Maui Jim's Koko Head sunnies, now available in MauiBrilliant Rx

Maui Jim’s most advanced sunglass lens to date, and the most advanced non-glass lens when it comes to clarity ever to be unveiled, hit New Zealand this month.  

The new Maui Brilliant lens defies conventional thinking, combining clarity similar to glass with glass’ scratch resistance, but just one-third the weight of glass with the high impact resistance of traditional polycarbonate. According to the company, Maui Jim’s “revolutionary” new, proprietary lens material, “MauiBrilliant”, offers almost twice the clarity of traditional lenses together with Maui Jim’s PolarizedPlus2 technology, which the company is famous for.

“Maui Jim is constantly evolving its lens offering,” said Nathan Fisher, director of marketing for Maui Jim Asia, Pacific and Middle East. “The development of the proprietary Maui Brilliant lens is the pinnacle of lens design and technology and continues to cement Maui Jim as the world's most technologically advanced sunglass brand.”

Understanding the optics

Clarity is measured in Abbe values - the dispersion of light in a transparent material. The Abbe number (VD) of a material is defined as:  VD = nD-1/ nF- nc, where nD, nF and nC are the refractive indices of the material at the wavelengths of the spectral lines.

Higher Abbe values indicate better optical clarity, with perfect transparency equalling 100. The Abbe value of the eye is around 45 to 50. Lenses with lower Abbe values produce chromatic aberration, which increases at higher lens powers. This failure to focus all colours to the same convergence point is seen as coloured fringes at the border of an image and some people are far more susceptible to this aberration than others. Maui Jim has always prided itself on designing lenses that are as optically correct as possible to limit distortion and enhance colour.

When choosing sunglass lens materials, consumers often have to compromise either in clarity, weight or scratch resistance. Glass lenses offer high levels of clarity and scratch resistance, but at the expense of weight and impact resistance. Standard 1.50 index glass lenses have excellent clarity with an Abbe value of 59. Traditional polycarbonate lenses have a much lower Abbe value of 30, less-effective scratch resistance, but are lightweight and impact-resistant. Maui Brilliant is a mid-index, non-glass lens, but the company has achieved an incredible Abbe value of 56 plus high impact resistance.

Maui Brilliant is also the lightest lens material for use in the optical industry, explained the company. At 1.00 specific gravity, Maui Brilliant is 61% lighter than glass and 16% lighter than polycarbonate, and will almost float on water, making it the lightest, highest-clarity prescription-ready lens available in the world today.

For the patient

“Maui Brilliant will benefit wearers who spend long periods of time in the sun where heavier glass lenses may become uncomfortable and cause strain or eye fatigue. It’s ideal for men and women who enjoy an active lifestyle and is highly attractive for prescription sunglass wearers,” said Fisher. “All Maui Jim sunglasses also feature the patented, PolarisedPlus2 technology, which blocks 100% of ultra violet rays, eliminates 99.9% of glare and manages 95% of high-energy visible light.” Like polycarbonate lenses, Maui Brilliant lenses are produced using an injection moulding process, so thickness can be better controlled, and the polarised film is very consistent in its location, 0.6mm from the front of the lens, making them superior to cast lenses, he added.

So how does Maui Brilliant break the rules and combine all these desirable lens attributes into one product? Fisher says his lips are sealed. “We can’t reveal the secrets behind the creation of this lens technology, but we can say we think Maui Brilliant will become the superstar of non-glass lens materials.

The company also offers its “Maui Passport difference” on Maui Brilliant lenses, where it makes every prescription lens using its own exclusive digital lens design and cutting-edge direct surfacing technology, he says. “This approach delivers the widest possible field of view, so you can see clear, colourful detail across the entirety of each lens. Our process produces prescriptions that are 10 times more accurate than standard labs and maintains the highest optical and quality standards in the industry.”

Maui Brilliant is available from 1 August in both single vision and progressive prescriptions (combined power +3.00DS to -6.50DS) across its entire range of more than 120 sunglasses styles. It’s also unrestricted by frame and lens combinations (unlike polycarbonate which may react with acetate frames) and is also available in an ever-expanding range of plano styles, says Fisher.