Oliver Goldsmith launches OG kids' sunglass range: Mini Icons

It is refreshing to see that, at last, children are being catered for at the better end of the eyewear quality spectrum. Oliver Goldsmith joins last month's Sons + Daughters in providing high-end shades for the little guys.

Oliver Goldsmith's Mini Icons collection comprises exact replicas of some of OG’s most iconic styles, such as the Carl (black/orange above) and Sophia (blue above),  but made smaller for the style-savvy adolescents, 4-14 year olds. Hover over images for frame names and the year the grown-up versions were originally made.

Priced at a very reasonable £95, OG Mini Icons are available in February 2012.

Sons + Daughters Eyewear: so slick you'll wish they were bigger

Kids' eyewear is rarely top-quality. It's kind of assumed children's sunglasses will get sat on or lost, so why invest? 

But EWG thinks more frames probably fall apart because they're cheap and poorly made.

So we're interested to hear about Canadian brand Sons + Daughters that says its glasses are "so slick that parents will be wishing they came in big head sizes".

Certainly looks good: we particularly like Lenny in orange... a bit bigger please!

Retro Super Future for all the family: Super Kids sunglasses

Retro Super Future shades for children: Super Kids. More pictures here...

Britney Spears wears Carrera Hot sunglasses while the kids wear Carrerino

[Photo removed due to end of licensing rights]

There was once a time when young girls wanted to look like Britney Spears. I think that's changed now.


Nevertheless Carrera is making the most of the 1980s retro popularity and is already preparing for the next wave of 20- and 30-somethings reminiscing in the year 2028 with the introduction of "Carrerino" especially for the children between about 9 and 13 years old...

"Carrera", "bambino" - see what they've done there?

The Carrera collection of optical frames and sunglasses is designed by Enzo Sopracolle.

Children need to wear sunglasses too

Continuing the cheaper end of the market theme, here's Frank, aged 2 wearing his Mothercare sunglasses.

Get kids wearing sunglasses young and they don't think twice about them. We smother children with factor-50 cream but rarely protect their eyes from UV light.