Ray-Ban is an American-Italian brand of luxury

sunglasses Sunglasses or sun glasses (informally called shades or sunnies; more names Sunglasses#Other names, below) are a form of Eye protection, protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damagin ...

and eyeglasses created in 1936 by Bausch & Lomb. The brand is known for its Wayfarer and

Aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

lines of sunglasses. In 1999, Bausch & Lomb sold the brand to Italian eyewear conglomerate Luxottica Group for a reported $640 million.

History

In 1929,

US Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

Colonel John A. Macready worked with Bausch & Lomb, a Rochester, New York-based medical equipment manufacturer, to create aviation sunglasses that would reduce the distraction for pilots caused by the intense blue and white hues of the sky. Specifically, MacCready was concerned that pilots' goggles would fog up, greatly reducing visibility at high altitude. The prototype, created in 1936 and known as "Anti-Glare", had plastic frames and green lenses that could cut out the glare without obscuring vision. The name "Ray-Ban" was hence derived from the ability of these glasses to limit the ingress of either

ultra-violet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiatio ...

or infra-red rays of light. Impact-resistant lenses were added in 1938. The sunglasses were redesigned with a metal frame the following year and patented as the Ray-Ban Aviator. According to the BBC, the glasses used “Kalichrome lenses designed to sharpen details and minimise haze by filtering out blue light, making them ideal for misty conditions.” In 1999, the Global Eyewear Division of Bausch & Lomb, including Ray-Ban was acquired by Luxottica Group for US$240 million. In 2021, Ray-Ban commercialized a model of smart glasses that they developed with Facebook Reality Labs called Ray-Ban Stories.

Sunglasses lines

Ray-Ban's most popular sunglasses are the Wayfarer, Erika, and

models. During the 1950s, Ray-Ban released the Echelon (Caravan), which had a squarer frame. In 1965, the Olympian I and II were introduced; they became popular when

Peter Fonda Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor. He was the son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda. He was a prominent figure in the counterculture of the 1960s. Fond ...

wore them in the 1969 film '' Easy Rider''. The company has also produced special edition lines, such as The General in 1987, bearing similarity to the original aviators worn by General Douglas MacArthur during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. In the 1980s the Ray-Ban Clubmaster was added to the model line. The Clubmaster has a browline frame and went on to become the third best selling sunglasses style of the 1980s, behind the Wayfarer and Aviator.

Gallery

File:RayBanAviator.jpg, Ray-Ban 3025 Large Metal Aviator (polarized lenses) File:Ray-Ban Aviator Shooter RB3139-001 3N (G-15 lenses) Size 62 09 160 Lens base 6.jpg, Ray-Ban 3139 Shooter (G-15 lenses) File:Ray-Ban W1663 Outdoorsman B-20 Chromax.jpg, Ray-Ban W163 Outdoorsman (B-20 Chromax lenses) File:1968 Ray Ban Advertisement.jpg, 1968 Ray-Ban Outdoorsman advertisement File:RayBanWayfarer.jpg, Ray-Ban 2132 901L Wayfarer File:Ray-Ban Clubmaster 3016.jpg, Ray-Ban 3016 Clubmaster File:Cool Dude - Outside Srimangal - Sylhet Division - Bangladesh (12906030005).jpg, A

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

man sporting Ray-Ban File:Ray-Ban Round Icons.jpg, Ray-Ban 2447 Round Fleck Icons File:Ray Ban Glasses.jpg, Ray-Ban 5277 prescription eyeglasses frame File:Ray-Ban Clubround Sunglasses.jpg, Ray-Ban 4246 Clubround sunglasses in colours of black and gold

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.ray-ban.com/ Luxottica Sunglasses Eyewear brands of the United States American companies established in 1936 Manufacturing companies established in 1936 Eyewear companies of the United States 1936 establishments in New York (state)