Made Eyewear
DIY fever has hit the accessories world. Last year, just about everyone was hit with monogram madness (us included) and we were stitching our initials onto everything from dopp kits to LL Bean Hunter totes. And since we were personalizing our little hearts away, we got to thinking about what else we could make our very own. We discovered San Diego-based Knockaround — the brand is now GQ approved — who are all about custom shades that you can design yourself, from lens to frame. Other brands that offer the service include charitable eyewear label Made Eyewear and the king of them all, Ray-Ban, who offer up custom designs and limited-edition materials in its Remix line.
Ray-Ban Ambermatic
For fans of old school silhouettes and the pedigree of being one of the most recognized labels in eyewear, Ray-Ban’s Remix line is a great place to start. Ray-Ban offers eight of its most popular styles in the program, including the classic Wayfarer, the New Wayfarer, the new cult-favorite Clubmaster and of course, the brand’s classic aviator. Once you choose your style online, you can customize the lenses and arms, choosing from bright colors and even limited edition prints (currently, you can emblazon your shades with a World Cup-appropriate Brazil pattern by artist Elvis Mourau). The brand even offers luxe additions in its Remix LTD line, which currently features a 500-piece run of special ambermatic lenses. Our favorite add-on is the engraving option, which lets you yes, monogram your creation at the end of the arms. Prices for Ray-Ban Remix styles start at $180, but can rise with options such as polarized lenses and premium materials.
For more information or to create your own Ray-Bans, visit www.ray-ban.com.
Knockaround Fort Knocks
For a more budget-friendly take on custom shades, head to Knockaround. The San Diego-based brand offers up a two customizable styles, starting at just $34. The frames, which are similar to the Ray-Ban Wayfarer, can be customized with dozens of colors and different lenses. For those who aren’t as inclined to customize, the brand also offers a myriad of styles and colors in its standard line, so make sure that your favorite color combo isn’t already on offer. You can even make the arms of your shades different colors. Knockaround also offers a huge selection of limited-edition options that come and go (selling out along the way), so if you’re a fan of something, make sure to keep up with the line’s social media networks to get in on the action. Your custom creations will ship just five days after you submit your order and arrive with Knockaround’s CUSTOM stamp inside the arm.
For more information or to create your own Knockaround sunglasses, visit www.knockaround.com.
Made Eyewear
Made Eyewear boasts over 1,000,000 combinations for sun and optical lenses, so if you’ve been shopping for shades and can’t find the perfect pair, you can probably get exactly what you’re looking for from their selection. And you can feel good about it, too, because with every frame you snag, the brand will donate a set to a charity, such as RestoringVision. The frames are available in a huge selection of styles, so go old school with classic frames or try something new, because they’ll only set you back $84. What sets Made apart from the rest, however, is its no-fuss home try-on system. Create your shades with whatever lenses and frames you’re digging and they’ll ship them off to you so that you can try them for a full seven days. Plus, they only send you new, unused frames, so you can actually keep the ones you like and send back the ones you don’t. It’s instant gratification, unlike a few other online opticians. So if you’ve been lusting after those flashy mirrored lenses, this might be the chance to get them just the way you want them.
For more information, visit www.madeeyewear.com.
Images courtesy Ray-Ban, Knockaround and Made Eyewear
