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Founded in 1917 by Giuseppe Ratti in Turin, Persol began as a manufacturer of specialized eyewear designed for pilots and sports drivers. From the beginning, the brand focused on creating frames that combined practicality with refined design. Over the decades, Persol has maintained this philosophy, delivering eyewear that balances performance, comfort, and Italian elegance. The brand continues to offer a wide selection of eyeglasses suitable for prescription lenses as well as non-prescription wear.
The brand’s name is derived from the Italian “per il sole” — for the sun — and from the beginning, that purpose shaped everything about how the frames were designed and built.
Over the following decades, Persol pioneered technologies that transformed the eyewear industry. The patented Meflecto flexible stem system — the world’s first spring hinge for eyewear — was introduced in the late 1930s and remains a defining feature of every Persol frame to this day. The Silver Arrow hinge, inspired by the form of ancient swords, became the brand’s unmistakable symbol. Crystal lenses, developed to the highest optical standards, became a point of pride.
By the 1960s, Persol was no longer just eyewear for professionals. It was the choice of Greta Garbo, Marcello Mastroianni, Steve McQueen, and a generation of cultural figures who understood that these frames were something genuinely different. Today, Persol remains handcrafted in Italy — over a century after Giuseppe Ratti began in a small courtyard in Turin — holding over 35 international patents and a place in eyewear history that no other brand can claim.
As an authorized Persol dealer, at Konstantin Vision, we carry Persol eyewear at our NYC showroom — frames that carry over a century of Italian craftsmanship on your face.
Persol attracts clients who want the real thing. Not a licensed interpretation of Italian style, but eyewear that was literally invented in Italy, refined over more than 100 years, and still made there today in premium cellulose acetate using techniques that have been developed and perfected across generations.
The collection spans the iconic 649 and 714 models — both still in production in forms true to their originals — through to contemporary optical frames and sunglasses that carry the same Silver Arrow hinge, the same Meflecto temples, and the same commitment to optical quality that has defined the brand since 1917.
Our licensed opticians will guide you through the full Persol range and help you find the frame that fits your face and your lifestyle — backed by over 25 years of optical expertise in New York City, with same-day prescription fitting available through our in-house lens lab.
Every Persol frame carries two details that make it instantly identifiable from any other eyewear in the world.
The first is the Silver Arrow — the metal hinge decoration inspired by ancient sword design that appears on every pair of Persol frames. It is functional and beautiful simultaneously: a hinge mechanism that also serves as the brand’s visual signature, present since the earliest decades of the brand’s history.
The second is the Meflecto system — the two parallel lines visible on the side of every Persol temple. These are not decorative. They are cylinders of nylon or metal incorporated into the acetate stem, intersected with a flexible steel core, creating a small pivot that allows the temple to bend gently to the wearer’s unique head shape without permanent deformation. The result is a frame that reduces pressure against the temples, eliminates the headaches caused by conventional rigid stems, and remains comfortable across the longest days of wear.
The Meflecto system adds ten additional production steps compared to a standard acetate frame. Persol includes it in every pair because comfort is not optional — it is the point. All Persol frames are still handcrafted in Italy from premium cellulose acetate, maintaining the material standard and production integrity the brand has held since 1917.
Two models define Persol’s place in eyewear history — and both remain in production today.
The 649 was created in 1957 specifically for Turin tram drivers, who needed large, protective frames to shield their eyes from air and dust on open-air trams. Its distinctive design was immediately recognized as something exceptional — copied by countless brands over the decades, never surpassed by any of them. The 649 was selected in 1995 to represent the relationship between fashion, design, and technology at an international exhibition, and remains the symbol of Persol design to this day.
The 714 is the 649’s folding counterpart — and the frame that Steve McQueen wore in The Thomas Crown Affair in 1968, cementing Persol’s cultural status in a single iconic image. McQueen’s preference for the 714 was not a product placement; he wore them personally for years before and after the film. His continued advocacy drove sales to new heights and created an association between Persol and effortless masculine style that has never entirely faded. In 2006, a pair from McQueen’s personal collection sold at auction for over $70,000. In 2008, Persol launched the 714 SM — a tribute bearing McQueen’s initials, produced with ten additional manufacturing steps to honor the design’s legacy.
This is Italian heritage in its most honest form: frames born from practical necessity, perfected over decades, and worn by the people who defined their era.
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