By Jody Johnson-Pettit
Vibrant colours, glam elements, cool details and adult-inspired frames.
Those are just a few of the hot, sought-after looks in children’s eyewear this season.
At WestGroupe, an explosion of energy and cheerfulness lies at the heart of their new Superflex Kids collection.
Colour is the main inspiration, accompanied by eye-catching details like funky patterns, special textures, glitter elements and bold contrasts. Designed with real kids in mind, all Superflex Kids models are constructed with spring hinges for extra durability, comfort and fit.
“Kids want to emulate their parents, but also express their style,” says Beverly Suliteanu, vice-president of product development at WestGroupe. “They want a frame that tells their story, whether it’s about their favourite colour or racing stripes or anything that sparkles.”
Candy-coloured bright shades and masculine colour palettes are trending this season as well.
“A major fashion trend that has crossed over is colour blocking, which we have incorporated in various ways from contrasting colour combinations, to blocking with translucent acetate and patterned acetate to laminated cut-down designs,” says Suliteanu.
For boys, the Superflex Kids collection offers eight new styles – three stainless steel, four combo and one acetate. All have a sporty, casual look and emulate dad’s fashion choices with vibrant, trendy colours.
Styles SFK-189, SFK-195 and SFK-200 are stainless steel frames featuring two-tone colouring. Creating an eye-catching contrast, the secondary colouration is applied to the raised laser-cut patterns of the temples: racing stripes, herringbone and linear matrix stripes.
For girls, the collection features 10 new on-trend styles – three stainless steel, one combo and six acetate – that focus on feminine colours, patterns and details to please the younger fashionista.
SFK-188, SFK-190 and SFK-199 are stainless steel frames that play with two-tone colouring and exclusive patterns including floral and geometric design.
Cassandra Slepian of Alternative/Plan ‘B’ Eyewear says flexibility, durability and colour remain the supreme deciding factor when it comes to children’s eyewear.
“Adding on beneficial features that work for kids and their needs is also big,” she says.
In this vein, Nano Vista, available from Alternative Eyewear, has introduced the Nano Solar Clip collection, which offers their most popular styles in new colour combos, each with magnetic clip-ons.
“What makes these clip-ons particularly special is they’re made from Siliflex, which makes them extremely durable,” says Slepian.
The lenses are also 100 per cent polarized and feature Blue Bloc technology that stops blue light and harmful UV rays from coming through the lens, providing exceptional protection for kids’ developing eyes.
“Kids are looking for what is cool, fun, playful. They want something that draws the eye,” says Slepian.
Nano Vista is great at this as their frames are fun to twist, bend and play with.
“We offer a wide array of colours – we’re talking 250 skus here – so they can have as personal a colour combo as they can find. They can really represent their personality with their frames.”
Features like headband straps means children can wear the frames during all activities.
“Mom and dad don’t have to worry about having multiple pairs, they have one frame that does it all,” adds Slepian.
Ogi Kids, meanwhile, offers seven new frames designed for the trendsetters of tomorrow.
They include models OK337, OK338 and OK339, which each boast sophisticated and contemporary looks in a variety of colours. Each of the frames has optional sun clips available.
At Safilo, their KIDS by Safilo collection offers new and playful colour stories, featuring fun and original graphics on all the styles dedicated to children from aged three to eight.
Translucent fronts are combined with solid temples decorated with nice, colourful patterns.
The frames also offer clip-on sun-covers with polarized lenses, providing kids with glare-free vision, clear contrasts, vision of natural colours, reduced eye fatigue and 100 per cent UV protection.
In order to offer extra fit and stability, new elastic straps and ultra-soft silicone tips have been developed in order to keep the frame in place without compromising comfort even for extended periods.
For older kids, the new Carrera Teen collection by Safilo, which targets 12 to 15-year-old boys and girls, offers four optical styles for today’s young generation and their bold personalities. This easy-to-wear and stylish collection is designed with this generation in mind, to enrich and enhance the character and attitude of those who wear them.
ZOOBUG London has launched several new sunglasses for spring/summer 2018.
They include The Metal Pilot, for ages four to nine, which features a double bridge and narrow metal temples and The Oval, for ages five to 12, which boasts mirrored lenses in several colours. The Ava, for kids aged four to nine, is a chic aviator with retro colour combos.
Since children want to emulate their parents, Tura Inc. has created a new “father and me” collection. The new sub-collection to the Geoffrey Beene Eyewear label is a collection made for boys, inspired by their dads.
The boys’ collection is the same as the men’s but with added youthful colour updates and some sporty details. Additionally, the frames fill a market void for smaller men’s sizing. The collection offers six models and includes two plastic designs, three stainless steel with plastic temple and one stainless steel with metal temple.
The Geoffrey Beene Boys G900 frame is a classic metal style that uniquely utilizes a custom lamination technique to add pops of colour on the temple tips, while the Geoffrey Beene Boys G902 offers a sporty edge, with a thin metal profile and two-tone plating.
