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The importance of the perfect fit

The importance of the perfect fit

When it comes to glasses, the concepts of comfort and fit are intertwined. Great fitting glasses are comfortable to wear, durable and created with the highest quality materials. But now, at a time when we’re all making a conscious effort not to accidentally touch our faces, well-fitting glasses aren’t just for comfort – they’re important for hygiene, too. Because you don’t want to be adjusting glasses that are slipping down your nose or digging in where they shouldn’t be.

This is especially pertinent for medical professionals, who hold themselves to the highest hygiene standards, work long hours, and need perfect vision for the important tasks they carry out every day. It’s therefore more important than ever to invest in perfectly fitting eyewear made with impeccable craftsmanship and the utmost precision.

Muriel Lins, a pulmonologist from Belgium, specializes in respiratory diseases and has been involved in clinical trials for respiratory medicine, including for COVID-19. “I’ve been wearing my TMA glasses for years,” she says. “I’m always rushing from patients to meetings, and when I do a clinical examination, I’m constantly moving. It’s nice not to worry about my glasses while examining patients.”

She adds, “Other glasses pinched the bridge of my nose and left red marks. I’d often taken them off and then forget them or leave them lying around! My Silhouette frames are light and easy to wear. After a long day at work, I don’t have the problem of pressure on the nose so I can wear them all day long.”

What research goes into creating the perfect fit?

Silhouette is famed for glasses you can barely tell you’re wearing. No other glasses are as light or well-fitting but what’s the secret? The answer lies in the company’s use of high-tech materials and constant innovation to create next-level comfort.

Rupert Spindelbalker works in Research and Development at Silhouette. “In R&D, we aim to optimize every part of the frame,” he explains. “There are several innovative materials that allow Silhouette glasses to fit perfectly and provide lightweight comfort. For metals, it’s our special titanium alloys and for plastic, an SPX®+ polyamide.

“These materials combine high strength and elasticity in order to adapt the fit to any head size.”

It’s the combination of these seemingly opposite characteristics – unparalleled lightness and incredible inner strength – that result in a unique aesthetic. This is what we call iconic minimalism, a principle that guides Silhouette in the 3,000 new models designed each year.

Innovative materials: SPX®+

SPX®+ is Silhouette’s most innovative eyewear polyamide to date. The trailblazing material weighs less than acetate while being twice as strong. The careful balance between lightness and strength gives a flexible, structurally solid design that keeps its shape even at high temperatures, retaining its integrity and fitting comfortably all day long.

To allow for an optimal fit, the temples are made from a more durable version of SPX®+ which blends into a more flexible material in the adjustable areas. This guarantees optimum adjustability, making unpleasant pressure marks on the nose and ears a distant memory.

Innovative materials: High-tech titanium

Silhouette’s high-tech titanium also combines flexibility and durability to keep its shape day after day.

While it is abundant in its raw form, pure titanium can be expensive to extract. For decades, pure titanium and its high-tech alloys were only used in the aerospace industry. But Silhouette realized its potential in eyewear. “Pure titanium isn’t suitable for the requirements of our design, it would break,” explains Rupert. “The secret to our outstanding quality is in the composition of our alloys.”

Each component of the frame is made from a high-tech titanium alloy that best matches its particular elasticity and strength profile. For example, the temples have more flexibility to mould to the shape of the head while the bridge needs more strength.

As well as being super-light, high-tech titanium is also anti-allergenic, which makes it the most comfortable choice for those suffering from skin conditions, like contact dermatitis.

Flexible, hingeless temples

Silhouette’s iconic minimalism is the result of cutting-edge research, constant development, and absolute precision in terms of design. “We have a minimalistic design philosophy,” explains Gabriel Kirschner, a designer at Silhouette. “Which means that we remove everything unnecessary until we arrive at the lightest glasses and best possible fit.”

Thanks to the flexibility of high-tech titanium, Silhouette’s minimalist designs have featured screwless hinges for years. But some Silhouette models take this one step further, with hingeless frames the temples can slide seamlessly around the contours of the head for a perfect, barely-there fit, every time.

All of Silhouette’s ground-breaking innovations are constantly being refined, redefining the status quo around achieving the perfect fit and delivering the greatest comfort. The result of this relentless focus is a luxury experience you can see and feel.