There’s a new kid on the block. Glarce is an all Australian brand of sunglasses, designed by Simon Larcey, who despite being new to the eyewear industry has come up with a cracking good product. Best of all, it’s 100 per cent Australian made – right down to the packaging.
“I found the only manufacturer in Australia that makes acetate frames and I went to Zeiss to source the lenses from its plant in South Australia. I’ve had kangaroo leather cases made up in Melbourne and the packaging comes from a factory in Dandenong,” said Larcey who plans to take the product overseas as soon as he’s got it established locally.
He said the idea to go 100 per cent Australian came about while living in London. “I’d been there for 17 years and the joke among my friends was that Australia’s known as the sunny country – yet there are no well known Australian sunglass brands.”
He said getting to this stage of the process – designing the frames, and getting manufacturing underway – has been a great fun process, and relatively easy thanks to the help he’s received along the way from designers, retailers and eyewear professionals.
“The most challenging part will be convincing people to take on an unknown brand.” That said, Larcey told mivision the local eyewear professionals he’s consulted about design and manufacture have been impressed with the quality of the sample frames he produced.
Glarce eyewear is starting small, with four styles in a limited selection of colours. Within the collection are a couple of unisex shapes and more feminine frames as well. You can view
them at www.glarce.com; check Facebook.com/glarcewear; Twitter.com/glarcewear or Instagram.com/glarcewear.
