Released in 2004, these were the industry’s first women's swimming goggles. The concept of goggles that leave ‘minimal marks after use’ has a large following of female swimmers, and became a huge hit product.

In the eight years since the original release, other manufacturers developed competing products, and so VIEW came to release its second model in this series, VIEW KAREN.

The development team felt there was something seriously lacking; goggles for women.

"In 2004 VIEW launched the industry's first women's goggle.VIEWFRAU. This product that catered to the needs of female swimmers was a huge success. But in the eight years since the original release, competitors have also been producing goggles for women. I felt that as the brand that established the category for women’s goggles, we had to do something.”

So the development staff proposed the launch and development of second goggles for a women team project. "Women's understand and know most about women, and I thought that with the team we could come up with new ideas, rather than thinking about it on my own.” After forming a women's only project team, members attended several fitness clubs and asked the female swimmers about their use of goggles every day. Also, they purchased all goggles currently being sold and conducted thorough research establishing comparisons between the various items looking at factors such as functionality, design, appearance, and comfort.

Through these various opinions were gathered from the project members, and the basic concept of new product development was launched. It was to be "goggles for ladies which are both compact and enhance the eyes".

VIEWFRAU was released 8 years ago as a pioneer for goggles for women.
The basic concept of VIEWFRAU was to minimize marks left after wearing goggles. To achieve this, the result was somewhat larger goggles and fitting compared to regular goggles. This basic concept was highly appreciated, reflected by the market-leading to it becoming a huge hit product. However, by continuing to survey the market, they found that while there was a lot of praise for the laid-back size, there were also a lot of people looking for a more compact option. "Women enjoying choosing products and items, so we thought that having the choice of more compact goggles would be a good idea.”

It was no easy feat to overcome the issue of having a "compact size and beautiful eyes”. It took days of repeated trial and error, but eventually, I found out a solution. And that was to make the face pad sit on a higher point of the nose than conventional models.

"In previous models, the goggles were designed to fit over the lowest point of the nose. But VIEWKAREN broke from this, and placed the nose belt on a higher point, using the face pads on both sides of the nose belt to extend slightly inward (toward the eyes)” Shibata explained.

This made it possible to get a good fit and also reduce pressure on the upper and lower eyelids. The result was a success in developing goggles which enhance the appearance of the eye while also being compact.

“VIEWKAREN not only offers functional aspects but also offer other aspects to cater to women’s particular needs. The color concept for VIEWKAREN represents a flower’s life cycle, and mirror how women become beautiful as they swim. The color variations line up is made up of seven earthy colors. I hope that people enjoy choosing from them.” The development staff was invested in the package also and proposed a different package for each of the seven colors, something that broke with standard packaging practice. “The product is designed with a petal as a motif, for example, the lens shape, sculpting on the nose belt, and adjustment pin that adjusts the length of the strap, etc. Although it's only an adjustment pin, the product comes with a variety of spare pins, so you change it to suit your mood of the day."

The name VIEWKAREN is said to have come from the idea of ‘being as dainty as a beautiful flower’. With her female perspective and sensibility, The development staff's commitment to emphasize femininity throughout all aspects of these goggles was accepted smoothly throughout the company. And thus VIEWKAREN was finally released.