Author: mysmallstore

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Minimalist vs. Complex Designer Handbags. Which one is better?

There’s a time when we ask ourselves this question: how complex are Designer Handbags that are perfect for me? Over time, we tend to experiment with really flashy, big, sophisticated bags, and with the other choice, which is bags that are simple, but beautiful and elegant without many elements.

So the time will come when we have to decide which one is better for us. That’s why we’re here today to answer this question for you.

Let’s start by defining a few key elements to differentiate these two options before considering new crossbody bags or any other Designer handbags.

What are minimalist Designer handbags?

Designer handbagsIt’s a usually smaller size, with a sober color or a color that does not have any highlights, minimum appliques, accessories, or other elements that would otherwise take attention out of the bag itself. The handle or shoulder strap of Designer handbags is usually of the same material, and it’s something that looks like a natural extension of the bag itself.

Given its size, the interior is also quite limited, but enough for all your essentials and more than enough for many who try to keep only their essentials with them. That gives a great sense of organization, knowing exactly where your things are, no matter the situation.

Of course, even if it’s a designer bag, the logo and unique characteristics of certain brands are kept to a minimum, so you may not be able to show off a logo as much as you’d like with a minimalistic top handles handbag.

What’s a complex handbag?

More complex handbags are indeed a work of design in terms of using different colors, details, and even textures within a single piece. It’s flashy; it’s meant to turn heads and to call out for attention. They’re also usually a little bigger so they can incorporate as many different elements as possible. Accessories, appliques, and highlights are typically used as much as possible on one of these. The logo or designer brand is also usually featured in a big way.

The interior of these handbags usually offers more details. There may be zippers, inside lined pockets and overall more space and freedom to decide what you carry with you, and where. Although it’s usually a little messier inside if you take a lot of things with you, making it a little less possible to keep a tidy, organized interior, especially if you’ve moved around quite a bit during the day.

So, back to the big question: what’s the right handbag for me then?

First of all, be mindful of your ways, your personality, and your wardrobe, they’ll set the tone for your needs when it comes to a new bag. Are you a colorful person who carries a lot on an everyday basis? Go for a bigger, flashier bag that will speak for you. If you want something discrete for a formal dinner or work, maybe a minimalistic handbag is right for you.

Of course, you also need to take into account your taste in terms of colors, materials, and accessories. We’re not saying it’s impossible to find a bigger minimalistic model of Designer handbags or that all complex ones are calling for attention. We’re assuming they follow some rules, just as you do when you pick your attire for the day.

But the short answer is this: you’ll probably need both! We know we’re continually evolving our looks, changing, maturing. You’ll need different bags for different occasions. That’s the beauty of these products: they can represent a different side of yours, a certain feeling for a particular event, or only and more importantly: a mood.

So try not to lock yourself into one category. Both options are viable for everyone, and your favorite designers and brands know this correctly. That’s why each year, there’s a wide variety of models that will fit perfectly into your look on different days and situations.

Do you have a thumb rule to choose new designer handbags? What is it?

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Are Luxury Bags Worth It? My Small Store Response

Are Luxury Bags Worth It?

Answering the question – Are Luxury Bags Worth It? First, these do not lose too much value compared to their Walmart equivalent, in fact, they even grow in value after a decade or two – they become collectible.

A good example, in my family it was a tradition for fathers to offer a luxury bag to their daughters when they turned 16. My Grandma received a Hermes and kept it until she passed at 86. Her bag was about 70 years old, a 1950-1960 era Hermes Croco – the same as the picture below.

My uncle had it estimated and because of the great care, the price tag came up at $45,000! a similar leather Hermes bag is priced around $8,500 (only). A good source of ideas would be the Vestiaire Collective website where a Coach Ostrich handbag is rightly priced at $3,200 + Shipping.

Are luxury bags worth it?
Hermes Luxury Handbag 1950

Another good example, my lovely wife has a nice collection of handbags, MK, Versace Jeans, Love Moschino, Coach, etc… unfortunately, our house burned down and the insurance asked for the inventory – the bags were replaced in value at 100% of the retail price.

We didn’t lose a penny on her designer bags, not the case for the non-designer ones as the age of the bags decreased their value considerably!

To answer the question Are Luxury Bags Worth It? Yes, they are worth it.

Why a Luxury Handbag?

When I arrived in the US, I was told that American families had two cars, one for Dad and family trips, the other one for Mom to run errands and to take kids to school. I remember my neighbor who had a BMW while his wife had an old, I should say very old “family” station wagon.

Things have changed unless spouses want a divorce 😀 Moms want and need a good, cool car as anyone else does and I think they deserve it.

It goes the same way with luxury handbags, you deserve it or your much better half deserves it. 😀

If I ask around, people love the recognition – going back to my lovely wife, she cherishes compliments about her bags, her favorite? In a store, the checkout employee  asked for an ID, the owner said: “a woman who wears a Versace, doesn’t need to pull her id.”

I see some roll their eyes thinking PRIDE and they are right but a low dose of pride is a feel-good attitude and we all deserve it don’t we?

When it comes to luxury handbags,  there are multiple choices:

  • The full-blown renowned designer brands such as Versace, Moschino, Gucci, and other Chanel, or Louis Vuitton.
  • The distribution designer brand like Versace Jeans, Love Moschino, Armani Jeans, etc.
  • The fake luxury brands like fake Versace, fake Prada, etc.

Let’s start with fakes – nope, DO NOT FALL for any of them, first when people know… you look … you know 🙂 then the quality is far from the original and the beautiful luxury bag quickly ends up trashed. At last, it is not illegal to knowingly buy a counterfeit luxury handbag or other goods – the picture below is an excerpt from the federal law – but if/when caught the product will be confiscated and destroyed.

Fake Luxury Goods
Click me to see the official Justice document on www.justice.gov

The two first are the best way to go.

The first one can be quite expensive, but they do answer “Are luxury bags worth it” very well 🙂 you are right, a Versace shoulder bag or classic flap bag are priced at $1,800 while their counterpart from Versace Jeans are sold for less than $150 and are as beautiful as the main designer brand. Meaning that for the same money you can purchase 10 luxury designer handbags 🙂

For yourself or for others, a luxury designer handbag is the way to go. Be careful with fakes they are plenty on marketplaces,  streets of New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and community-based websites.

A customer of ours bought a “real” absolutely fake Moschino on the Facebook marketplace. It was so fake that Moschino doesn’t even have a model like that one.

 

 

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Is Versace Jeans Real Versace?

Versace Jeans

This a question that comes quite often: “Is Versace Jeans real Versace?”

My definitive answer is YES, Versace Jeans Brand is Versace. The major difference was the market targeted by the brand. Versace for affluent middle-aged and the Jeans version is focussed on the younger generations at a lower cost. I say “was” because today the Versace Jeans brand is becoming its own Versace designer style.

VJ is what is called a diffusion brand, which is a line of products created by a high-end fashion designer (Versace in this case) that retails at lower prices.

Big brands use diffusion lines as a part of their strategy of massification of their luxury names. It helps with cash flow (more sales) and brand recognition.  Check out our Versace Jeans collection.

Versace Crossbody

A $1,850 Versace Crossbody

 Versace Jeans Crossbody

A Crossbody Versace Jeans we sell at $124

Is Versace Jeans Real Versace?

Gianni Versace, like many other luxury brands, has diffusion lines to name a few:

  • Armani Exchange, Armani Jeans, Emporio Armani  for Armani
  • Cheap & Chic and Love Moschino for Moschino
  • CK, CK Jeans and Calvin Klein Underwear for Calvin Klein
  • Just Cavalli, Cavalli Class and Roberto Cavalli Sport for Roberto Cavalli
  • MICHAEL by Michael Kors for Michael Kors
  • Versus, Versace Collection and VJ for Versace
  • …

A few notes, since January 2019, Versace has been acquired by Michael Kors Holdings, which is now Capri Holding. Capri also owns Jimmy Choo. Since the acquisition, Versace is merging all its diffusion brands into VJ.

Many people claim that all Versace brands are made in Italy, which is totally false. In the article Christina Schnell published, she says that if a Versace product is made in China, it is a blatant fake. She has no idea of what she is trying to talk about 🙂

Many products designed by Donatella Versace and her team including shirt design are manufactured in China, Singapore, and certainly soon in India. Many Versace products are still manufactured in Italy, but it’s getting less and less every year. The reason? More successful these brands are, more output they need, and there is not enough workforce in Italy for all the “Italian” Designers. If you are interested, I highly recommend the article on Gucci on Reference.com about what I call the Gucci scandal.

Gucci factories are in Prato and are held by Chinese businessmen who pay their illegal Chinese workers’ meager wages $3/hour – see the New York Times article.

Two choices, honesty with the origin of the product made in China or made in Italy using illegal underpaid Chinese workers.

As a footnote, Prato near Florence  (Gucci and Prada factories), has the second-largest population of Chinese in Europe, after Paris.

My Small Store keeps track of VJ transparency and its impact on the environment and working condition – as many major brands the lights are not turned 100% on but it’s going there. For example, all Versace plants will be running on renewable energy by 2025, great if though we would prefer to see more details about the complete workforce situation. One Step at the time!

Bottom line, if you buy a Versace Jeans brand from an approved retailer like My Small Store, you are sure you have a real Versace. If you purchase it on the streets of New York China town, you are sure you have a fake one 🙂

A fun fact did you know that you can buy a Versace condo, rent an apartment, and stay at a hotel designed by the famous designer? The most famous being the Palazzo Versace Dubai (I recommend looking at the pictures)  with prices starting at $180 for a king room, up to $800 for a Grand Suite Creek View. Other locations include part of China, India, Philipines, and other countries.

Why Versace Jeans?

Look at the price tag and the difference between the two crossbody bags above – $1,850 vs. $124. My lovely wife, who loves designer bags, says, why should I spend $1,850 for a Versace when I can get 10 Versace Jeans for much less than that?

If you look at our collection, you will find beautiful VJ at a fraction of a Versace, same beauty, same designers, same work quality. Do not think that VJ is a sub-brand as already stated, VJ is becoming a strong Versace arm.

What we like the most about VJ is that the designers are not going too far and many handbags have a beautiful minimalist concept while keeping the style and the luxury feeling.

Why My Small Store doesn’t sell Versace?

We did, and they are now only available offline only. That decision came after “funny” people would buy a fake Versace in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, then order a real one from us. Cancel the order and return the fake one.

We grew tired of having to make police reports with almost zero chance to get our money back. So, if you want a reasonable price on a Versace, contact us to arrange a meeting here 🙂

Is Versace Jeans Real Versace?
Is Versace Jeans Real Versace? 10

This a question that comes quite often: "Is Versace Jeans real Versace?"

Product In-Stock: Available

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Luxury handbags can be a real “steal”

By Sara Beth Wald @SaraBethTimes

Why not to pick Luxury Handbags

The right handbag can make or break an outfit. You wouldn’t put extra care into choosing just the right shoes, pants, shirt, and jacket, and then grab your dingy old backpack off the hook by the door. Details matter.

For many of us, a luxury, brand-name handbag is the perfect way to set off a carefully chosen outfit. There’s just something alluring about slipping a well-tailored sleeve through the handle of the perfect bag.

Unfortunately, if luxury handbags were easy to own, everyone would have one. For the average consumer, owning a Fendi or Chanel bag just isn’t realistic.

Nobody carries the same bag year after year. Fashion trends change quickly. You could invest in an expensive designer bag and it will be out of style after just one season.

But let’s say you made that leap and purchased a luxury handbag. You found a great deal online, and you just had to have it.

How do you know it’s real? The days when you could only find a knock-off at a street vendor or a guy selling bags out of the trunk of his car are far behind us.

The internet is an international marketplace for counterfeiters to sell their wares anonymously. Technological advances have turned counterfeiting into an art so that even the savviest shoppers can be fooled into thinking they are getting the real thing.

It can sometimes be very difficult to tell the difference unless you are trained at recognizing the smallest details.

Making, selling, and buying counterfeit products is highly illegal, no matter how pretty the store is where you bought it, or how professional their website appears.

Furthermore, counterfeiting is almost always supported by organized crime. It may seem innocent enough to buy a fake Louis Vuitton purse for the sake of fashion, but behind that bag is a long line of crimes. Your purchase may be funding a child sex ring or a terrorist organization.

In this day and age, we are more conscious than ever of where our products come from and how they are made. You want to be fashionable, but you also care about your values and budget.

My Small Store cares about these things, too. We want to see you look your best with your values and budget intact. That’s why we carefully select only top-quality products from companies with proven reputations in Fair Trade.

Even if you purchase an authentic luxury handbag from a reputable retailer, what happens when it falls out of your car into the mud? Or your dog uses it as a chew toy? Or you accidentally leave it in the booth at a restaurant, only to return and discover it’s long gone?

Buying designer fashion luxury handbags is a short-term investment. You end up spending a lot of money on items that quickly wear out or are easily stolen. We all have that friend who bought a luxury handbag but refuses to take it out of the closet, for fear it will get damaged.

Fashion is meant to be worn! What’s the fun of owning something you love if you never use it?

The truth is, in many cases, most people wouldn’t know the difference between a Tamara Mellon and a Senreve. Cute luxury handbags are cute handbags, whether it cost $35 or $1,500. You can get just as many compliments on a well-made, fashion-forward handbag from a lesser-known designer.

At My Small Store, we know it is possible to polish your look for a fraction of the cost. We are proud to only sell the best quality products from designers we love and respect.

We trust our vendors, and you can trust My Small Store. We promise if you try one of our handbags, you will not be disappointed.

Luxury Handbags
Beautiful Luxury Handbags coming soon for $26.99
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Royal Hot Sunglasses, must own #1 amazing shades!

Why Royal Hot Sunglasses?

Royal Hot sunglasses are not only good quality and have awesome designs but they also have the best ultraviolet protection possible (UV400). Cost wise they are really affordable starting @ $15 and going up to $50 for specialty shades. These are backed up by a 100% satisfaction guaranteed with exchange or full refund.

Each pair of Royal Hot sunglasses comes with a very cool luxury case, a cleaning cloth and a quite cool box (perfect for gifting). 

From standard driving polarized shades to round steampunk sunglasses you can get almost any style of frames but the famous 1950’s 1960’s cat eye design. 

What are our favorite ones? yes the steampunk frames – I am not talking about the John Lennon style of flat round lenses, I am talking about the real Steampunk. A sub-genre of science fantasy which incorporates designs inspired by 19th century industrial steam powered machines. Well alive with very cool places like the steampunk Truth Coffee in Cape Town, South Africa – I visited the place multiple times and it is a must see, the coffee is quite excellent as well.

steampunk-truth-coffee-cape-town

Looking back at Royal Hot, between driving big square eyewear, round Lennon, pilot style and other rimless frames you know that your shades will be different than your best friend one. 

In traditional culture, women sunglasses have unique designs like cat eye style, panthos design, or butterfly frame but that is changing. At My Small Store we realized that women love different frame designs and we offer sunglasses with total unisex styles – rectangle, oval, square, punk, round, aviator etc. 

The good old days of face shape dictate your glasses design are gone – no more oval face thus square frame, sorry. Today women wear whatever style they want.

Royal Hot sunglasses come with the highest ultraviolet protection available on the market UV400 which provides 100% UVA and UVB filtering. Both are quite dangerous to human eyes.  

Too much exposure to UVA is the cause of certain types of cataracts, as your cornea lets UVA pass through, it plays an important role in the development of macular degeneration. UVB is the one responsible for tanning but it causes sunburns not fun on your skin and extremely dangerous for your eyes as your cornea absorbs all UVB – thus cornea sunburns causing the famous snow blindness. 

Royal Hot shades also come with polarization that helps considerably with glares and reflections from smooth surfaces. Perfect for driving, fishing and all winter activities.  

Price wise, why own one pair of UV100 Julbo steampunk sunglasses at $99.98 when for the same budget you can get the same beautiful Royal Hot punk plus a pair of driving frames and a pair of classy all polarized UV400 (much better than UV100) with 100% satisfaction guaranteed and free shipping?

 

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#1 Luxury Sunglasses and low cost

Choosing a pair of luxury sunglasses

We all want luxury products including accessories like luxury sunglasses but we are not ready to pay $595 for a pair of Salvatore Ferragamo rectangular frame leather lined sunglasses with the classic gold logo on both temples. Are we? Maybe not and it comes with risks:

  •  You thought you bought real Giorgio Armani but they are copycats, it’s illegal to buy fakes even if you didn’t know.
  •  Your brand new Yves Saint Laurent shades disappear suddenly from your purse – no they do not come with a auto-vanish feature.
  •  Oh, good gods…your keys scratched your $500+ Gucci sunglasses
  •  Do you want me to continue?

What to do? You really want to make a statement, feel good about your sunglasses and let’s be honest make other envious. Gucci will do that but other brands as well I am not talking about what you find in a big box store for $19.99, I’m talking about small sunglass designers like Royal Hot, Bobo Bird or Yumomo.

Yumomo Luxury Sunglasses

These designers are not well known if even known but their style are quite impressive, their prices as well. No, you can’t find them at Walmart or C&A, several few website like My Small Store sell them and many high end stores in Europe or South America – I recently traveled to Brazil where I found in the duty free area a shop selling Royal Hot eyewears tax free for $250, the exact same sold here for $29.99!

Bobo Bird StoreA customer sent us a picture of a Bobo Bird store in Moscow, he had to look at the price 5 times as he could not believe the price over $300 for the same pair he paid $24.99 at My Small Store. The store make people feel they are buying a top shelf luxury product that only people traveling from abroad can afford.

 

Do luxury accessories have to be so expensive? We don’t think so.

Look at what is important to you – the luxury brands name like Miu Miu or Miuccia Prada, the design like aviator or navigator sunglasses or cat eye, the features such as 100% UV protection and polarization or the accessories that comes with it as cool storage box, fancy glasses bag etc.

Let’s compare a little between a big luxury name like Prada and similar Yumomo cat eye shades. Look at these 2 pictures and tell me which one is Yumomo and which one is Prada – submit your answer for a $25 gift card. The Prada is sold at $350 and the Yumomo is sold for less than $30.

Compare Prada vs Yumomo

 

As we updated this post 74% of answers were wrong! Meaning the Yumomo luxury sunglasses look more luxury compared to the $350 ones. Meaning that what 74% of our readers are ready to spend $350 on a $30 pair of glasses – time to increase our prices 🙂

Another point is if you have a $350 budget for your new pair of shades, you can buy one pair of BVLGARI or Christian Dior or 10 pairs of Yumomo, Bobo Bird or Royal hot – all coming with free shipping, warranty and full refund if not satisfied.

A customers of ours tried a pair of fancy Yumomo sunglasses that made her BFF very jealous (that happens a lot), she asked us not to sell to her so she could keep her new shades quite unique. Unfortunately, we can’t do that but we remove those from our stock for a few weeks 🙂

To finish, luxury sunglasses do not have to be extremely expensive, why overpay for a brand name when there is 70% chances that your new expensive designer glasses are made in Wenzhou, China in the same factories that many brands!

Chances are that smaller designer have they own production like Bobo Bird or outsource their production to fair trade factories. Stop wondering and try a Bobo Bird, a Royal Hot or a Yumomo, you won’t regret it!

 

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Bobo Bird Unique Handmade Wood Sunglasses – #1 Quality

wood sunglasses

 

Bobo Bird manufacturing is located in Northern China. It all started in 1995 when a father made a wooden watch for his son. Years later, the son created the BOBO BIRD company for his father because the watch he received on his birthday was the most special gift he had ever gotten.

The name of BOBO BIRD comes from a North China local birds that their calling sounds like BO-BO.

Today Bobo Bird is not only a sunglasses brand but it also designs and manufactures beautiful and unique watches, wallets, and eco-friendly high-quality wooden sunglasses with 100 UV protection.

Why Wood Sunglasses?

First and most important, all woods are reclaimed and recycled. Maple wood, Bamboo, Zebrawood, Sandalwood, even the Zebrawood are reclaimed and recycled.  Making these wood frame sunglasses even better, each pair is unique. 

Bobo Bird wooden sunglasses are handmade, polarized lenses, UV400  protection, some are mirrored, some have acetate frames, some are 100% natural wood, or bamboo sunglasses. Look at our collection of the best wood sunglasses for men, women, or unisex.

Why choose a high level of UV protection, read our post about protective eyewear, how they work, and how they are made.  

 
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Sunglasses, how do they work and why they are #1 amazing

Protect your eyes with sunglasses

Let’s look at how sunglasses are made and see how they work – according to Joe, one of My Small Store staff: “they work well” 🙂 

Shades have 4 main functions:

  • Reduce the amount of light coming to our eyes so we don’t squint, 
  • Block harmful ultraviolet that can cause Cataracts (UVs are often responsible for cataract surgery), Macular degeneration, Pterygium, Eye cancer to name a few,
  • Block or reduce glare and reflection that can impact our vision. don’t forget: sunglasses protect your eyes,
  • Make us look cool and fashion.

Sun Light composition

The sun light is very complex made up of many light waves. To make it simple we will review the most important ones when it comes to sunglasses. The Sun emits X-rays (don’t worry it’s a very small amount), ultraviolet, visible light, infrared – Careful, I’ll add a little but of nerdy information: 

  • Infrared (IR) light is invisible to the eye but we can feel the heat – to learn more check the Live Science article,
  • Ultraviolet (UV) light is invisible, it makes black-light posters glow, give summer tans and sunburns. Unfortunately, too much exposure to UVs damages to living tissue, in our case our eyes. Ultraviolet light falls in three categories:
    • UVA has a frequency between 315 to 400 nm (nanometers). UVA were used in tanning booths and tanning beds, this changed when scientists realized it can cause cancer (yurk).
    • UVB has a frequency between 280 to 315 nm. It is known to damages DNA and causes sunburn and cancer, yet, it is needed to synthesize vitamin in the skin.
    • UVC has a frequency between 100 to 280 nm and is mostly absorbed by our atmosphere. It is artificially created to kill germs in water treatment plants.
  • Visible Light has a frequency between 380 to 780 nm – as it name says it all, it’s what human eyes can see and makes us squint but is much needed 🙂
Sunglasses, how do they work and why they are #1 amazing 11

How sunglasses lenses are made

Back in the days of mass produced sunglasses (1929), the lenses were made of glass covered with a thin layer of metal, so thin it is transparent and easy to scratch. Some designers sandwiched the layer of metal between 2 layer of glass – this process was very expensive and the layer could separate – my Grandpa had a pair of glasses who separated due to the heat and humidity. In these days we didn’t know about the effect of UV rays, the concern was mostly reducing the amount of visible light and the glare. 

Glass lenses are expensive to produce, can cause lots of damage when they break. This technology was replaced by transparent plastic much cheaper to produce, almost unbreakable with a down side – they are easy to scratch. Manufacturer continue improvement with other polymers, polycarbonate and resins.

Reduction of visible light 

This is done by tints and mirror coating.  

We mostly chose our tinted glasses based on our style: brown, grey, blue, pink and even gold but we should think and understand the different options as the color of the tint determines the parts of the visible light spectrum that are absorbed by the lens. 

Manufacturers use different colors and technologies to produce specific results:

  • Gray tints are strong all purpose colors that reduce the amount of brightness with the least amount of color distortion. Gray lenses offer a basic protection against glare, making them a good shade for driving and general use.
  • Yellow or gold tints reduce the amount of blue light while allowing a larger percentage of other color through. Blue light has tendency to bounce and scatter off a lot, it can create a kind of glare known as blue haze. These yellow tints eliminate the blue part of the spectrum thus make everything bright and sharp. Wondering why your snow glasses are yellow? 
  • Amber and Brown tints are also good general purpose without distorting colors.
  • Green tints filter some blue light and reduce glare. Green tints offer the best color contrast, they are very popular.
  • Purple and Pink tints offer the best contrast of objects against a green or blue background. They make a good choice for hunting, fishing or water sports.

Manufacturers use a process called constant density to tint lenses. The tint is mixed with polycarbonate or resin offering an uniform color throughout the material. The color is built right into the lenses when they are created. This process is cheaper and give a longer life to the finish lenses.
Very cheap sunglasses can also be made by applying a coat of light-absorbing molecules to the surface of clear polycarbonate, then a coat of scratch resistant “paint” is applied. Another technology is becoming very common is to immerse the lenses in a “special” liquid containing the tinting material. The tint is slowly absorbed into the plastic. To make a darker tint, the lenses are simply left in the liquid longer. 

Mirror sunglasses are covered with a reflective coating (also called flash coating), they appear like small mirrors. The lenses typically give the user’s vision a brown or grey tint. The mirror reduces the amount of light passing through the 10–60% depending on the thickness of the coat. The color of the mirror is independent of the tint of the lenses, you can have a blue eyewear but see the world through grey lenses. 

Reducing and blocking UV rays

A good pair of shades like the one My Small Store sells, blocks and should block over 99% of UVs by absorbing ultraviolet. Yes, absorbing, not reflecting.  

To achieve this absorption manufacturers use UV-curable coating. Coatings are usually applied to plastic/ polycarbonate/resin substrates via spray, dip, roll, flow and other processes. Let me a nerd and try to explain the technicality of UV-curable coating 🙂 

The goal is to apply ultraviolet blocker/absorbers that resist time, can be mass produced and be home used vs. lab or factory used. Scientists came up a polymeric coatings containing both UV absorbers and dyes (tints). The idea is to produce a transparent, durable film that can significantly increase the level of UV radiation blockage when coated onto glasses lenses. Smart no? One film that does it all, easy (cheap) to implement. 

Why these researches? To improve the UV protection, lower the cost of manufacture and increase the life of your favorite sunglasses. All this to protect your vision! 

Eliminating glare

A bit of history, polarized lenses were invented by Edwin Land in 1929. Edwin founded the Polaroid Corporation in 1937 in Cambridge, MA. The company initially produced Polaroid Day Glasses, the first sunglasses with a polarizing filter. In 1935 Land negotiated with American Optical Company to produce polarized sunglasses. Such glasses could screen out glare rather than simply darken the landscape. Land and Wheelwright contracted to begin production of Polaroid Day Glasses, a longtime source of revenue for Polaroid.
I’ll write a blog post just for this feature as it has evolved considerably since 1929.

What you have to know is that visible light waves from the sun arrive in all directions, not just straight forward. When this scattered light meets a horizontal surface, like a road or water, a big part of the light bounces with horizontal polarization. Our eyes see this horizontally-polarized light as “white glare” which masks useful light to our human eyes thus reducing visibility. 

We call the horizontal light, glare, scientists like to call it “visual noise”. As it reduces visibility and it can make driving, cycling, skiing dangerous. I lived 5 years in the Middle East, even though I had polarized lenses, the glare was so intense I had to stop my car on the side of the freeway and wait for the sun to go down a bit.  

 Do you know that the Polaroid filter for polarized sunglasses was created in 1936 and played a significant role in World War II when Ray Ban created the anti-glare pilot sunglasses?

 Cool look feature

It’s all about designer, shapes and looks and colors. We chose our sunglasses types based on what we think make us look cool and sunglass designers love playing with new concepts.

Never forget that sunglasses protect your eyes from UV rays and glare!