If you have ever looked down a rack of sunglasses in a local store, there is no doubt you will have been met with a range of differently colored lenses staring back at you. Whether black, blue, red, yellow, or green, you probably didn’t think much of it. Sunglasses are today nearly always sold in a range of different lens tints. After all, the key to a successful sunglasses marketing strategy is always choice. Olympic Eyewear, a designer sunglasses wholesaler and distributor, offer assorted batches to their customers for precisely this reason.
However, if you thought that the variety of lens tints on offer was a purely a matter of stylistic variety, you would only be partly right. In fact, different lens tints were first developed not to make glasses look more fashionable, but because each distinct color offers different lens properties.
The Color Spectrum
Light affects our eyes in different ways, and it does this because there are many kinds of light out there. What we see as color is a certain wavelength range of visible light. There are even some kinds of light that our eyes cannot see at all.
Different lens tints in sunglasses work by cancelling out different wavelengths of visible light. Each color will cancel different wavelengths, and this is what gives the tints of sunglasses their properties. To take one well known example, blue light-cancelling glasses are tinted in such a way as to cancel out the wavelengths of light from a computer or smartphone backlight, which are known to cause eye strain.
And with so many different tints available from any assorted batch of wholesale sunglasses, it’s wise to know just what each different tint can do. That way, you can provide the type of product information that educates the customer and goes a long way to shifting units.
The Different Sunglasses Lens Tints
Here follows then the most common lens tints in sunglasses, as well as what they can do for the wearer:
Green Lenses
To start with one of the more eccentric tints, green lenses certainly make a powerful visual statement. Bear in mind though that there are many darker, more elegant shades of green that can actually look quite refined as well. Beyond their fashion appeal, green-tinted glasses can help the wearer distinguish contrast as well as significantly ameliorating the effect of glare. This tint is quite popular among those playing sports like golf and tennis as they help the wearer make out contours.
Gray Lenses
As a neutral color, gray effectively reduces glare and, of course, looks very elegant, muted, and stylish as well. They are particularly useful with water glare, making them a good style to market towards those fond of aquatic pursuits, including boating and fishing. More generally, gray is probably the best “all purpose” tint.
Blue/Purple
From a fun and novelty sky blue to an elegant deep purple, these tints significantly increase color perception while protecting against the sharp flashes of light that often come from reflective surfaces. Blue/purple-tinted glasses are also known to work well in foggy or misty conditions.
Red
Red glasses block nearly all blue light so are often popular for reducing eye strain from hours spent in front of a laptop or smartphone. They are also good for enhancing detail, making them an excellent choice as driving glasses. Depending on the tint, they can make for a very loud, striking pair of sunglasses.
Knowing how to help your customer out is essential for effective marketing of sunglasses. Learning about tints will help you recommend to inquisitive customers with confidence – and there will not be any compromise on fashion appeal either.