And it means fresh, contemporary designs inspired by the latest trends in eyewear. From our studios in New York, London, Milan, Mexico City and Hong Kong, our designers continually search the globe for the newest looks and inspirations.
They then expertly blend color, proportion and details to create styles that are as uniquely wearable and comfortable as they are affordable. The company passed through many different owners since the s. It is now a subsidiary of Aai. Aai, formerly Accessories Associates, Inc. Foster Grant maintains sales and marketing facilities as well as warehouses in Rhode Island.
Its manufacturing facilities are located in Rhode Island and overseas in Asia and Africa. The company also sells its sunglasses in Mexico, Canada, England, and Germany, and is expanding into other European markets and into South America as well. Sunglasses were not popular until the 20th century, but they were invented far earlier.
The mastermind behind tinted lenses was a London inventor and instrument maker, James Ayscough. Ayscough specialized in manufacturing microscopes, and also made spectacles. In he devised glasses with green or blue-tinted lenses, because he thought plain lenses created a harsh glare.
In ensuing years, people with weak or delicate eyes wore tinted lenses. These early sunglasses were far from considered fashionable, as they were associated primarily with invalids. The glamour we now associate with sunglasses came from the spectacles the Foster Grant Company began selling in the seaside resort town of Atlantic City, New Jersey in The Foster Grant Co. The two men went into business together to manufacture women's hair accessories. The company apparently did well at first, but then ran into trouble in the mids when women's hair styles changed from long to short.
Foster Grant was a pioneer in plastic injection molding. Leominster eventually became a plastics manufacturing mecca, and now holds the National Plastics Center and Museum. But Foster Grant may have been a little ahead of its time in the s, and it took a while before the company had a viable product. In Foster and Grant sold a half-interest in their firm to Goody Products, a New Jersey manufacturer of hair ornaments and accessories. Foster Grant was able to produce sunglasses cheaply at its Leominster plant.
Although it displayed the dark glasses with other medical aides at Woolworth's, these were the first sunglasses sold as an over-the-counter consumer item. Previously, people wanting sunglasses had to have them made to order by an optometrist. Foster Grant sunglasses became popular among fun seekers in Atlantic City, and the fad spread quickly.
Very soon, movie stars like Greta Garbo were wearing them. The king of Egypt sported a pair. The image of sunglasses changed completely. No longer were they for people with weak eyes. They offered an air of luxury and mystery to men and women alike.
Steve Ainsworth, writing on the history of sunglasses in Optician March 14, , claims it is significant that sunglasses became popular during the depths of the Great Depression. Foster Grant glasses gained wide popularity, though the company soon had other significant competitors.
Foster Grant's Leominster factory also turned out a variety of other injection-molded plastic goods. By , the company owned more than injection molding presses, and it made barrettes, curlers, and combs as well as sunglasses. It continued to make and sell sunglasses, and it did very well immediately after the war. Its parent company, Goody, was not as profitable, and Goody frequently borrowed against its Foster Grant stock. In Foster Grant initiated an advertising campaign that became a 20th century classic: "Who's behind those Foster Grants?
The Foster Grant name gained wide exposure with its celebrity ads. Although the rich and famous wore Foster Grants in its advertising, the company sold its glasses at mass marketers like Woolworth's and Walgreens.
Foster Grants were moderately priced. Use Restrictions Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection. Related Material Special Collections Research Center has numerous holdings in the areas of plastics and industrial design. CEG Return to top. Ask a question. Request a visit.
Overview of the Collection. Annual reports 2 folders. Binder - printed with a Foster Grant Logo on its cover. Company history , undated - company stationery, annual meeting of stockholders booklet, company timeline and history clipping, and 3 commemorative 50 year anniversary booklets circa Company newsletter, Forum and Gazette 5 folders. Heart-lung pump - correspondence between Dr. Herman Sugarman, and Robert Ward 2 folders. Miscellaneous - Company order forms and manufacturer letters, including those from the Mazzucchelli company.
Buildings - photographs and negatives of Foster Grant company. Die molds - series number unknown 10 photographs. Die molds - incomplete series , some include an article number example: Die Mold , Article 99 photographs. Die molds - incomplete series , some include an article number example: Die Mold , Article photographs.
Other eye glasses - ski goggles and eye shields. Sunglasses - photographs and negatives of displays and models 2 folders. Miscellaneous - photographs and negatives of beach scene and typed letters.
0コメント