Vintage Wayfarers

Vintage Wayfarer

          Wayfarers have been made by Ray Ban since 1952, and just recently have come back into style. Celebrities had begun wearing vintage wayfarers again, and Ray-Ban designers noticed a drastic jump in prices on eBay. In 2007, Ray-Ban reintroduced the vintage wayfarer (RB2140) with Original Wayfarer, New Wayfarer, and Wayfarer Folding styles.

          Vintage wayfarers became massively popular in the early eighties with the movie release "The Blues Brothers". Even though roughly 18,000 pairs of wayfarers sold, the vintage wayfarer was still on the verge of discontinuation.

          Vintage wayfarers' luck would soon change though, because in 1982 Ray-Ban signed a $50,000 dollar deal with Unique Product Placement to put vintage wayfarers in movies and television shows. Between the years 1982 and 1987, vintage wayfarers appeared in over 60 television shows and movies. When Tom Cruise put on his wayfarer sunglasses in the movie "Risky Business", over 360,000 pairs were sold that year, marking the beginning of the vintage wayfarer phenomenon. Other celebrities caught wearing vintage wayfarers during the eighties was:

Newer Wayfarer Model

• Michael Jackson
• Billy Joel
• Johnny Marr
• Blondie's Debbie Harry
• Madonna
• Elvis Costello
• Members of U2
• Jack Nicholson
• Anna Wintour

Vintage wayfarers were chosen as "Sunglasses of the decade" in the 80's, but as the 90's came, wayfarers then became unpopular.

           The vintage wayfarers revival in 2007 has skyrocketed into another phenomenon with the celebrities, and people world wide. Ray-Ban now has a website, offering vintage wayfarer sunglasses in all different shapes and colors. As of right now, it seems like vintage wayfarers are here to stay.

Want your own pair of vintage wayfarers? Click here.