Rapha’s latest eyewear range has all the features of highly technical sports sunglasses, but they look like a pair of high fashion shades.
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Rapha say the City Glasses are “styled for everyday living while possessing the technical functionality required of sports eyewear”. The Italian-made shades weigh just 30g, which is lighter than most sports-specific pairs, and have a two-position locking hinge system to keep them secure on the move.
Manufactured in Italy, the lenses from Carl Zeiss are scratch-resistant, hydrophobic and oleophobic for visual clarity. The brown lens version offer the least light transmission at under 10%, and the green transmit just 12.81%.

The Rapha City glasses in tortoiseshell colours
The arms are made with tough stainless steel, with a cotton-based material on the temple grips so the shape can be customised to the rider’s head. The frames are made from Mazzucchelli Italian acetate that is both lightweight and durable.
The City Glasses are available in five different colours, and the lenses are prescription ready. They’re retailing at £160 on Rapha’s website.

4 thoughts on “Rapha unveil new City Glasses collection”
Neither expensive nor niche
Neither expensive nor niche enough.
Next.
Really nice, good alternative
Really nice, good alternative to Tom Ford et al.
” the green transmit just 12
” the green transmit just 12.81%” Fick. For £160 for this vaguey Ray-ban esque tat I would have been in at 12.82%, but they have blown it.
And: “the lenses are prescription ready. ” WTF?
Bit of an expensive niche too
Bit of an expensive niche too far. They’ll look daft if you’re in cycling gear, but riding to the shops, why would I need to spend £160 on some special sunglasses?
It’s Rapha though, so someone will buy them to go with their chamios cream that apparently smells of mont ventoux.