Given their worldwide recognition, sunglass producing has turned into a terribly rewarding, but competitive industry and while some makers rise and decline in the general public affections, there’s one company that remains forever linked with the glasses that protect our eyes from the rays of the sun: Ray-Ban. Though Us President, Benjamin Franklin, is sometimes credited with inventing glasses (he was the person who developed the first bifocal lens in the 1780’s), the 1st reading glasses were developed in Italy, as early as 1260. Folk continued to be fascinated by all things optical across the centuries that followed, then, in the mid-eighteen hundreds UK scientist James Ayscough started to research colored glass, and the chance that such technology could be used to enhance vision diminished visual acuity.

As successful as he was, it wasn’t till 1929 that the assumption that glasses could filter the sun’s rays was given any significant consideration. At that point, US optical company, Foster Grant, started to develop the idea further, till ultimately, later that very same year, the 1st ever pair of shades were sold from a Woolworth’s store on the Atlantic Town boardwalk. Spotting the advanced technology might be advantageous to their pilots, the US military Air Corps asked another notable Yank company, Bausch & Lomb, to develop glasses that would protect the eyes from the downsides of the glaring sun, when flying. It was US eyeglass company, Ray-Ban, who truly ran with the idea. In 1936, using the just available polarized lenses, and a wide frame that offered maximum protection from the glaze of an instrument panel, Ray-Ban started to produce a lens that banned the sun’s rays. Some 3 years after, this model of sunglass so well-liked by pilots, became widely available to the North American public. As north Americans came of age, so too did their eye glasses.

Across the war years Ray-Ban continued its working collaboration with the Air Force, making Gradient mirror lenses that managed to be both highly practical and trendy at the same time. There had been something about that Yankee flyer in his tricky brown leather flight jacket, whose shades hid his eyes.

Pervasive in the 1950’s, sun shades became more than simply eye protection.

Worn by A-list stars in Vegas and Hollywood -stars whose each move was inspected and emulated all over the country- sun shades turned into a fashion accessory, and Ray-Ban was fast to house the growing trend for new designs and colorful frames, which they sold to ladies particularly. Keeping abreast of sci-fi technology, the company developed shatterproof lenses in the 1960’s and the acclamation for shades continued to rise when fashion icon Jackie Kennedy was sometimes seen with her trademark, outsized frames.

On the silver screen, sunglasses were becoming an essential part of any actor’s costume, with picture stars like Peter Fonda and Audrey Hepburn, playing classy, sunglass-wearing, characters who managed to hide their eyes from the fans and remain convincing. Ray-Ban continued to develop new styles and designs in the 1970’s and 1980’s: their ‘Wings’ model really was a forerunner to the modern, half-frame, lens of today. In the era of Yankee Television cop shows, like Starsky & Hutch, and Chips, the mirrored lenses once so preferred in the 1940’s, started to reappear. Fashionable and modern, cool and retro, Ray-Ban stays at the advance guard of sunglass producing to this day, a serious achievement when one considers the contest out there.

Positively, the company will continue to have endurance in the buzz, because across the decades it has developed with the state to give folks precisely what they need for their eyes: the trustworthy protection of a hi-tech pair of sun shades, and the heavy ‘cool’ of a damn horny pair of shades.