If you take a look at the 'Trends' item in the menu bar of our website, you'll notice a number of different trend selections through which you can filter your shopping results. At the time of this writing, one of the more popular trends was the brow bar. It might still be trendy years from now. Time will tell. Either way, a brow bar is to sunglasses what icing is to cake.
It is a timeless design feature that dates to the earliest aviator sunglasses. Brow bars still dominate the aviator category, but you can find other styles that utilize it. Right now, consumers seem to love it.
We Don't Shape Eyebrows
Before we get into explaining the brow bar and how it is utilized in eyewear frame design, let us talk about what the brow bar is not. Google the term and you are likely to find that almost all the results relate to eyebrow shaping. Unfortunately, the beauty industry has co-opted the term 'brow bar' to describe a specialized salon where you can go to get your eyebrows shaped.
That type of brow bar is apparently pretty trendy right now. That's fine, except that we don't shape eyebrows in the fashion sunglasses business. What we do here at Olympic Eyewear has nothing to do with eyebrow shaping. We sell bulk sunglasses at wholesale prices. Likewise, you buy designer sunglasses from us and sell them at retail.
The Sunglasses Brow Bar
Returning to the main topic of this post, a brow bar on a pair of sunglasses is a single bar that runs across the top of the frame. It connects the two halves of the frame. Underneath is a separate bridge and nose piece. If there is no separate bridge, you don't have a brow bar. Instead, you have either a single, molded one-piece plastic frame or a metal frame held together by a bridge.
In some cases, a brow bar is necessary to provide much-needed stability to the frames. This is usually the case with metal frames in the aviator style. The brow bar actually holds the two halves together. But in other cases, particularly where you are talking plastic frames with a molded bridge, the brow bar is only an aesthetic feature.
It Adds a Bit of Class
Whether functional or merely aesthetic, the brow bar adds a bit of class to a pair of sunglasses. It also adds a bit of elegance by closing the gap between both sides of the frame rather than leaving it open for everyone to stare at your upper nose.
Without a brow bar, you are relying on the bridge to hold the two sides of the frame together. That's fine, but the design tends to focus attention on the nose. People who are subconscious about that particular part of the body might prefer that others don't look at it.
A Look for Everyone
The brow bar is a classic look dating back decades. It seems to come and go in terms of its trendiness. It is in right now, but who knows how long the current obsession with brow bars will continue? The good news is that there is a look for everyone. Even when the brow bar fad settles down, there will be other styles your customers will love.
As far as sunglasses go, the brow bar is like icing on the cake. It is that extra bit of pizzazz that makes an already good-looking pair of sunglasses look even better. What do your customers think? Are they brow bar fans?