Type Privately held company Founded 2001 | Website Kaenon.com Parent organization OluKai LLC | |
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Products Sunglasses, Sunglasses Accessories Headquarters Newport Beach, California, United States Founders Darren Rosenberg, Steve Rosenberg Profiles | ||
New kaenon polarized sunglasses at vision expo west 2010
Kaenon is a luxury performance eyewear brand based in Newport Beach, CA. The company was founded in 2001 by elite sailors, and brothers, Steve and Darren Rosenberg. Specializing in performance sunglasses, all Kaenon Polarized sunglasses feature the company's proprietary SR-91 polarized lens material.
Contents
Sunglass Line
The Kaenon sunglass line features three categories: Luxury Performance, Lifestyle Performance and Kore Performance. Both metal alloy and TR-90 frames are offered and are manufactured in Italy. Since the brand manufactures functional sunglasses, the majority of frames offered feature an 8 base curve radius. They have recently added many 6 base curve radius styles to their product lineup.
SR-91 Material
This resin-based lens material was created by Kaenon. SR-91 was certified by Colts Laboratories and received a score of 40 lines of resolution, the highest score offered by the facility for optical clarity and acuity (20 is a passing score; anything beyond 40 is undetectable to the human eye). SR-91 was the first non-polycarbonate material to pass the high-mass impact ANSI Z.87.1 testing and was the first to combine this passing score with the highest marks for clarity.
The proprietary material is used only by Kaenon Polarized and is found in every pair of sunglasses offered by the brand.
Glare 86 Polarizing Element
SR-91 is combined with another proprietary polarizing element Glare 86. The film is 30 µm thin and was engineered to work inside the SR-91 material. The molecules in the Glare 86 polarizing element run in parallel, horizontal lines and act as a filter to block glare. Manufacturing processes encapsulate the Glare 86 film into the SR-91 lens material. Glare 86 also houses the tints and prescribed Light Transmission Levels in each lens.
Industry Reception
There has been a positive reception by the sporting and eyewear industry regarding Kaenon sunglasses and SR-91 polarized lenses. For example, The Gear Junkie reviewed the Kanvas style in 2010 and said, "if you’re gonna drop some money on gear, there’s a lot to be said for paying a little bit more on your optics." GolfTipsMag.com featured Kaenon Hard Kore in their 2011 Buyer's Guide. Outside magazine also included the frame style in their 2011 Summer Buyer's Guide, giving it their second highest rating among sunglass submission, considering value, performance and look.