NEW YORK—Tomorrow, June 6, marks the sixth annual National Eyewear Day—a day set aside for the optical community, and dedicated to promoting tips, tools and philanthropic initiatives that bring awareness to the importance of comprehensive eye exams and overall eye health. National Eyewear Day became official in 2016, after Zyloware submitted it to the Registrar at National Day Calendar, and everyone can get involved with National Eyewear Day by posting on social media and using the hashtags #NationalEyewearDay #ZylowareEyewear #WeAreZyloware.

National Eyewear Day is a fun and exciting day to celebrate what we do and why we love it, but it’s also a really important opportunity for the optical community to connect with the general public, and to remind them why being proactive about their eyecare is so important to their overall health. To make getting involved easy for everyone, the team at Zyloware has put together a toolkit, which is free to download, and features a variety of resources to make getting involved with National Eyewear Day easy and fun, including press releases, social media posts, a poster, an easel card, social media posting guides and more.

On Sunday, Zyloware will share a special National Eyewear Day conversation between Jackie Janiec, VP of marketing at Zyloware and creator of the Beyond Small Talk podcast, and Tarrence Lackran, director of partnerships and programming at The Vision Council and known as TheOpticalPoet online. The conversation, titled "Eyewear for All: Building a Better Optical Community with Inclusivity, A Conversation in Celebration of National Eyewear Day," will cover the benefits of building a diverse and inclusive optical community. The video will be posted on Zyloware's blog, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn on Sunday. 

In an announcement about National Eyewear Day in May, Zyloware said, “Over the past year, as a nation and an industry, we’ve truly seen how important health and preventative care can be. As part of Zyloware’s mission to help people see a beautiful day every day, we’re hoping this year’s National Eyewear Day will serve as a reminder of the importance of being proactive in your eye health while celebrating eyewear positivity. Seeing beautiful things is possible in every day.”

June also marks National Sunglasses Day, which falls later in the month, on June 27. As always, everyone can get involved in National Sunglasses Day by posting on social media using the hashtags #SunglassSelfie and #NationalSunglassesDay. Using these tags will allow consumers to easily find, follow and contribute to the greater conversation on UV eye health. In addition, The Vision Council has prepared materials including ready-to-use logos, social media images, sample posts, downloadable posters, web banners and more, all available online.

As we approach these two important days for our industry, it’s worth taking a look back at last year’s celebrations to offer a little inspiration. Here, we’ve compiled some moments from years back—get ready to celebrate.

 Zyloware has a toolkit for National Eyewear Day, tomorrow, available on its website.

The Vision Council has put together materials, available to download online, to help you prepare for National Sunglasses Day. 
 
Getting pets involved is a pretty sure-fire way to make your National Eyewear Day social media posts a total hit. Image via frizzychewbarka on Instagram.


Or you can get the whole team involved, like everyone at Envision Eyecare in Asheville, North Carolina. Image via myenvisioneyecare on Instagram.
 
Celebs love to get involved, too. In 2019, Criminal Minds stars Matthew Gray Gubler (Reid) and A.J. Cook (JJ) took a #SunglassesSelfie of their own. Image via Criminal Minds CBS on Instagram.

It’s also fun to go back in time to celebrate. Last year, The Optical Heritage Museum took a look back at a vintage sunglasses ad to see just how long our love affair with sunglasses has lasted. Image via The Optical Heritage Museum on Instagram.