Polaroid Eyewear

Polaroid Eyewear
Subsidiary
Founded 1937
Founder Edwin Land
Headquarters Zürich, Switzerland
Products Eyewear and sunglasses
Owner Safilo Group S.p.A.
Website http://www.polaroideyewear.com

Polaroid Eyewear manufactures polarized sunglasses and polarized lenses, as well as optical frames, reading glasses, and clip-on lenses.

The company also sells eyewear under the Polaroid Polarized Sunglasses, Polaroid Eyewear, Disney, Revlon, Hello Kitty, and Sunmate brand names.

Polaroid Eyewear was a part of the StyleMark group and sold to the Safilo Group in November 2011. They have offices in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Russia, Hong Kong, and the United States.

Corporate history

Edwin Land, born in 1909 in Connecticut, invented Polaroid, the world's first polarizing material for commercial use, in 1929. He founded the Polaroid Corporation in 1937 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1] The company initially produced Polaroid Day Glasses, the first sunglasses with a polarizing filter.[2]

Petters Group Worldwide, the owner of the Polaroid brand at the time, sold Polaroid Eyewear to specialist eyewear company StyleMark in March 2007.[3] StyleMark is a global distributor of fashion, sport, and children's sunglasses.

In 2011, it was acquired by the Italian group Safilo. [4]

With its headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland, Polaroid Eyewear operates as an autonomous business. The company manufactures its Polaroid polarizing lenses at its European Research Centre in the Vale of Leven, Scotland.[5]

A complete historical collection of Polaroid glasses can be found at Safilo Private Collection,[6] other historical glasses are collected by MIT and MOMA.

Polarization and eyes

Polaroid Sunglass

Visible light waves from the sun travel in all directions. When this scattered light meets a horizontal surface, like a road or water, a large portion of the light is reflected with horizontal polarization. This horizontally-polarized light is seen as white glare, and masks light that is useful to the human eye, reducing visibility. By using a sheet of vertical polarizing material, the horizontally-polarized component can be significantly attenuated, reducing the overall light level reaching the eye. This improves contrast, and thus perception of the scene.

Manufacturing techniques

Polaroid Eyewear uses press-polishing to manufacture their polarized lenses. Press-polishing preserves polarizing capability. It also allows Polaroid Eyewear to produce lenses that are thicker at the center and tapered towards the edges.[7] Greater degrees of curvature in polarized lenses for 2-, 6-, and 8-base frames and 6-base masks, plus toric lenses, are possible.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Edwin Herbert Land (1909–1991): Instant photography". Inventor of the Week. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. May 2007. Archived from the original on May 10, 2010. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Polaroid Day Glasses (advertisement)". Life. Time. 7 (2): 71. July 10, 1939. ISSN 0024-3019.
  3. ↑ "StyleMark to Acquire Polaroid Eyewear International; Creates New Global Sunglass Power" (Press release). StyleMark. March 6, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Safilo to acquire Polaroid Eyewear" (Press release). Ophthalmology Times. Nov 30, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Industry in the Vale of Leven". The Vale of Leven. Vale of Leven, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland: Toucher Web Design (UK). p. 5. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  6. ↑ I musei delle aziende: la cultura della tecnica tra arte e storia
  7. ↑ Polaroid Eyewear, Experts in Polarized Lens Technology (PDF), Polaroid Eyewear, p. 11, retrieved November 5, 2010
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