Westgroupe announced on April 8 the launch of its much-anticipated SPY®Crosstown Collection—a line of stylish, handmade sunglasses inspired by ’50s and ‘60s fashion, music, Golden State roots and a fondness for The City.

“The Crosstown Collection is perhaps the most exciting product launch ever for our brand,” explains Brent Sandor, SPY Brand Manager. “It was designed as a more exclusive collection with a more fashionable slant for those who appreciate the same inspirations that permeate the collection—classic surfing, the sounds of a good record, vintage automobiles and life in the city. Crosstown essentially connects SPY back to its foundation as a fashion-forward brand that embraced the cultural crossroads of the surf, snow and motorcycle lifestyles.”

“The Crosstown collection is the perfect addition to our SPY offering,” says Beverly Suliteanu, Westgroupe VP Product Development. “The high quality, classic styling, and easy RXability makes the Crosstown collection perfect for the optical channel. We have been extremely pleased with the success of Spy in Canada, and I think that the Crosstown collection is a natural fit for our customers.”

A focused offering of six styles, Crosstown is a reinterpretation of classic styling. Traditional shapes ranging from square to round, cat eye to angular, are handcrafted from the finest acetate to create rich, lustrous torts and colors—in both polished gloss and matte finishes—with custom metal detailing. High quality, 6 base CR39 lenses with an antireflective coating on the inside provide a rich visual experience, optical clarity and protection in the most glaring of situations. A range of lens options are available including the Happy Lens and polarized options.

“This collection has its own unique, vintage feel,” says professional surfer Nate Tyler. “The frames fit my kind of vibe perfectly, and same goes for a lot of the other guys in the SPY family who are choosing their own paths and maintaining their own distinct styles.”

“Crosstown’s styling has a kind of simplicity that I’ve always admired in old sunglasses,” says professional snowboarder Darrell Mathes. “It was pretty much inspired by the style of guys like Nate Tyler, Jared Mell, and Ryan Burch, who love that more timeless look.”

“We worked with a small crew of athletes and fashion-forward advocates with the intent of reinventing ‘classicness’ with our own point of view,” says Michael Marckx, SPY President. “We cut our design team loose to represent what’s happening within the creative ranks of our universe, to make something that they completely groove on, which led to a really unique handmade approach that you can feel and certainly see in the line.

For more information about SPY, log-on at www.westgroupe.com or contact your Western Optical sales representative.