Military-grade eyewear company Wiley X has officially relocated its corporate headquarters from California to Texas.
Wiley X’s new 65,000-square-foot facility at the Star Business Park in Frisco was completed Tuesday, The Dallas Morning News reported. It will include production, assembly, warehousing, a testing facility for safety certifications, and administrative office space, according to an announcement from the company.
Wiley X chose Frisco as the “ideal location” for its headquarters due to the region’s large population of military veterans and active sporting communities, the company said.
Founded in 1987 by U.S. veteran Myles Freeman Sr., the company specializes in protective eyewear and “has a long history of providing eye protection for outdoorsmen and women who hunt, fish, and shoot, as well as the government/first responder network, all of which align with Texan pastimes and values.”
Wiley X’s new Frisco-based headquarters has been in the works for some time. The company broke ground on the facility in 2021 following a $371,800 performance agreement from the Frisco Economic Development Corporation (FEDC). As part of an incentive package, FEDC offered the company $4,225 for each full-time job created, with a minimum requirement of 88 positions, which Wiley X says it plans to fill.
Tuesday’s completion of Wiley X’s facility coincided with the 35-year anniversary of the business.
With more than three decades of experience in the industry, Wiley X has grown into one of the nation’s premier protective eyewear companies. Wiley X’s flagship retail store will be located within the new facility and has a planned grand opening set for 2024.
Companies leaving California for Texas has become a growing trend, given the Lone Star State’s business-friendly attitude. This is supported by a joint study conducted by Spectrum Location Solutions and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University that found California pushed out roughly 350 companies between 2018 and 2021.
The study found that “the number of companies relocating their headquarters out of California in 2021 occurred at twice the rate of 2020. … Every month in 2021, twice as many companies relocated their headquarters as in the prior year.”
Texas ranked as the top state for California corporate relocations, according to the study.
Corporate relocations to North Texas were also highlighted during the recent annual 2023 Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC) conference, where local business leaders and CEOs touted the region’s job growth. Prominent corporate relocations that the DRC highlighted in its annual report included CBRE and AECOM, both of which relocated from Los Angeles, and Caterpillar, which consolidated its workforce from its California, Arizona, and Indiana offices.
