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Quick Take: InSpecs has announced the signing of a multi-year agreement with legendary musician Carlos Santana to design, market and distribute sunglasses and ophthalmic frames under the Carlos by Carlos Santana and Santana by Carlos Santana brand names.
Wearer: Men and women who are fans of the Carlos Santana brand.
Specifics: The collections will be distributed in North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean.
Selling Points: The Carlos by Carlos Santana collection will feature women’s styles to complement the brand’s existing apparel and successful footwear offerings. Men’s styles will be available in the Santana by Carlos Santana collection. Both will showcase custom acetates featuring color swatches from Carlos Santana album cover artwork, vibrant colorways and many modern takes on retro styles to create a unique and vivid eyewear offer suited to the Carlos Santana name.
“There is a soulfulness in everything Carlos does,” said Vance Wright, president of InSpecs USA. “We all know the music. But, there is a genuine spirit in his lyrics and the artwork that brings his album covers and concert posters to life. That signature Santana style is embraced and paid tribute to in our eyewear collection.” A portion of all proceeds will be donated to support The Milagro Foundation. Milagro was founded by Santana and his family in 1998 and benefits underserved and vulnerable children around the world by making grants to better serve the areas of education, health and the arts.
Price Guide: $$$
www.inspecs.co.uk

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Quick Take: Marcolin has launched the Spring-Summer 2016 Balenciaga eyewear collection of optical and sun styles featuring iconic decorative motifs and unusual avant-garde structures in unexpected combinations.
Specifics: Designed for women, the collection includes seven optical and eight sun styles that emanate a sophisticated and metropolitan appeal, the company said.
Selling Points: Geometric silhouettes and decorative inserts of leather and metal elevate these eyewear creations into genuine objects of design, the company said. While a variety of experimentations with materials leads to innovative acetates in marbled, bubble or matte designs, new nuances and striped effects enrich the color palette, further embellishing the appearance of the frames. In optical, the BA5043 in handcrafted acetate boasts an avant-garde attitude with a distinctly geometric shape defined by rigid lines. For a vintage yet futuristic design, the shiny metal curve that defines the upper profile and temples of style BA5047 accentuates the acetate featured around the square lenses. In sun, the distinctly cat eye shape of style BA0058 features a printed leather coating in black or nude that highlights the horn effect on the interior of the frame. With the wide, geometric frame front, the acetate structure of style BA0049 is illuminated by a shiny metal profile, which encloses the smoked lenses and embellishes the temples.
Price Guide: $$$$$
us.marcolin.com

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Quick Take: Woodzee has collaborated with Anthology Woods, a sustainable company located in Ashland, Oregon that creates unique wood products from reclaimed and salvaged wood, for a limited edition and American-made sun collection.
Specifics: Unisex wayfarer sunglasses made from reclaimed oak, madrone and maple hardwood flooring.
Selling Points: The Woodzee X Anthology Woods Collection features twice-recycled, reclaimed hardwood flooring transformed into 105 numbered pairs of limited edition sunglasses. Creating wayfarer frames from what would otherwise be waste, the Anthology Collection further bridges the gap between style and nature, the company said. The collection is further equipped with premium Italian-made polycarbonate lenses, stainless steel spring-loaded hinges and treated with 100 percent all natural tree oil coating. “The partnership with Woodzee allows us to recover wood from our recycling process,” said Rob Sweeney, owner of Anthology Woods. “We’re lucky in that sunglasses only require small pieces of wood. We’re quite happy to have this wood put to a higher end-use.”
Price Guide: $$$
www.woodzee.com

Joe Joseph Abboud has added four new optical styles to their collection for Altair Eyewear. Designed for men, the glasses are versatile, bold and capture the balance of modern styling, with an American attitude. Performance meets style with masculine hues and on-trend shapes. Style Joe4049 is a full-rim stainless steel frame with horn laminate temple tips that complement the soft, rectangular shape; Joe4049 comes in blackjack, gunmetal and java. Style Joe4050 is comprised of acetate fronts paired with lightweight, sport-inspired temples in its full-rim style; it also comes in three colorways—blackjack, java, and midnight. Joe4051—a rectangular, semi-rimless style that is punctuated with camouflage detailing on the temple interiors—is available in blackjack, steel and java. Joe4052 is a full-rim modified rectangle shape that makes a bold statement with handmade acetate frame fronts and camouflage temple interiors; it comes in blackjack, java and midnight.
www.altaireyewear.com

Selima Salaun, creative director of Selima Optique and a member of the Eyewear Designers of the CFDA, has unveiled a custom edition of hand-made acetate sunglasses in support of the Robin Hood Foundation—a poverty fighting organization based in New York. The rectangular shape consists of navy lenses, backed by black and lime green temples, reflecting Robin Hood’s colors. The frames are available in all Selima Optique stores and online. All proceeds will go to the Robin Hood Foundation. “I adore New York. I started my business here, the city feeds my creative energy like no other place in the world and I am always thrilled to be part of its community,” said Salaun.
selimaoptique.com