If Telfar Clemens isn’t one of fashion’s leading trendsetters, then who is? The designer – who sells thousands of handbags and lifestyle designs on his website – has been wearing the kind of sports eyewear you’d wear for marathon running, but for everyday use since late 2020.

With a curved, shield-like crossbar at the top and clear, mask-sized lenses, the style has a crossover appeal — a curious, offbeat novelty that might appeal to youth culture and high fashion, but also a certain ease of wearing, lightness and performance that positions them more broadly.

This type of eyewear represents a new interaction between what have traditionally been considered two separate and distinct categories – fashionable lifestyle eyewear for optical and sun eyewear and athletic performance eyewear.

It’s an evolution of the outdoor wardrobe boom that has sprung up during the pandemic and reflects a broader desire to incorporate functionality into our new, dressier lives with “360-degree hybrid use from morning to night. “, said Alessandro Beccarini, Marcolin’s Style and Development Director. Safilo’s global product manager, Vladimiro Baldin, called the trend a “sports transfer”.

The wider fashion industry seems to be aware that, on the whole, shoppers aren’t interested in trading all aspects of their cosy, comfort-oriented quarantine lives for more restrictive, conventionally chic looks, including glasses. And in doing so, they’re creating a new category of hybrid eyewear that could boost sales.

Alessandro Mariani, EssilorLuxottica’s Vice President of Marketing for Wholesale in North America, said: “People are choosing to express themselves with a look that is more tied to a lifestyle. We have seen this idea that the boundaries between the formal and the informal [dressing] got blurry and now you don’t dress for a specific occasion, you dress to do things you love. The athleisure look has become absolutely dominant. People attending recent catwalks and parades have seen this new celebration of the formal and the informal and its influence on eyewear.

During the past Paris Fashion Week, Balenciaga and Givenchy’s Fall 2022 collections featured mask-like sunglasses that borrow their curvature, lightness and bug-repellent aesthetic from classic sports eyewear makers like Oakley.

Justin Cupps, senior vice president of Oakley, said the “sports transfer” trend is now going both ways. Fashion eyewear pulls elements from its athletic brethren, like rubberized temples, silhouette and reflective lenses, while performance eyewear looks to expand its reach and integrate some of its offering to capitalize on this moment.

“If you think about sporty style, it’s become something you wear every day. Companies that have created true sporty designs like Oakley, products made for athletes and specialized for a specific purpose, are now mainstream and used in everyday life. We adjust the collection to capture that,” he said.

Baldin agreed, saying, “Brands like Under Armor are embracing the lifestyle, it’s opposite work that will be a trend. It works well with this hybrid mode of working from home and commuting. The company has worked to bring elements of sporty style to its licensed partners such as Jimmy Choo, Marc Jacobs and Tommy Hilfiger.

According to Beccarini, all this against the backdrop of booming eyewear sales thanks to the Zoom culture, which has changed the industry as a whole. “The customer is more willing to buy a frame because they’re sitting in front of a computer and don’t need to be so dressed up. So we’re seeing fewer contact lenses and more optical frames. In video, having a strong frame helps you create a better identity because you don’t have the full body image.

Now settled into a work-from-home hybrid lifestyle, these same consumers have begun to seek out eyewear that can “change and be ready for sports or wellness activity and in less than half an hour be back to your laptop”, he mentioned.

According to recent market research conducted by Safilo, the growth opportunities for sports eyewear are endless. The company estimates that the glasses could potentially be used in 65% of sports activities and observed a “sustainable” increase of 84% in individual outdoor sports compared to the pre-COVID-19 period.

Practically, however, the athletic influence has created a new look that’s fresh for current fashion trends. “It’s related to the androgynous and metaverse aspect. This wraparound frame and more of a cat’s eye, we’re developing something like that for Moncler and Max Mara – it’s something we interpret both in shape and form. attitude,” Beccarini said.

But when looking at the trend more broadly, it refers to the fashion industry’s now unbridled mix of comfort and style. Eyewear executives believe this is an important trend to follow in order to ensure lasting relevance.

For Massimiliano Maccanti, vice president of design and product development at Marchon, the trend is just an extension of what the wider fashion industry is experiencing. He recently led the design of Victoria Beckham’s latest runway eyewear, drawing inspiration from an archival Nike design produced for athletes at the Olympics. Similar treatments are under consideration for licensed partners such as Lacoste, DKNY and Ferragamo.

“We see this trend not only in eyewear, but also in clothing, footwear and accessories. This transformation of performance in the space of fashion and luxury is not for soon. We see that luxury brands need to express themselves in this segment and translate it in a more fashionable way. It’s a performance frame combined with glamour, without sacrificing comfort and durability — I think it’s going to stick more and more,” he said.