When is comes to sunglasses Persol is quite the Italian institution, having been conceived way back in 1917. Turin-based optician Giuseppe Ratti began to develop glasses with tinted lenses for pilots and motor-racing drivers and before long Persol, which translates as ‘for the sun’ was born. By the 1950s the label had become popular with the domestic market and was producing classic frames that have been influential ever since. Today the brand still innovates and not only produces fashion-focused frames but technological models designed for the world’s most extreme conditions.