These are the Surf Aviators from the team at Vallon, their design was inspired by classic aviators as well as sunglass designs from the 1970s, but their construction is thoroughly modern.
Vallon is named for Vallon d’Arbi in Verbier, Switzerland. It’s a place famed globally for its skiing, touring, hiking, and cycling, and as such it’s become a destination for winter sport enthusiasts dating back decades.
The Vallon Surf Aviator sunglasses have cellulose acetate frames and polarized green-tinted Vallon V52® lenses offering 100% UV protection (UV400).Vallon is based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and it remains an independent, family-owned business. They explain that they sell their glasses directly to their customers, avoiding the overhead costs of large eyewear retailers, and as a result they can offer significantly lower prices – which seems to hold up after a look through their catalogue.
They’re also working with Empower, an organization dedicated to clearing plastic waste in communities within developing nations. 1 kg of plastic waste is cleaned up and recycled for each pair of Vallon sunglasses sold, so far they have helped remove over 60 tonnes of plastic waste in six countries.
The Surf Aviators By Vallon
The Surf Aviators from Vallon feature premium cellulose acetate frames with five barrel hinges and a classic aviator shape.
They use the polarized green-tinted Vallon V52® lenses, the company says that these lenses have the highest optical clarity of any performance sunglasses on the market. These lenses have an Abbe value of 52, hence their name.
For the uninitiated, Abbe value is a way of measuring a lens material’s dispersion of light, essentially, the lower the Abbe number the higher chance there is of chromatic aberration. Human eyes can’t detect chromatic aberration at figures of over 40 Abbe, so the Vallon V52® lens with its 52 Abbe puts it well into high-end territory.
Vallon designed the Surf Aviators taking inspiration from classic aviator sunglasses, and sunglass designs from the 1970s.Each pair of Surf Aviators come with a Vallon faux-leather hardcase and a microfiber cleaning cloth. They weigh 39 grams or 1.37 ounces, and they come in several colorways including Dark Tortoise, Sage, Tortoise, Black, Blue, Green, and Burgundy, with an MSRP of €86 or approximately $93 USD and a lifetime warranty.
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