Celebrate National Sunglasses Day with American Made Shades

By Leigh Raup
Jun 27 2014 |

Happy National Sunglasses Day! Here at the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), we’re looking forward to heading out in the summer sun with our favorite American-made shades!

With Made in America sunglasses from Randolph Engineering, you can make a patriotic fashion statement any time.

Randolph Engineering has a great collection of sunglasses, as well as a variety of accessories to go with them. As the company notes on its website, its mission is to produce and deliver eye wear of great quality for men and women of all ages:

We offer the world’s finest eyewear, handcrafted in The United States of America using the finest components found worldwide and proudly noted as standard military issued.

Established in 1972 in Massachusetts, the eye wear manufacturing company was founded by Polish immigrants Jan Waszkiewicz and Stanley Zaleski. 

In pursuit of the American dream, the two entrepreneurs began by building tooling, dies and machinery for the then-thriving U.S. optical manufacturing industry. Randolph Engineering quickly became one of the leading optical tool and die companies in the country. The company got into the sunglasses business in the late 1970s when it began manufacturing aviator-style sunglasses for the U.S. Air Force. The designs were so popular that Randolph Engineering decided to start selling its sunglasses on the civilian market in the late 1980s.

The company continues to support the armed forces, as EyeStyleBlog reported:

In 2000, Randolph Engineering was awarded its first contract for the Frame of Choice (FOC) spectacle program. This provides soldiers with an alternative to current standard issued military spectacles for the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and NASA.

Most of the machines used to make Randolph Engineering's branded eye wear were built in Randolph, and the company is still owned and operated by the Waszkiewicz and Zaleski families.  

Head to the Randolph Engineering website to check out the company's line of sunglasses, and make sure your sunnys are Made in the USA!

This post was written by AAM Intern Pamela Tom-Jack.

Image via Randolph USA.