Sport is an interesting arena in eyewear. As with sports in general there is always a sweet spot where high tech meets tradition. That team up happens in everything from baseball to motor sports and surfing through to golf. The rules of the “game” might be steeped in respected traditions but the tools of the game are quite often cutting edge in their materials and design.

That competitive yet progressive dichotomy holds true for sport eyewear as well. Quite literally there is a poetic appeal to the look and performance of specialized sport-specific eyewear. The forever-current rage of great technology has always been inspirational. Think about it. Even Walt Whitman waxed ecstatic about the epitome “of the modern” being able to energize the spirit in “Leaves of Grass.” And although he was versing on steam locomotives, we’re more concerned here with eyewear. Some key sport leaders have recently infused their regular Rx eyewear collections with contemporary frames hugely impressive in their merge-mastery of interpreting the art of frame making seized by sport eyewear’s best performance, quality and design characteristics.

Leaders such as Nike, Adidas, Oakley, Rudy Project, Wiley X and Columbia prove you can easily sidestep any retro-trends by cultivating your own sport heritage of bold technologies and infuse Rx frames with features that make perfect vision sense. The literal “wow-thatlooks- great-on-you” nature of this new eyewear is a trend TOTALLY unforeseen just a few short years ago. And the ability of these collections to appeal to a wide generational and gender-sensational range literally cleaves a new category into the optical dispensing-retailing scenario.

We’re devoting a two-part Focus dubbed Team Mates to the phenomenon in this issue. This game is still relatively new. Be the first on your block to choose up sides and get these players in some contemporary face action for your team.

James J. Spina
Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]