Manufacturing Oakley Sunglasses

The latest fashion shades can make you feel special, but what is involved in creating them? Mens Sunglasses are my favourite and come in many styles, shapes, colors and brands. There are polarized sunglasses, prescription, clip-on, flexible, men's, women's, unisex, children's, designer, and custom-made sunglasses. There are police, pilot and rescue sunglasses, golf, sking and other sports sunglasses. There are even sunglasses with built-in audio digital players. How are all these different sunglasses made?

Sunglasses have various types of lenses. The better quality lenses are made from glass but are more vulnerable to scratches than the plastic alternative. Photo chromic lenses darken in reaction to light. Reducing the amount of UV rays that reach your eyes are the speciality of glass photo chromic lenses. Some lenses have a gradient tint that means they are darker at the top then the bottom. Materials used for tinting polarized lenses are generally brown or gray. Any color tint can be used for high index, Trivex, and polycarbonate.

Different color lenses give different levels of protection from the UV rays of the sun. For example, amber and brown do a better job of absorbing the UV light. Treatment of clear lenses with anti-reflective coatings will protect the eyes from UV radiation. The best level of protection from UV rays is 100 per cent. The anti-reflective coating has an additional benefit of helping to protect the lenses from some surface scratches.

Before tinting, lenses need to properly fit in the selected previously manufactured frame; therefore, the lens needs to be ground to fit the frame's size and shape. Also, the lens has to be ground according to the prescription in order to solve refractive errors in the customer's vision . Myopic problems are common these days and will require a prescription lens to solve. Other sunglasses prescriptions could be for bifocals, progressive bifocals and trifocals which would require a larger size lens to accommodate the lens progression.

A piece of equipment called an edger is used to grind the lenses into shape. There is a constant source of water running over the lens while it is being ground in order to reduce the heat caused by friction on the glass. This heat build up can cause the glass to crack and eventually break so is vital. Water also makes the grinding easier and smoother on the edge and prevents scratching of the surface from dry glass grit.

Once the grinding has been finished, the lens is cleaned and a solution is added which is absorbed by the lens producing the required tint . The longer it is dipped, the darker the tint. Once done the lens is rinsed and dried then slotted into the sunglasses frame and secured. The frame itself is produced from a variety of products including metal, plastic, nylon as well as more exotic materials such as carbon fibre.

The process of making sunglasses has come a long way from when Roman Emperor Nero held polished light emerald glass gems up to his eyes and Chinese attached ceramic weights to the ends of ribbons draped over the ears in order to keep on their cool sunglasses. My personal favourite, the latest Oakley sunglasses, will amaze you.