THE GUIDE
One pair for the book in the garden and the menu on the terrace
Sunglasses and reading glasses used to be two objects. A pair on the nightstand for the morning paper, another in the bag for the drive. Somewhere in your forties, print starts pulling away — and the small menu on a sunny café terrace becomes suddenly unreadable. Our sunglasses are made to solve that quietly: reading strength built into the lens, so one pair handles the book and the brightness. You do not need a prescription to find the right strength. You can start at your own kitchen table.
What reading strength means
Reading lenses are measured in diopters. At GLAS, our lenses come in four strengths — +1.0, +1.5, +2.0 and +2.5 — which covers the range most people need once close print starts to pull away. Lower numbers give gentle magnification for early presbyopia; higher numbers do more of the work once reading has become genuinely difficult. The difference between two neighbouring steps is small but real: a +1.5 feels a touch softer than a +2.0, and a +2.0 is noticeably stronger than a +1.0. The same scale applies whether the lens is clear or sun-dark.
Age as a starting point
Your age is not a prescription, but it is a reliable starting guess. Most people find their first pair somewhere in these ranges:
| Age | Typical starting strength |
|---|---|
| 40–45 | +1.0 |
| 46–55 | +1.5 to +2.0 |
| 55+ | +2.0 to +2.5 |
If you have never worn readers, start at the lower end of your range. Most people land within half a step of their true strength on the first attempt — and half a step, on our scale, is a real, visible difference.
The at-home test
You will need a printed page — a book, a newspaper, or a letter. Hold the page about 36 cm (14 inches) from your eyes, roughly the distance from your elbow to your hand. In even daylight, cover one eye and read a line of ordinary text. Note whether it sits comfortably in focus or whether your eyes strain to sharpen it. Swap eyes and repeat.
Then try on a pair of readers at your best guess. Text should feel settled, not magnified or tight. If you find yourself between two strengths, choose the weaker one. A pair that is slightly too soft is comfortable for longer sessions; one that is too strong can cause headaches and narrow your focal range to almost nothing. Your reading strength is the same whether the lens is clear or sun-dark — so once you have it, you have it for both.
Why one pair instead of two
Sunglasses with reading strength are, simply, sunglasses you can actually read in. A novel in the garden, a train schedule outside the station, a text message at the harbour — all without reaching for a second pair. Ours pair your reading strength with UV400 protection, so the lens does two jobs at once: close focus and full sun protection. Worn as ordinary sunglasses when you are not reading, they stay on your face all day.
When to see a professional
An at-home test is a starting point, not a replacement for an eye exam. Book an optician if one eye reads noticeably better than the other, if you need very different strengths for a laptop and a book, or if a new pair brings on headaches or blurred distance. Regular eye exams also catch conditions that reading glasses cannot address — worth doing every two years, more often after fifty.
A quiet upgrade
Sunglasses with reading strength are one of the smallest changes you can make to a sunny day, and one of the most generous to your eyes. Our new collection pairs your reading strength with UV400 protection, handcrafted in premium acetate — from warm neutrals to deeper tortoise tones, for spring light and long afternoons.