Most men buy sunglasses on the logo. The makers worth knowing compete on something else: materials, lens quality, hinge engineering, and where the frame is actually cut. This note follows a tiered ranking from the Miko PS style channel, working up from under-the-radar connoisseur brands to the finest eyewear houses in the world, with my notes on what each is known for and where to buy in Germany and the rest of Europe.
What separates a great pair from a branded one
The gap between a designer-licensed frame and a real maker comes down to a few things:
- Material. Quality frames use block acetate (cut and polished from sheets, warms to the face) or titanium (light, hypoallergenic, springy). Cheap frames use injection-moulded plastic that yellows and cracks. The rarest use buffalo horn, hand-shaped per piece.
- Lenses. Mineral glass gives the sharpest optics and best scratch resistance but is heavier; polycarbonate is lighter and impact-proof. Polarized kills glare off water and roads; photochromic lenses darken with UV. Serengeti built its name on both.
- Hinges. The tell of a serious frame. Screwless designs (ic! berlin's steel hinge, Lindberg's spiral hinge) never loosen and never need a jeweller's screwdriver. Five-barrel hinges signal handwork.
- Where it's made. The two capitals are Sabae (Fukui, Japan), where most of this list's Japanese frames are cut, and the Jura region of France and Italy's acetate ateliers. "Made in Japan" or "Made in Germany" on eyewear means something.
- Fit and proportion. A great pair sits level, grips without pinching, and matches your face width. No material saves a frame that fits badly.
The tiers
1. Connoisseur picks (hidden gems)
Under-the-radar names that people who know, know. Strong craft, quiet branding.
| Brand | Origin | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Serengeti | Italy | Photochromic + polarized mineral-glass driving lenses. The connoisseur's driver's sunglass. |
| Sama Eyewear | USA / Japan | Handmade luxury since 1998, Japanese acetate and titanium, low profile. |
| Kaneko Optical | Japan | Sabae maker since 1958, everything in-house from design to frame. |
| ic! berlin | Germany | Screwless 0.5mm spring-steel hinge, 100% made in Berlin. |
| Silhouette | Austria | Rimless titanium, the Titan Minimal Art weighs 1.8 grams. |
| EYEVAN 7285 | Japan | Understated Sabae craft, "eyewear as fashion" since 1972. |
| Moscot | USA | NYC heritage since 1915, the Lemtosh is an icon. |
| Traction Productions | France | Bold colour and shape, made in France. |
| Morgenthal Frederics | USA | Buffalo-horn specialists since 1913, each pair hand-crafted in Germany. |
2. Artisans
A step up in price and presence. These are the names style people name-drop.
| Brand | Origin | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| DITA | USA / Japan | Discreet luxury since 1995, up to 8 months and 350 steps per frame. |
| Mykita | Germany | Handmade in Berlin, patented steel hinges and the MYLON 3D-printed line. |
| Cutler and Gross | UK / Italy | London since 1969, thick acetate handmade in its own Italian atelier. |
| Chrome Hearts | USA | Sterling-silver detailing, cult status, priced accordingly. |
3. Excellence without compromise
The threshold where eyewear becomes a serious object.
| Brand | Origin | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Cartier Eyewear | France | The Panthère and Santos lines, gold and precious detailing, maison pedigree. |
| Barton Perreira | USA / Japan | LA since 2007, pure Japanese titanium and acetate, the James Bond frames. |
| Lindberg | Denmark | Screwless spiral-hinge titanium, made to order, as light as 1.9 grams. |
| Matsuda | Japan | Ornate hand-engraved titanium, up to 250 steps in Sabae. |
4. The pinnacle
The two names the video puts at the top, and it is hard to argue.
Jacques Marie Mage is the collector's brand. LA-designed, handcrafted in Japan and Italy in numbered limited runs, each pair boxed like a rare watch with a leather case and booklet. Prices sit in the four figures and hold value on the secondary market. If sunglasses can be an investment piece, these are it.
Masunaga 1905 is the oldest eyewear maker in Japan, founded in Fukui in 1905 and now past its 120th anniversary. It is the only Japanese house that runs every step from raw material to finish under one roof. Quieter than Jacques Marie Mage, more about pure craft than hype.
Two heritage buys
06 Sep 2026
Neither of these appears in the Miko PS ranking, and both belong here. They are not hidden gems and not collector pieces. They are the 2 old houses still doing the unfashionable thing: a frame built to be worn for decades, and a lens made of glass.
Persol
A trendy frame warps by the second summer and the lens scratches on its own. Persol has been Italian for over a century, with a flexible arm and a glass lens. You buy it once in a lifetime and you can still repair it 10 years later.
The specifics behind that:
- 1917, Turin. Giuseppe Ratti, a photographer and optician, made protective eyewear for pilots and tram drivers. The name is short for per il sole, for the sun.
- The Meflecto arm, patented in the 1930s, is the reason the fit lasts. Small nylon or steel cylinders threaded on a steel wire let the temple flex to any head instead of being bent into shape once and staying there. Nothing has replaced it in 90 years.
- Crystal glass lenses, not injected plastic. No chromatic or optical aberration, full UV absorption, and they do not scratch the way a coated resin lens does.
- The 649 was drawn in 1957 for Turin tram drivers who needed to keep wind and dust out. The 714 is the folding version, the pair Steve McQueen wore in The Thomas Crown Affair.
- Still handmade in the historic factory at Lauriano, province of Turin.
Say the awkward part out loud: Luxottica bought Persol in April 1995, so it sits inside EssilorLuxottica today. That is the opposite of the independent-maker story running through the rest of this note. It also has not moved the production out of Turin or swapped the glass for resin, which is more than most acquired names can claim. Spare temples, screws and lenses go through Persol service and authorized opticians, which is what makes the 10-year repair real rather than a slogan.
Vuarnet
Nearly all the lenses sold today are plastic injected into moulds. These are still mineral glass, which scratches much less and does not distort the colour. They weigh more. You notice it after 5 minutes, and then you do not any more.
- 1957, Annecy. Founded by the skier Jean Vuarnet with the optician Roger Pouilloux. Pouilloux and Joseph Hatchiguian invented the Skilynx lens the same year.
- Skilynx lifts contrast and depth perception in flat light, which is why it was made for downhill skiing at all. Jean Vuarnet won the 1960 Olympic downhill wearing them.
- The glass is still made in the French factory, on methods that have barely changed. Mineral glass is also the honest environmental answer: natural materials, recyclable, and a lens that outlives 3 sets of resin ones.
- The lens range is the reason to shop here rather than the frames: Skilynx for snow and flat light, Greylynx for neutral colour, Nautilux for water, PX3000 for the brightest conditions.
The weight is the whole trade, and the way to think about it is that you notice it once. Glass is roughly twice the mass of polycarbonate. On a 40mm lens that is a few grams, and the nose pads settle within the first coffee. What you get back is optics that stay sharp for a decade and colours that are actually the colours.
Ownership caveat again: Vuarnet is an LVMH maison, produced through Thélios. The French factory and the mineral glass survived that, and the lens catalogue is still the best argument for the brand.
Which one
| Persol | Vuarnet | |
|---|---|---|
| Buy it for | The frame and the fit | The lens |
| Made in | Lauriano, Italy | France |
| Lens | Crystal glass | Mineral glass, 4 tints worth knowing |
| Best at | All day, every day, any outfit | Glare: snow, water, high altitude, driving |
| Weight | Normal | Heavier, and you stop noticing |
| Owned by | EssilorLuxottica since 1995 | LVMH, via Thélios |
Persol if you want one pair for the next 20 years. Vuarnet if the light is the problem you are actually solving.
Where to buy in Germany and Europe
Three routes, depending on the brand.
Buy direct from the European makers. Several of the best names are on home turf and have their own stores or a dense optician network:
- ic! berlin - flagship in Berlin-Mitte, made in the city.
- Mykita - own shops in Berlin, plus Vienna, Zurich and beyond.
- Lindberg - made to order through a wide optician network across Germany.
- Persol (Italy) and Vuarnet (France) - both sell direct and sit in most good German opticians. Ask to handle the glass lens before you buy.
- Silhouette (Austria) and Cutler and Gross (London) both sell direct and through opticians. Cartier sits in its own boutiques.
Premium multi-brand boutiques for the Japanese and American names (Jacques Marie Mage, DITA, Masunaga, Matsuda, Barton Perreira):
- Leidmann - Munich, strong on Jacques Marie Mage and DITA.
- eye-oo - Milan, ships across the EU.
- Pretavoir - UK, ships to the EU, official Cutler and Gross stockist.
Mainstream online for Serengeti, Silhouette and ic! berlin at everyday prices: Mister Spex.
Buy the collector-tier frames (Jacques Marie Mage, Masunaga, Matsuda) from an authorized dealer only. The secondary market and marketplace listings are full of fakes.
Styling and care
Pairing with a watch. Match metals the way you would a belt and shoes. Warm tortoise or honey acetate sits well with a yellow-gold or bronze watch; cool grey or black acetate and titanium rimless frames go with steel and titanium tool watches. Tortoise is the do-everything default. Black acetate reads sharpest and most formal. Rimless titanium (Silhouette, Lindberg) all but disappears on the face, the move for a dressed, low-key look.
Face shape, quickly. Round faces suit angular frames (rectangular, geometric); square and angular faces soften with round or oval shapes; oval faces wear almost anything.
Care.
- Rinse with water before wiping. Dry grit is what scratches lenses, not the cloth.
- Microfibre only, never a shirt tail or paper.
- Store in a hard case. Never lens-down on a surface.
- Keep them off the car dashboard. Heat warps acetate and delaminates lens coatings faster than anything else.
- Have the hinges and screws checked once a year at an optician. On screwless brands this is a non-issue.
Further reading
- These are the best sunglasses brands in the world - the Miko PS video this note is built from.
- Jacques Marie Mage and Masunaga 1905 - the two pinnacle makers, worth reading their story pages.
- Lindberg and ic! berlin - the best screwless engineering, both European and easy to try in Germany.