Carrera began as a sports brand in 1956 with the introduction of Carrera ski goggles and helmets. From the beginning, the company worked in collaboration with athletes to design and manufacture high performance eyewear that had excellent optics but was much lighter and comfortable to wear than glass lenses. Carrera entered the non-sports consumer market after 3 years of development when they introduced the Porsche Design brand of sunglasses in 1979. Carrera Porsche Design sunglasses were a completely unique, different, and revolutionary line of sunglasses. They evidenced the best of Austrian and German innovation, creating the first consumer sunglasses that offered readily interchangeable lenses of different colors via clips and a unique hinged nose bridge. In addition, Carrera designed and manufactured incredible folding sunglasses with multiple hinge points that allowed it to fold into a space no larger than a single lens. Carrera Porsche Design lenses were surprisingly light yet offered excellent visual acuity and 100% UV protection for the eyes. Most Carrera sunglasses with interchangeable lens come with a hard black case shaped to suit the frames precisely, and the top has a velcrow closure that holds a felt pouch which stores the spare lenses. Sadly, this aspect of the design was not up to par with the engineering of the frames and the lenses because the lens had a tendency to at minimum slip out of the pockets enough to rub against one another. As such, it is quite difficult to find vintage Porsche Design sunglasses with interchangeable lens that are in acceptable vintage condition. To be expected are small marks where the clips meet the lens, but this is not significant as they cannot be seen when wearing the glasses.

While Carrera still makes sunglasses today, they like many designers have allowed their logo to take prominence in the design - a trend we do not adhere to at the Vintage Sunglasses Shop. We like vintage Carrera sunglasses from the late 1970s - 1990s, a period which was characterized by the Porsche Design 5621 and slightly larger 5623 models. These featured interchangeable lenses which most commonly included a subtly photochromatic brown lens and a smokey gray lens that grew darker in sunlight. Variations of these colors are also avidly sought by collectors and fashion aficionados including blue photochromatic and rose colored lenses. Frames can be found in a matte black carbon fiber material as well as all gold, all silver, and a combination of gold and silver. All Carrera sunglasses are well marked with the marker name and logo, Made in Austria, a serial number, and sometimes a U.S. patent number.

Like many higher end consumer items, Carrera sunglasses are extensively reproduced in Asia and cheap sunglasses. At the Vintage Sunglasses Shop, we take great care to vet every pair of vintage sunglasses we sell for period authenticity. There are various ways to identify fake Carrera sunglasses if one knows what to look for. For example, our experts have seen and have a database of all the Carrera styles and marks, and Carrera used some very distinctive features in their frames such as the type of hinge that was used to secure the interchangeable lenses. If you buy vintage sunglasses on auction sites, your chances of buying a fake are not insignificant.

While the new Carrera styles are fine if you like them, the Vintage Sunglasses Shop focuses its attention on Carrera Porsche Design styles and models produced c 2000 and earlier. The unique and eclectic frame styles produced during this period easily explain why these vintage Carrera Porsche Design sunglasses styles often sell for higher prices than brand new Carreras.

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Authentic Vintage Carrera Sunglasses - Don't Be Fooled By Fakes!

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