Persol
Founded 1917 · Turin, Italy · Giuseppe Ratti
Persol was founded in Turin in 1917 to protect the eyes of airmen and racing drivers, and everything that sets it apart comes from that: the flexible Meflecto temple, the silver arrow on the hinge and lenses designed for real sun before they were an object of fashion. The name is a contraction of "per il sole".
History
Giuseppe Ratti, who owned an optician's in Turin, began in 1917 making protective goggles for airmen and motorists. In 1938 he patented the Meflecto system, an articulated temple with cylinders that yields to the pressure of the head, still the house's technical signature today and the reason a Persol feels different when you put it on. The 649, from 1957, was designed for Turin's tram drivers, who needed a large lens against the dust; Marcello Mastroianni wore it in Divorce Italian Style in 1961 and made it an icon. The 714, the folding version of the 649, is the one Steve McQueen wore. In 1995 the house passed to Luxottica.
Iconic models
649 (1957)
Designed for Turin's tram drivers. Mastroianni made it an icon in 1961.
714 (1962)
The folding version of the 649. It is Steve McQueen's model, and the first folding sunglasses in history.
Meflecto system (patented 1938)
The temple of articulated cylinders that yields under pressure. Still the house signature.
Worth knowing
The 714 was the first folding pair of sunglasses in the world. Steve McQueen's sold at auction in 2006 for more than seventy thousand dollars.
Persol at Reserva de Marcha
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