Yesterday I spoke with the CEO of EyeBlack. Peter Beveridge, and this is what he said about their products.

We pride ourselves on the quality of EyeBlack that we supply to athletes.

This is all we do and we work on a daily basis with the input and feedback from trainers in all professional and collegiate leagues to improve our products, both the patches and the grease, to make sure it is the best.

Our patches are designed with a skin safe adhesive that lasts the entire game and the material is microscopically porous, which allows the product to breathe while on the players face, while the grease is designed to go on smoothly, not run and last as long as needed.

When we reached out to the NHL trainers and equipment managers it was a natural fit. Nearly every player in all of the outdoor games wore our product and we were happy to be able to provide something that helped there performance.

How about some history of eye black?

Eye black has been around for centuries but Babe Ruth reportedly started the trend in sports by smearing grease under his eyes during afternoon baseball games to reduce glare. It is also reported to have first shown up in football in the 1930’s and 40’s. The use of it by a few athletes was enough for it to catch on. At this early stage eye black was very primal, with the primary source coming from a simple cork. The athletes would burn the end of the cork and smear the ashes under their eyes. This eventually led to the use of a black petroleum based grease.

The use of eye black continued to grow amongst the athletic community and the distribution became more commercialized. There were many companies that produced various forms of eye black ranging from grease in a tube to black patches. The primary deficiencies of existing forms of eye black were that it smears all over uniforms or falls off when the athlete sweats. This was not lost on the company EyeBlack who developed a patented EyeBlack patch made from a safe and tested 3M medical grade tape, allowing athletes to have all of the advantages of eye black without any of the negative drawbacks. At EyeBlack this is what we do for a living; we have researched this, conducted multiple field tests, consulted with athletic trainers, equipment managers, coaches and athletes all focused in on making the best product possible with the most functionality.

Want to create a custom EyeBlack? Here's how. Hmm, Kukla's Korner EyeBlack, I just may have to look into it!

For more information about EyeBlack, visit their website. After talking with their CEO, I came away impressed about the passion they have to make the best products possible to improve the play of any athlete.