French sunwear pioneers. The original mineral-glass lens, still made in their own Alpine factory.
Vuarnet was founded in 1957 by French alpine ski racer Jean Vuarnet — Olympic gold medalist at Squaw Valley in 1960 — together with optician Roger Pouilloux. Their original mineral-glass lens, the Skilynx, was developed to handle the brutal high-altitude light of competitive skiing.
Sixty-eight years later, every Vuarnet lens is still made of mineral glass — never polycarbonate, never CR-39 — in their own factory in Meythet, in the French Alps. Mineral glass is denser, optically clearer, scratch-resistant in a way plastic lenses can't replicate, and built to last decades.
The brand was the unofficial uniform of '70s European film: Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Catherine Deneuve, Belmondo, the entire French New Wave generation. Today the collection holds true to the original codes — small French acetate fronts, mineral-glass tints in Skilynx, Greylynx, Brownlynx, and a quiet refusal to chase trends.
The Legend 02 in Black with Skilynx mineral-glass lenses. The frame Steve McQueen wore in Le Mans.
Because mineral glass is unmatched on the water and on the road, and Vuarnet is the last French house still doing it in-house.
Every Vuarnet frame in our collection is here to be tried on. Walk in during open hours, or book a personal-shopping appointment for the full experience.
