Adding Materials to Sunglasses

I have been wondering how RayBan is able to do this - producing denim/leather coated Wayfarers with engraved text on it
Are there any methods that can be applied to this? Any videos or descriptions?

Image references:

You are free to share any ideas or methods of your own.

I bet its in mold graphics process of some sort or die sublimation. I also want to learn about this process!

The denim glasses are clearly cut from laminated layers of fabric - you can see this in the edges of the glasses themselves and referenced in the layers in the first photo.

Yeah I think the whole process of adding denim to the shades are quite simple, but I am curious about the leather versions, there are designs like this as well on phone cases, here’s a photo:

Is there an open method for this type of design and production?

The Samsung phone is just a molded plastic texture, like the leather texture on a car dashboard.

Do you think it’s the same for the RayBans? And could you elaborate more on ‘molded plastic texture’?

The injection die surfaces are textured, so the molded plastic parts come out with…drum roll…the same texture. Google/Youtube searching ‘molded plastic texture’ brings up a lot of information on this process.

that process requires specific draft angles. I don’t believe the mold cavity and core are textured as such.

Molding leather patterns is common these days - with that said I don’t believe the glasses are using an in mold texture (like the phone cases or cheap dashboards).

Leather can be thermoformed and bonded to plastic or another substrate with adhesive. Most likely they are forming two pieces of leather over the frame and then painting the seam.

We use thermoformed leather for some of our holster products, the thermoformed leather over plastic has the look and feel of leather but the rigidity of something much sturdier.

Are there any images or videos about this process you could show us?

on this page are nice close-ups of the glasses. Says "“Genuine Leather”. You can look closely and see the joining seams on the temples and the lower edge of the frames.

The likely technique? Thin leather, contact glue, hands, pressure. You can do it at home at your kitchen table, takes patience and learning which way to stretch the leather.

Yeah those pictures are much better- if you look at the close up views with them laid face down you can see a bead of the thick paint they used to cover the edges where the two materials meet.

Theres quite a few leather wrapped watches too. Just thinly skived leather, glued to the case and painted edges.

Are there videos that shows how they make these products using the mentioned techniques? I would like to get an idea of how it works visually

route A:
go to youtube
type “glueing leather onto”
look for a thumbnail among the many results and choose what looks interesting.

Route B:
get a tube of contact cement
get a 6 pair of old sunglasses
get some thin leather, calf skin is good from thin gloves
apply a thin layer of glue to one frame and one piece of leather the same rough size
wait 10 minutes
start pressing the two together and holding some tension on the leather.
trim the edge with a sharp knife at the overlap

by the sixth frame you will be more expert at the sunglasses task than likely anyone on these boards.

I did not know that! Thanks for this! Do you specialise in making sunglasses?

My partner and i bet its in mold graphics means of some sort or perish sublimation. I also desire to learn about this method!