From Issue Two of the Gear Patrol Magazine. Subscribe today for 15% off the GP Store.
In the late ’20s, a man by the name of Sam Foster, founder of Foster Grant, started selling “sunglasses” made from affordable celluloid to beachcombers in southern New Jersey. The eyewear trend caught on, and soon millions of Americans all over the country owned a pair of their own. Sunglasses became an accessory, a statement, a must-have when summer days stretched long and the heat settled in. In the near century since, we haven’t looked back.
Specs Case by Böle $285
Zepherin by Jacques Marie Mage $515
Sunglasses Case by Whitehouse Cox $120
SU1-02 by The Hill-Side $239
Eyewear Sleeve by MAKR $90
Oppl Sun by Oliver Peoples $485
Sunglass Case by Tanner Goods $75
Walker by Saturdays Surf NYC $295
JB7 Glasses Case by Brooks England John Boultbee $114
PO8649S by Persol $315
A version of this story appears in Issue Two of the Gear Patrol Magazine, 286 pages of stories, reports, interviews and original photography from five distinct locations around the world. Subscribe Now: $35