Solaris. Cubitts — WAWWA

The idea began with a pair of old Nighthawk glasses, driving glasses from decades past, with a yellow lens built not to dim the world but to lift it, cutting glare and filtering blue light so the wearer could see more clearly at night. For a city under grey skies most of the year, the idea of a small sunshine filter, carried rather than left in a drawer, felt worth chasing together.

WAWWA designs garments around versatility — pieces intended to move between environments, uses and ways of wearing — and the frame was approached with that same idea. Rather than designing something around a particular look or moment, the starting point was a familiar rectangular form, honed and sharpened through a series of tight chamfers, angled proportions and precise transitions across the brow, lens profile and lugs. Small changes, but they make the difference: a classic shape, given a distinctly utilitarian character.

Cubitts' signature 6mm core extends through the temples into a looped tip, designed to accommodate an S-clip or a custom WAWWA lanyard — and, for this collaboration, drilled to take a paracord neck strap that arrives unattached, for the wearer to tie themselves. It's a considered detail: a small, deliberate piece of unfinished business, handed back to whoever's wearing them, so that everyone who wears a pair has had some hand in finishing it.

Rather than borrowing details directly from WAWWA's clothing, the collaboration looked at the ideas behind it, versatility, utility and thoughtful construction, and worked out how those could translate into a frame. The connection is in the approach, rather than the aesthetic.

Getting the shape right took several rounds back and forth between London and Manchester. Small adjustments to the angle and proportions until it sat properly on the face. The colour was easier to agree on: Coconut and khaki, chosen together from Cubitts' full acetate library at The Yard.

Solaris is available in two combinations: Coconut acetate with a yellow lens, and Khaki acetate with a grey lens. The spectacles can be worn, carried, and kept close at hand with the sling bag. Black pairs with Coconut, and green pairs with Khaki, with a very limited number of yellow pairs available in our Manchester store. A natural extension of your daily carry.

Cubitts – WAWWA is a collaboration celebrating modern craft, utility and thoughtful making. Bringing together WAWWA's versatile garments, designed and constructed in Manchester, with Cubitts spectacles, handmade in King's Cross, London.

Different places, different disciplines, connected by a belief in making useful things thoughtfully, and making them well.