Shades of Things to Come
Southern California must be the sunglasses capital of the world. Not only are many of the hottest companies, including Oakley, located here, but many of us own more than one pair. We practically fetishize shades.
They’re celebrated in songs, including Timbuk 3’s “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades” and “Sunglasses at Night” by the otherwise forgotten Corey Hart. They’ve been memorialized in movies, as well, like the trendy Ray-Bans Tom Cruise sported in “Risky Business.”
Sunglasses were invented by the Chinese centuries ago, according to Ruth Handel, who supervises the historical collection at l.a. Eyeworks, a trendsetter for all kinds of glasses since it opened in 1979. They didn’t become popular, she says, until Coco Chanel and some Hollywood beauties began to wear them in the ‘30s, creating an international fad that has yet to fade.
(“Sunglasses” is mostly a misnomer these days, as the vast majority of sports-related models, including Killer Loop by Bausch & Lomb, use polycarbonate lenses, which are lighter weight and more shatter resistant than glass.)
If Hollywood created the initial thrill for sunglasses, now it’s mostly MTV and sports stars who define what’s cool. The latest trend is glasses designed--or at least marketed--for a specific sport, and streetwear evolving from those designs. Current cool models include oval-shaped wraparounds, brought to the mainstream perhaps by the Beastie Boys on the MTV Music Awards several years ago, and all but mandatory in many sports, as well as the “shield”-type lenses favored by runners and cyclists.
The competition for this business is heating up. Shades are an estimated $2.4-billion industry and chains like Sunglass Hut, with over 2,000 outlets, have a hard time keeping the most popular items in stock.
As to whether there’s a legitimate need for different glasses for different sports, Dr. Bradley Frederick, of the International Sports Medicine Institute of Culver City, doesn’t think so. “You don’t need all those fancy sunglasses with wild styles,” says Frederick, a skier and former college quarterback. “The most important reason to wear sunglasses is UV (ultraviolet light) protection, because UV is the No. 1 cause of cataracts. You almost have to wear sunglasses if you’re in a sport on sand or snow all day, or you’ll quickly develop serious eye problems.”
Dr. John Pagliano, a Long Beach-based sports medicine specialist and former marathon runner, recognizes the need for athletes to wear sunglasses, but attributes the new lines strictly to marketing. “The winner of last year’s World Championship marathon in Sweden ran his race without sunglasses,” Pagliano recalls, “but put them on as he entered the stadium for the final lap, no doubt because of an endorsement deal.”
Part of the “M” frame line of four shapes and eight tints, Oakley’s futuristic Heaters ($90-$135) are so lightweight (less than 1 ounce) and form-fitting, you’ll forget you have them on. But they’re ultra trendy and certain to quickly become passe, and they look--as most of the shield styles do--like what the crew of the Star Ship Enterprise might wear while checking the dilithium crystals. Oakley’s sleek, minimal Zeros ($80-$100) are even wilder in design. Oakley also has new glasses designed for golf and even cricket.
Snowboarding, biking and skiing are the sports for which Smith Sport Optics from Sun Valley, Idaho, makes its Slider ($85) series. The wraparound glasses come with an array of interchangeable polycarbonate lenses (they snap in in a couple of seconds).
Nike, not surprisingly, has just entered the field. The V-12 ($160), with its lightweight aerodynamic windshield and gray lens tint, is for running. They’re designed to allow air to flow through, preventing the fogging that plagues many glasses. The V-12s are the zenith of design, sleek and elegant from earpieces to the delicate screws that hold the lenses in place (although the nose piece looks like the gills on the creature in the defunct television series “Manimal”).
Asics and Reebok have come out with their own lines as well, with a number of models for different sports.
Hawaii-based Maui Jim manufactures superb glasses, stylish in a classic manner. Their Voyager ($135) and Typhoon ($150) models are relatively heavy and substantial gear, not for runners, but better suited to boating and other activities.
Ray-Bans Xrays ($100) are sleek wraparounds, light and easy to wear, but definitely a question of style over substance. They’re fairly narrow, so unfiltered sunlight sneaks in above and below the lenses, making them better for lounging by the pool than actually moving.
With their sharply angled lenses, Black Flys’ sports-inspired Fire Flys ($110) have a distinctive look. Hinges that open both in and out on the frames are only some of the innovations on Revo’s glasses.
At the high end of the shades market, l.a. Eyeworks has many sports-inspired models of its own design, all with top-quality lenses (prescription models available). Power Tools ($330) offers the hipness of a wraparound. Fenders ($285) have oval lenses in a dress-up version of sports frames. And l.a. Eyeworks just opened a new store, Fiction, at the Lab in Costa Mesa, specializing in sunglasses.
In the end, you can pay anywhere from 99 cents to more than $300 for a pair of sunglasses. Big Five has weekly sales of major brands at deep discounts. Find a pair that fits your face--and your wallet.
