 struck.

We ran a campaign that allowed us to donate more than 600 pairs of glasses; this was a move that had greater meaning. The effort was really labor-intensive, but it was all worthwhile!

Our entire company has always operated virtually, with the exception of our production office in Charlotte, North Carolina. The three co-founders of THEMAGIC5 are located in NYC, Charlotte, and Copenhagen, respectively, thus even before the pandemic, our crew was accustomed to operating effectively from home. Working remotely has always been welcomed in our corporate culture since it fosters freedom and flexibility.

What words of wisdom would you offer aspiring business people looking to enter the athletic goods industry?

Have a staff member that is completely knowledgeable about the product category! If Niklas, a professional swimmer, and co-founder, hadn’t been a part of our founding team, there is no way we could have created a product that is so high-performing and well-praised

How do you see your business expanding its services and operations in 2021?

Customers adore the goggles we make, and over the past year, our customer base has increased rapidly, enabling us to triple the size of our manufacturing staff. We have no immediate plans to add any products besides swimming goggles to our lineup. We are incredibly proud of our technology and the distinctiveness of our custom-fit products. Although we have only begun to explore the market, we are seeing tremendous traction in the largest segments, such as recreational swimmers, triathletes, and competitive swimmers. As a result, we will focus more on other industries where our technology will be a true differentiation once we notice that growth has halted.

Our Pioneers

Rasmus Barfred, Niklas Hedegaard, and Bo Haaber established THEMAGIC5 in 2017. Rasmus Barfred oversees all customer-facing operations, including branding, marketing, sales, partnerships, and client success. Prior to THEMAGIC5, Rasmus held positions in strategy and mergers and acquisitions at a few major companies. Additionally, he collaborated with co-founder Bo Haaber at the Danish trading platform nrgX, which serves the utility sector.

Niklas Hedegaard: Before joining THEMAGIC5, Niklas was a competitive swimmer for the Danish national squad. Over the past four years, he has devoted the majority of his time to develop our fitting algorithm and ensure that our technology is compatible with all types of faces and swimmers, including recreational, triathlon, master, and professional swimmers.

Bo Haaber: An engineer in the team with extensive experience in management and company development. spent nearly 20 years with IBM before moving on to work in various managerial capacities for significant Danish software vendors. Bo has co-founded several firms, including nrgX Apps, alongside Rasmus in between stints in corporate positions.

Satisfied Customers

• Investor and Olympic gold medalist swimmer Matt Grevers says, “Finding goggles that fit correctly tick a box of relief for you. There isn’t any fiddling about or adjusting, and that’s what truly appealed to me about THEMAGIC5. The ideal method is however you obtain it. Because it has been scanned to your face, it fits you.
• Investor, a triathlete with an Olympic gold medal, and three-time Ironman world champion Jan Frodeno Frodeno says, “I was attracted by the idea and have been astounded by how the product fulfills its promises. Many other businesses make the promise that their products fit perfectly or luxuriously, yet they are all one-size-fits-all. These glasses are unique. Because they are manufactured to order, they genuinely suit you.