Vintage Carrera & Carrera Porsche Design Sunglasses

Carrera began as a sports brand in 1956 with the introduction of Carrera ski goggles and helmets. From the beginning, the company worked in collaboration with athletes to design and manufacture high performance eyewear that had excellent optics but was much lighter and comfortable to wear than glass lenses. Carrera entered the non-sports consumer market after 3 years of development when they introduced the Porsche Design brand of sunglasses in 1979. Carrera Porsche Design sunglasses were a completely unique, different, and revolutionary line of sunglasses. They evidenced the best of Austrian and German innovation, creating the first consumer sunglasses that offered readily interchangeable lenses of different colors via clips and a unique hinged nose bridge. In addition, Carrera designed and manufactured incredible folding sunglasses with multiple hinge points that allowed it to fold into a space no larger than a single lens. Carrera Porsche Design lenses were surprisingly light yet offered excellent visual acuity and 100% UV protection for the eyes. Most Carrera sunglasses with interchangeable lens come with a hard black case shaped to suit the frames precisely, and the top has a velcro closure that holds a felt pouch which stores the spare lenses.

 

Click to see early Carrera advertising 1980s - 1990s!

 

While Carrera still makes sunglasses today, they like many designers have allowed their logo to take prominence in the design - a trend we do not adhere to at Vintage Designer Sunglasses. We like vintage Carrera sunglasses from the late 1970s - 1990s, a period which was characterized by the Porsche Design 5621 and slightly larger 5623 models. These featured interchangeable lenses which most commonly included a subtly photochromatic brown lens and a smoky gray lens that grew darker in sunlight. Variations of these colors are also avidly sought by collectors and fashion aficionados including blue photochromatic and rose colored lenses. Frames can be found in a matte black carbon fiber material as well as all gold, all silver, and a combination of gold and silver. All Carrera sunglasses are well marked with the maker name and logo, Made in Austria, a serial number, and sometimes a U.S. patent number.

 

Click to see a 1980s Carrera optical shop brochure featuring Porsche Design Folding and Sport sunglasses!

 

Like many higher end consumer items, Carrera sunglasses are extensively reproduced in Asia and cheap sunglasses. At Vintage Sunglasses Shop, we take great care to vet every pair of vintage sunglasses we sell for period authenticity.

 

You can see our entire selection of vintage Carrera and Carrera Porsche Design sunglasses for sale in our Vintage Carrera sunglasses Photo Gallery or use our award winning website search below. Thanks for visiting and shopping at the Vintage Sunglasses Shop, the world's largest vintage sunglasses store online since 1998.

Get cool and eclectic vintage fashion style and quality in men's and women's sunglasses, and don't be fooled by fakes. See our entire inventory of vintage Carrera & Carrera Porsche Design sunglasses all on one page in our Carrera sunglasses photo gallery or with complete descriptions in our listing gallery.

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