Bolle Celebrates 130th Anniversary!

This year Bollé is celebrating it's 130th anniversary! Since 1888 Bollé have been constantly refining their trademark combination of fit, fashion and comfort for those athletes, runners, skiers, cyclists, sailors, golfers, motorcyclists and sportspeople around the world who crave the highest quality sunglasses and goggles for performance and protection.

Bollé's mission has always been to "provide the right technology for the right use", with the brand's rich heritage built on its constant desire to innovate, create and revolutionise. 

From pioneers in eyewear fashion, to being positioned as one of the industry leaders in sports performance, the consistency of the quality of Bollé's products has been the driving force behind the brand's success for almost a century and a half.

The style and performance of Bollé's products are traits that athletes have come to rely on. With the brand's latest winter collection being another standout range, Bollé is clearly looking to build on this legacy for many years to come!

1888 - Creation of the brand by Séraphin Bollé In Oyonnax (france).

Bollé was one of the first companies to use a newly developed celluloid at the turn of the century. This material becomes the basis for bollé products during those early decades.

1915 – First Bollé factory

1918 - Georges Bollé, the son of Seraphin, introduces Bollé Products to England.

The brand launches its first sunglasses  and becomes  quickly the pioneer of molded nylon, creating products  that meet the highest standards  of safety.

In 1937, georges  bollé creates his first collection. “Wherever  The Sun Shines, You’ll See Thurgar Bollé” proclaims the first advertising campaign.

Georges Bollé and his English Friend, H. Thurgar, form Thurgar Bollé and greatly expand the brand’s manufacturing and distribution.

1934 - Bollé starts the production of optical glasses with prescription lenses.

For years, Bollé sets the fashion and marketing pace in sunglasses  going so far as to use a floating showroom  on a converted 136-foot minesweeper.  The boat even had a reserved area on the Thames, just next to Big Ben!

1950 - Safety glasses and goggles complete Bollé’s range.

1956 - Creation Of The Famous “Cat-Eye” Shaped Sunglasses.  Bollé Also Becomes The Supplier Of Well- Known Brands Such As Ray Ban And Vuarnet.

1958 - The French cycling champion Louison Bobet becomes one of the first bollé brand ambassadors and participates in the Tour De France with the model “nylon grand sport”.

1960 - Already  established  as a world leader  in protective  eyewear,  Bollé launches  its first ski goggle line and starts collaborating with ski champions (starting with the French national team), a long-lasting tradition of partnership with the finest winter sports athletes.

1968 - Bollé intensifies  its strong sponsorship support of prestigious  athletes.  From this date onwards, the brand will always maintain  a formidable  team of athletes  with the most talented champions of its core sports (skiing, cycling, and many more).

1970 - Introduction of the Carbo-Glas, first polycarbonate lens protected with pure quartz.

Bollé receives the international award  for innovation at silmo for the creation of the first optical clip adaptable to sports glasses Called S.O.S (Sport Optical System).

Bollé puts innovation at the core of its strategy. From the early days, its visionary approach explains the brand’s success. The development of lenses that protect eyes from car headlamp lights in the early days of the company is a very good example.

1973 - Goggle screens and glasses lenses are equipped with anti-fog treatments.

1984 - Bollé creates lenses equipped with filters providing an additional layer of protection against harmful screen light.

1986 - Bollé creates the Brigitte  Bardot sunglasses collection.   The same year, following the involvement of the brand in tennis, bjorn borg becomes a bollé ambassador and namesake of a dedicated collection.

On the strength of decades of collaboration with top cycling athletes including team Banesto, Once Or Orica Greenedge,  Bollé launches its first line of cycling helmets. Today  the brand offers  cycling, mountain bike and urban cycling products  and keeps on innovating to develop the ranges.

2007 - Bollé launches its first line of ski helmets, becoming a front-line player in the winter sports landscape. Staying true to its dna, the brand is not afraid to innovate and to explore creative options. Today’s  helmets  propose the latest in winter technologies  to suit winter sport amateurs as well as competition requirements.

2014 - Launch Of The Bollé Sport Protective program with tony parker as ambassador. the program wins the international award Silmo D’or in the sports  category.

2018 - Bollé launches  its most cutting-edge  lens technology,  phantom.  Developed  in partnership with Essilor Sun Solution, phantom lens technology redefines your vision. Industry leading optical clarity and light-adaptive lens technology allow what seems invisible to be revealed.

Now, over 130 years later, Bollé products are distributed and worn all over the world. Bollé has developed a particular strength in the specialty markets of snow sports, water sports, golf, tennis, cycling and outdoor, as well as eyewear that meets everyday needs and styles.

Crafting  every detail, Bollé’s designers  perpetuate  the early days’  expert gestures and the design language of the brand.

• Bollé’s latest road cycling helmet and sunglasses,  furo and shifter, both illustrate perfectly this statement.
• Aerodynamic development,  ventilation design and airflow  testing inspired by the automotive industry  has led to the creation  of the brand’s  most advanced  road cycling  helmet  ever developed.
• Shifter is a tribute to the great cycling  history  of  bollé with its distinguishable  retro- futuristic design based on the brand’s famous chrono shield model.

History, expertise,  innovation  and visionary approach are and remain at the core of Bollé’s product development strategy.