To make you look cool, sunglasses are very useful and trendy fashion accessories. They come in numerous colors, styles, shapes and brands. There are polarized, prescription, clip-on, flexible, men’s, women’s, unisex, children’s, designer, custom-made, police, pilot, rescue, biker, skier and other sports sunglasses. Even you will find sunglasses with built-in audio digital players. Have you ever wondered how are all these different sunglasses made?

Out of all the types of lenses, glass is still the most preferred one. Glass is more scratch resistant and has better visual quality than plastic ones. Photo chromic lens become dark whenever it get exposed to sun light. Photo chromic lenses, made of glass, are mor0065 efficient in the reduction of UV rays. Gradient lenses are quite dark at the upper half and gradually become lighter toward the lower half. Usually gray or brown tints are used for polarized lenses. But for trivex, polycarbonate and high-index lenses, any color tint can be used.

The level of protection is different for different color lenses. Out of all shades, brown and amber are the best to absorb the UV light. Ante-reflective coating also provide good protection from harmful UVA & UVB rays. This coating even protects the lenses from some surface scratches.

Before doing the tinting part, lenses must properly fit in the selected frame. So, the lens has to be ground to fit the frame’s shape and size. Not only that, according to the prescription also the lens need to be ground so that it can solve refractive errors in the user’s vision. Myopia is a classic example of a vision problem requiring prescription sunglasses. These kinds of sunglasses are also required in case of trifocals, bifocals and progressive bifocals but the lens will be larger to accommodate the lens progression.

‘Edger’ is the name of the grinder which is generally used to grind the lenses as per the specifications mentioned in the prescription. While it is being ground, the friction on the glass causes heat and to reduce that there is a constant source of water running over the lens. The glass can crack or break due to the heat. That’s why water is used to make the grinding process smoother and easier on the edge as well as prevent scratching on the surface from dry glass grit.

The tint is added only and only when the grinding is completed. The lens is dipped into a tint solution and the tint get absorbed into the lens. If darker tint is needed, then the lens is kept inside the solution for a longer period. After that the lenses are thoroughly rinsed and dried. Then they get fitted into the sunglasses frame and the frame is secured tightly around the lens by tightening the screws on the frame. Carbon fiber, plastic, metal and nylon are used for mass production of sunglass frames.

The process of sunglass making have revolutionized over the years from the days of Roman Emperor Nero who used to held polished light emerald glass gems up to his eyes and the Chinese who attached ceramic weights to the ends of ribbons draped over the ears in order to keep on their cool sunglasses. Today the market is flooded with great brands like Farenheit sunglasses, Vintage sunglasses, Fastrack sunglasses, MTV sunglasses etc who caters to every possible needs of a sunglass user. Have your pick today.