Polaroid sunglasses have an amazing history. They’ve been around since the thirties when polarizing technology was first developed by Edwin Land. A huge part of their success was down to the invention of a synthetic polarizer that could effectively block light travelling in the horizontal plane. But, looking at some old ads, it’s easy to see that Polaroid had a unique style. One that made heads turn! (more…)
We’re having a little party in celebration of Edwin Herbert Land’s 100th birthday. He was born on May 7, 1909 – and he lived to the ripe old age of 81. His father owned a scrap-metal yard and he went on to attend Harvard.
Among other things, his fertile imagination gave us the polarizing film that revolutionised the manufacture of sunglasses. Land created the world’s first synthetic polarizing light filter, a film with millions of micrometre-sized polarizing crystal that were perfectly aligned to screen out the horizontally reflected glare that interferes with vision. Polaroid Polarized Sunglasses still use a development of this technology today – it’s what makes our sunglasses so special – they exceed international standards for polarizing efficiency and block glare. (more…)