"I'd misplace my safety glasses about five times a day," Gregg says. "That's when I decided to combine them with earmuffs, so there'd only be one thing to keep track of instead of two."

That solved the first problem. But it exposed a second one: his safety glasses were so scratched up from daily use that they'd become a hazard in their own right — hard to see through clearly, which defeats the purpose of wearing them at all. So Gregg added a protective shield, designed to keep the eyewear shielded from damage when it wasn't in use, and easy to swap out if it ever needed replacing.

Gregg built Groggle so that the moment you need protection, you're already wearing it. Not in a truck, not in a drawer, not scratched up beyond use — on your face, ready to go.

Gregg tested an early version of the design while trimming branches. A pine cone kicked back and struck him directly in the eye. His vision blurred, and he had to close his eyes for five minutes before it cleared and he was okay.

"It could have been so much worse. I got lucky," he says. "But it's exactly why this matters — a serious, life-altering injury can happen that fast, over something as small as a pine cone. Most people never see it coming."

That close call is the reason Groggle exists in the form it does today: eye and hearing protection you'll actually keep on, because it's comfortable, it's together, and it's built to protect the gear that protects you.