There is no doubt that sunglasses are very popular fashion acccessory. But in contrast to their popularity, they have gone through very few iterations.
When the first pairs were made, back in the 12th century by the Chinese. Those sunglasses weren’t that dissimilar to the styles we wear today. They had frames (primitive but strong), lenses (albeit crude slabs of smoked quartz, rather than technical glass), and blended fashion with function.
Bar a few new materials, shapes and details, in fact, the brands manufacturing sunglasses have been phoning it in. And, according to Canadian-Chinese entrepreneur Doris Ngie, a shake-up was long overdue.
After over a decade in the industry (first, as managing director of her family business, apparel distributors GL Group. And then, as co-founder of luxury fashion platform), she launched AMAVII, creators of problem-solving luxury sunglasses, in 2018.
“I saw a real need in the market as I’ve always struggled to find comfortable eyewear because of my wide face,” she says. “I was frustrated with eyewear brands being one-size-fits-all. Even though clothing has a size range, and I knew with my background I could solve this problem.”
After countless prototypes, Ngie settled on three sizes—standard, oversized and petite—which would be available in each of the brand’s styles.
“The brand quickly became a Hollywood favorite—rather organically, through gifting. The celebrities naturally just loved the product, which is a true testament to the quality,” she says.
When Hailey Bieber wore a pair of coral and gold sunglasses on an outing in 2019, the style sold out in all three fits almost immediately. Then, last March, Gigi Hadid wore her pair of 18k gold Benjamins to almost every Fashion Week event, changing AMAVII’s fortunes forever
