Vintage Carrera Eyewear

Carrera is, without doubt, one of the largest and most popular frame manufacturers of all time. Founded by Wilhelm Anger in 1956 as primarily a sports googles company. Wilhelm chose the name Carrera after the infamous Carrera Pan-American sports car race.

Carrera is known today for their plastic sunglasses and optical frames more than anything else. The reason for this can be traced back to Wilhelm Angers first steps in the job market post World War II. In 1946, Anger began working for a small plastics company that was produced glasses frames from the acetate at a time when this was very much in its infancy.

In 1964, in a truly pioneering move, Anger patented Optyl®. This new form of resin was hypoallergenic, extremely durable, and 20% lighter than all other plastics used in the sunglasses industry. This resin provided permanent elasticity and dimensional stability, meaning it would adapt to the wearer’s face with a “memory effect”. The impact this material had on the industry is felt to this day, with 90% of all high-end sunglasses manufactured with the Optyl® material.

In 1974 Anger moved the company headquarters to Traun in Austria. They doubled down on sports eyewear and in 1977 began their legendary collaboration with Ferdinand Porsche. Over the 1980s, Carrera sunglasses were seen at almost every major sporting event from the America's cup to the Winter Olympics.

Whilst they dominated the sports industry, they also increased the number of brands that they were producing under license throughout this period, to include Hugo Boss, Movado and Boeing. We have many of these rare Carrera frame collaborations available so get yourself some eyewear history today.

Some of the most iconic frames worn in films and TV over this period were produced by Carrera. Including the frames worn by Al Pacino in Scarface and the Carrera 5512 as worn by Don Johnson in Miami Vice.

The phenomenal enduring success of vintage Carrera eyewear comes down to the sporty and futuristic designs they release. The development of Optyl® meant that a lot of the early Carrera designs were able to manifest never been seen before forms and shapes. Whilst vintage Carrera eyewear takes inspiration from the demands placed upon athletes, they firmly cemented the view that glasses can be more than just vision and sunglasses more than just protection.

Enjoy browsing our collection of vintage Carrera eyewear and get in touch if you have any questions at all about these incredible frames.