planning on wearing sunglasses at your swimming pool this summer?
30 Mar planning on wearing sunglasses at your swimming pool this summer?
Sunglasses test shows expensive lenses aren’t always best
It started on the Atlantic City boardwalk. Sure, film stars and the very rich had already been wearing dark spectacles. But in 1929, Sam Foster, founder of Foster Grant, began hawking his mass-produced sunglasses there at a Woolworth store — eye protection and a stylish air of mystery for the everyman.
Today you can get sunglasses really cheap — three pairs for $12 recently at a Scarborough flea market. Or you can fork over $1,000 for a single pair studded with Swarovski crystals at a downtown eyewear boutique. And there’s every style — iconic aviators, retro cat eyes, sleek sporty shades and glamorous Jackie O look-alikes — at every price in between available at every dollar, drug or department store. Not to mention at opticians, optometrists and online.
So what should you look for? What do you get for your money? To answer that, the Star had a selection of nine pairs of sunglasses, from a $4 pair to a $488 designer-brand, tested by an optometrist — with some surprising results.