Sunglasses for cycling appeared around the 1880’s. To trace the origins of modern cycling eyewear, we must go back to a time when the bones of animals covered the eyes of hunters, to reduce the glare of bright white snow.

The history of sunglasses begins with Inuit “sun goggles”. Carved from the bone of the animals that the inuit hunted, these sun goggles were made around two thousand years ago. Strips of hand hewn bone covered the eyes, furnished with thin slits to see through.

Another remote testimony on the problem of protecting the eyes from sunlight was written by Pliny the Elder, who in his Naturalis Historia reported that the perfidious Nero used to observe the fights of gladiators through a polished emerald.

The first antecedents that resembled modern sun glasses were produced in Venice in the 18th Century. Gondola glasses modelled on the shape of hand held mirrors, some with hand painted frames, were infilled with green glass lenses. These gondola glasses were primarily used by women. Goldoni glasses, produced at that time for men, were the first sunglasses that fitted the face like modern eyewear.

Around 1300, Florence, Pisa, and Venice featured in the early development of glasses. At that time Murano glass blowers used their expertise to create the highest quality lenses available anywhere in Europe. North of Murano is the modern eyewear district centred around towns like Valdobbiadene and Cadore, sometimes known as the “glasses” district or “valley of sunglasses”. Today the valley of sunglasses supports around five hundred specialised ateliers and factories, producing anything related to sunglasses, lenses, metal, bolts, screws etc.

Throughout the history of eyewear, Italy and particularly the Veneto region has been at the forefront of technology and development.

Italy then seemed like the right place, to pin down an approximate time when the word “sunglasses” first came into existence. An August 1885 edition of the Corriere della Sera shone light on this gem.

SUPPLIES FOR ITALIAN TROOPS IN AFRICA - From the military commissariat - writes Piecolo of Naples - auctions have been announced for the supply to our troops in Africa for thirty thousand pairs of sunglasses, of neutral-coloured glass.

The sheer number of neutral coloured sunglasses ordered for the Italian military in 1885 would indicate that the manufacture of occhiali da sole or sunglasses, had been in existence well before 1885. With an established market and industry to create occhiali da sole.

In 1890 a partial eclipse caused Italians to reach for their sunglasses. Of note is the differentiation between “tinted or smoked glasses” and “sunglasses”. This is important because the very first accounts of cycling eyewear were about “tinted and smoked glasses”, with “therapeutic” tints, not sunglasses.

Yesterday morning, before 9 o'clock, in the middle of the Piazza del Duomo there was a crowd of people armed with tinted or smoked glasses, telescopes with dark lenses and sunglasses. They were there to enjoy the announced celestial spectacle, the partial eclipse of the sun. Corriere della Sera June 1890.

In the USA the word for sunglasses came into use around 1891.

The earliest mention of eyewear for cycling was published in a book titled Hints on Continental Touring - A Bicycle Tour in England and Wales 1879. 

“A polo cap ….. cannot, however, afford any protection for the eyes, on whose behalf tinted spectacles or eye glasses will in most cases become necessary when on the dazzling roads, and in the bright atmosphere of Switzerland, Austria, Italy, or Southern France.”

Charles A. Brady wrote in The Springfield Wheelers Gazette that cyclists visiting Barbados in 1886 would require the aid of “coloured or smoked glasses”, to protect their eyes from the dazzling compacted white coral roads.

“They (the roads) are macadamized with the coral stone which readily packs into a hard, smooth bed of such a dazzling whiteness as to render coloured or smoked glasses a necessity during the day.”

Another option in the 1890’s was The Warren Eye Guard, a predecessor to cycling goggles and Aviator sunglasses.

To know the complete story of the origins of cycling eyewear we need to default to Moss Lipow, an authority on eyewear. A man who owns a mind blowing collection of eyewear, his collection spanning the ages, right back to the invention of glasses. Moss explains that the design of the Warren Eye Guard or “the bicyclist’s shield”, Patented in 1891, is the progenitor of aviator sunglasses.

Moss pinpoints the model D-1 made by American Optical, as the very first Aviator sunglasses contracted by the US Air Force, being made in August 1935 and manufactured by American Optical. Not Ray Ban as popularly conceived.

Aviator sunglasses were also the inspiration for modern cycling sunglasses. With riders like Fausto Coppi donning the Aviator style in the middle of the twentieth century.

For a thorough lesson in eyewear evolution check out Moss Lipow and his detailed history of Aviator sunglasses.

Yet cyclists took to wearing goggles right up to the middle of the twentieth century. Many pictures of racing cyclists in the Tour de France and other professional races, show goggles worn on the top of their cycling caps, not across their eyes. Especially when traversing mountain passes. These rudimentary sports goggles had their limitations, it would take until the middle of the 1980’s for these problems to begin to be properly solved.

The Italian economic boom, il boom economico, refers to a period of strong economic growth in Italy. Huge technological developments during and after the Second World War, contributed to the success of the Italian economic boom. This allowed Italian companies to tap into new technologies and boost their manufacturing potential. The boom lasted well into the 1960s. The years from 1958 to 1963 were particularly strong.

One of the success stories of this Italian boom was Luxottica founded by Leonardo Del Vecchio in 1961, right in the middle of the strongest period of economic growth. The timing aligned perfectly with sunglasses becoming the must have fashion accessory.

The Italian economic boom was key to laying the foundations for modern companies like Oakley and Rudy Project. Locations like the eyewear district of Valdobbiadene and Cadore were catapulted into prominence and began to thrive. This new hotbed of innovation built in huge flexibility and options for new start ups like Rudy Project.

One modern cycling brand, Oakley was swallowed up along the way by Luxottica and is today part of the enviable Luxottica portfolio.

Up to the mid 1980’s there were no dedicated manufacturers of cycling sunglasses. Eyewear for cyclists had constantly remained a hit and miss affair. Racing cyclists either found their own version of Aviator’s or sunglasses manufactured by ski brands like Carrera. It wasn’t until Oakley in 1984 then Rudy Project in 1985 opened the flood gates, to a previously untapped market. A market that was screaming out for a bespoke solution. Lightweight glasses that didn’t fog up, looked great and kept the bugs, dust and road grime out of the eyes.

We’re not done yet. To gain an understanding of how all this history translated into the manufacture of modern technical eyewear for sports, in part two we’ll delve deep into the creation and meteoric rise of a modern sports eyewear company, Rudy Project.

Photo Credits

Title Image : Ottavio Bottecchia, congratulating Joseph van Dam after one of his stage wins at the 1926 Tour de France. Collection, gallica.bnf.fr

Warren Eye Guard, graphicsfariy.com. Public domain.

John Bange images at the State Library of Queensland. The State Library of Queensland, John Oxley Library Accession number: 6780 Collection reference: 6780

Fausto Coppi at the Trofeo Baracchi. Public domain.