In what may be an industry first, a sunglasses brand and a men’s skin care specialist have come together to offer “full facial protection.”

Over the summer, customers who purchased full-price sunglasses at Chimi Eyewear stores received as a gift-with-purchase a 70-ml. tube of Narcyss facial sunscreen — and a twin-barreled blast of Swedish aesthetics and functionality.

The two Stockholm-based companies said they’re planning to reprise the offer in December, when many folks in the Northern Hemisphere head for holidays in warmer climates.

For Charlie Lindström, cofounder and creative director of Chimi Eyewear, the tie-up represents a way to spur full-price sales in a lackluster retail climate, while also highlighting the high UV-protection features of his lenses.

Meanwhile, for Gustaf Törling, cofounder and creative director of Narcyss, the collaboration sped the development of the high-performance sunscreen — its first explicitly unisex product, for the hydrating cream is unscented — and offered additional exposure for the upstart brand in Chimi’s seven boutiques.

The SPF 50 moisturizer is also available for sale at Chimi stores and on the Narcyss website for 27.95 euros — or 25 percent less if purchased via Narcyss on a subscription basis.

In an interview, the two men described their collaboration as organic.

“You know, Stockholm is a tiny town, we’re all friends,” said Törling, who launched Narcyss in 2021 with his brother Oscar Knaust after a varied career that included top creative roles at beauty brand Origins, bookseller Indigo and agency Laird + Partners. “We’ve been talking spontaneously about doing something together.”

Lo and behold, that a Narcyss sunscreen was in development piqued the interest of Lindström, a stickler for lenses that offer 100 percent shield from UVA and UVB rays — and a self-described skin care obsessive proud of his 10-step routines, and regular consultations with a therapist, most recently for an acid peel that left his face slightly red for the Google Meets call with WWD.

“Charlie, we probably should hire you, actually, because I feel like you would be a fantastic product developer. You’re extremely knowledgeable in the world of skin care,” Törling piped in.

“I have always had a 50 SPF in my routine,” Lindström confessed. “I even wear it in Sweden on a day like this, cloudy and 12 degrees [Celsius].”

According to him, Chimi and Narcyss were natural partners to collaborate as both brands are urban-minded, forward-looking and functional.

“Design and skin care have more in common than you’d think: They both reflect how you move through the world, how you present, how you feel,” Lindström said. “At Chimi, we think of eyewear as architectural pieces for the face. Skin care is the same — it’s structural, sensory, foundational.”

Indeed, Törling said he created Narcyss “because I couldn’t find a brand that was suitable for me,” requiring “very high efficacy, and at the same time, extremely easy to use.”

The nature-based, vegan products are produced in small batches, using a blend of adaptogens as its main active ingredients. Meanwhile, they bear catchy, irreverent names — Acid House for protective serum; AM/PM for all-in-one moisturizer, and Upper Hand for hand balm — and no-nonsense packaging.

The two brands are also “very aligned when it comes to how we see styling of a man,” Lindström related.

That said, the hero image for their summer collaboration is a woman with “raccoon eyes” who remembered to wear sunglasses, but forgot to apply sunscreen. It telegraphs that Chimi has frames suitable for men and women, and that Narcyss now has a skin care product suitable for everyone. (Most Narcyss products carry a distinctively masculine scent.)

“Most often, women — the girlfriends, the wives — are the gatekeepers to men’s beauty purchases, unless you’re educated like Charlie here,” Törling commented.

So far, the collaboration “has definitely impacted our sales positively. It gets the name out there,” he said.

Knaust noted the SPF collaboration with Chimi would continue as long as stocks last.

“As a smaller disruptor brand, it’s been exciting to partner with such a global, established name,” he said. “It gave us wider credibility and visibility far beyond our existing circles.”

Narcyss counts roughly 100 points of sale globally, with a strong focus on top-tier retailers such as Nordiska Kompaniet.

To be sure, the Chimi tie-up already has it mulling expansion in the sunscreen space. According to Knaust, “We would love to offer our customers an SPF designed for exercise and on-the-go use, as well as a gel-based sunscreen that blends more easily for men with beards.”

In addition to its own stores, Chimi boasts a global wholesale presence through such retailers as Bstn, Apropos, Antonia, Fwrd, Goodhood and Printemps. Chimi opened a New York City boutique last year at 110 Grand Street and its U.S. business is doubling year-over-year, according to Lindström.