ALERT THE MEDIA – When I was on holiday in Spain I made a massive fashion discovery; it turns out that the Iconic Wayfarer sunglasses by Ray-Ban (that I have previous written about) aren’t the work of Ray-Ban at all. Actually the original design was created by a company called Koyo Bom. Ray-Ban even managed to steal their logo and make theirs look almost identical, unless under close inspection. Koyo Bom have obviously suffered badly after this massive copyright breach as their sunglasses sell for a measly €3 in Spanish markets, compared with Ray-Ban’s £100+ price tag. I spotted them on a stall with some Abibas sportswear, who looked like they had suffered a similar fate.
I jest. Koyo Bom are obviously just cheap, fake versions of high quality products. What my discovery did show me was how prevalent the forgery of sunglasses is and how much cheaper and close to the real thing they are.
Right, so if they are so much cheaper and almost the same as the real McCoy, then why shouldn’t we all just buy these? After all we are in a time of austerity!
The answer – eye protection! The whole point of wearing sunglasses is to protect your little peepers from the dangerous UV rays the sun is chucking at us. Looking cool is just a fortunate bi-product. Wearing fakeys can be even worse for your eyes than just squinting. This is because wearing fake sunglasses tricks your pupils into opening up as they make it darker, however they don’t actually block out any UV. Therefore they allow your eyes to let even more harmful rays inside and this can be very bad for your vision in the long term.
To avoid this you need to get your glasses from a reputable retailer. If you’re going to buy them online go to a trusted retailer like SunGod and stay away from Ebay, gumtree etc.
Which ever brand you are looking for, be it (my personal favourite) SunGod (I love my old pair of Renegades), Ray-Ban, Police or Tag Heuer make sure you’re buying the genuine, legit article.
I’ve recently bought a new pair of SunGod Classics² which are fantastic, really great for driving the van down to the beach on a sunny day.
