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Eyewear
Eyewear is a term used to refer to all devices worn over both of a person's eyes, or occasionally a single eye, for one or more of a variety of purposes. Though historically used for vision improvement and correction, eyewear has also evolved into eye protection, for fashion and aesthetic purposes, and starting in the late 20th century, computers and virtual reality.
The primary intention of wearing eyewear can vary based on the need or desire of the wearer. Eyewear comes in different forms such as Glasses, Contact lenses, Sunglasses and many more. Eyewear (such as glasses and contact lenses) helps most people see clearer or read. Eyewear also can be used for protection, such as sunglasses which protect wearers from the Sun's ultraviolet rays which are damaging to the eyes when unprotected, eyepatches to protect injured eyes from further damage, or goggles which protect the wearer's eyes from debris, water and other chemicals. Variants of eyewear can conversely inhibit or disable vision for its bearers, such as blindfolds and view-limiting device for humans, blinkers for horses, or blinders for birds, especially poultry. Eyewear also exists for other specialized or niche purposes, such as active shutter 3D systems and anaglyph 3D glasses for stereoscopy, and night-vision goggles for low-light environments.
The eyewear industry is estimated to be valued at US$100 billion as of May 2018. Much of the eyewear industry's prominence and use in fashion occurred in Western cultures during the 1950s, with individual designers and celebrities at the time wearing them in public and increasing the popularity of eyewear, especially sunglasses. The growth of the industry through the latter half of the 20th century is credited to Luxottica, generally credited with acquiring brands popular with Western culture such as Ray-Ban, Persol, and later Oakley, raising their prices and increasing the perceived status of eyewear in society. The 2010s and early 2020s saw a slowly-more technical focus towards the utility of eyewear, with early experiments such as Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens and later Apple Vision Pro bringing augmented reality to eyewear; virtual reality headsets also began a growth in popularity in the 2010s.
Quartz was among the earliest used materials for reading stones, the precursors to wearable optics; quartz also became the foundation for glasses, the first major form of eyewear. The first incarnations of glasses were made with the aim of providing aid to reading.
Though innovations in pre-modern eyewear technology occurred in both Imperial China and the Inuit territories, which both invented early forms of sunglasses and goggles, Venice and Northern Italy have historically been the place of consolidation for eyewear innovation in the Western world. Upon the release of the printing press and the mass adoption of literature, larger sectors of the population began to buy into eyewear to assist with reading. Eyewear frames around this time were mainly made of animal bones, horns and fabric; the implementation of wire frames in the 16th century further allowed glasses to be mass-produced. The 16th century also saw the earliest ancestors of pince-nez eyewear, which secured itself to the wearer through "pinching" the nose and later would become popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The first half of the 18th century saw British optician Edward Scarlett perfect temple eyeglasses which would rest on the nose and the ears. The innovations presented by Scarlett would not only spark some to look at aesthetic customization of eyewear for fashion within Europe but also lead Benjamin Franklin to invent bifocals in colonial America. Later in the middle of the century, Britain also saw its first popularized wave of sunglasses as James Ayscough created and sold blue and green tinted sunglasses for general vision improvement.
Virtual reality slowly became a more prominent technology stating in the 1990s after refinement of 1950s prototypes pushed by NASA and other technology companies. Sega was among the first companies to introduce head-mounted virtual reality headsets for theme park rides at Joypolis locations. The first major jump in virtual reality, however, was with the Oculus Rift, later evolving into the Quest line made by Facebook-owner Meta Platforms. The success of the Rift later incentivized other tech companies like Sony (through its PlayStation brand) and HTC to release their own competitors to Oculus; Microsoft, Google, and Apple also all released or announced products throughout the 2010s and early 2020s in the eyewear technology industry incorporating mixed reality.
Despite earlier developments, eyewear began its surge in popularity in 1929. Foster Grant, which first went into business this year, was among the earliest large retailers for eyeglasses in the United States, setting up shop on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in New Jersey. The United States Army Air Corps was among the first large clients for sunglasses when it worked with Bausch + Lomb to create sunglasses which protected its pilots from glare. These sunglasses later evolved into aviator sunglasses, and the resulting name and brand, Ray-Ban, became synonymous with army pilots and later on a fashion item.
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Eyewear
Eyewear is a term used to refer to all devices worn over both of a person's eyes, or occasionally a single eye, for one or more of a variety of purposes. Though historically used for vision improvement and correction, eyewear has also evolved into eye protection, for fashion and aesthetic purposes, and starting in the late 20th century, computers and virtual reality.
The primary intention of wearing eyewear can vary based on the need or desire of the wearer. Eyewear comes in different forms such as Glasses, Contact lenses, Sunglasses and many more. Eyewear (such as glasses and contact lenses) helps most people see clearer or read. Eyewear also can be used for protection, such as sunglasses which protect wearers from the Sun's ultraviolet rays which are damaging to the eyes when unprotected, eyepatches to protect injured eyes from further damage, or goggles which protect the wearer's eyes from debris, water and other chemicals. Variants of eyewear can conversely inhibit or disable vision for its bearers, such as blindfolds and view-limiting device for humans, blinkers for horses, or blinders for birds, especially poultry. Eyewear also exists for other specialized or niche purposes, such as active shutter 3D systems and anaglyph 3D glasses for stereoscopy, and night-vision goggles for low-light environments.
The eyewear industry is estimated to be valued at US$100 billion as of May 2018. Much of the eyewear industry's prominence and use in fashion occurred in Western cultures during the 1950s, with individual designers and celebrities at the time wearing them in public and increasing the popularity of eyewear, especially sunglasses. The growth of the industry through the latter half of the 20th century is credited to Luxottica, generally credited with acquiring brands popular with Western culture such as Ray-Ban, Persol, and later Oakley, raising their prices and increasing the perceived status of eyewear in society. The 2010s and early 2020s saw a slowly-more technical focus towards the utility of eyewear, with early experiments such as Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens and later Apple Vision Pro bringing augmented reality to eyewear; virtual reality headsets also began a growth in popularity in the 2010s.
Quartz was among the earliest used materials for reading stones, the precursors to wearable optics; quartz also became the foundation for glasses, the first major form of eyewear. The first incarnations of glasses were made with the aim of providing aid to reading.
Though innovations in pre-modern eyewear technology occurred in both Imperial China and the Inuit territories, which both invented early forms of sunglasses and goggles, Venice and Northern Italy have historically been the place of consolidation for eyewear innovation in the Western world. Upon the release of the printing press and the mass adoption of literature, larger sectors of the population began to buy into eyewear to assist with reading. Eyewear frames around this time were mainly made of animal bones, horns and fabric; the implementation of wire frames in the 16th century further allowed glasses to be mass-produced. The 16th century also saw the earliest ancestors of pince-nez eyewear, which secured itself to the wearer through "pinching" the nose and later would become popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The first half of the 18th century saw British optician Edward Scarlett perfect temple eyeglasses which would rest on the nose and the ears. The innovations presented by Scarlett would not only spark some to look at aesthetic customization of eyewear for fashion within Europe but also lead Benjamin Franklin to invent bifocals in colonial America. Later in the middle of the century, Britain also saw its first popularized wave of sunglasses as James Ayscough created and sold blue and green tinted sunglasses for general vision improvement.
Virtual reality slowly became a more prominent technology stating in the 1990s after refinement of 1950s prototypes pushed by NASA and other technology companies. Sega was among the first companies to introduce head-mounted virtual reality headsets for theme park rides at Joypolis locations. The first major jump in virtual reality, however, was with the Oculus Rift, later evolving into the Quest line made by Facebook-owner Meta Platforms. The success of the Rift later incentivized other tech companies like Sony (through its PlayStation brand) and HTC to release their own competitors to Oculus; Microsoft, Google, and Apple also all released or announced products throughout the 2010s and early 2020s in the eyewear technology industry incorporating mixed reality.
Despite earlier developments, eyewear began its surge in popularity in 1929. Foster Grant, which first went into business this year, was among the earliest large retailers for eyeglasses in the United States, setting up shop on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in New Jersey. The United States Army Air Corps was among the first large clients for sunglasses when it worked with Bausch + Lomb to create sunglasses which protected its pilots from glare. These sunglasses later evolved into aviator sunglasses, and the resulting name and brand, Ray-Ban, became synonymous with army pilots and later on a fashion item.
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