Xiaomi has put a special pair of sunglasses on their Mi Home crowdfunding platform, a $29 pair that bears the name Turok Steinhardt, and the lenses are made of the same space-age nylon that astronauts’ visors are made of. The shades sport the classic and internationally popular Aviator style, and they come in black, blue, or gold. Thanks to the nylon lenses and lightweight gunmetal frames, the durable shades are remarkably light and thin. The nylon lenses are also responsible for the shades’ ability to filter out huge amounts of UV and scattered light, providing a crisp, clear viewing experience that’s ideal for everything from driving to working out in the sun.
Thanks to the resilience of the chosen materials, these special sunglasses are tough as nails, have no issues with water, can stand up to extreme temperatures that could melt polycarbonate or plastic lenses, and are difficult to bend out of shape. Xiaomi has not poked their head into the world of sunglasses too often before, which may be why they opted to post this pair up on Mi Home to see if there is enough consumer interest to justify actually going through with manufacturing the glasses. The lenses, being as thin and tough as they are because of being made from nylon, are difficult to pry from the frame, which means that they’ll stand up to all but the worst abuse.
Those familiar with space physics may feel that the name is familiar, and for good reason; while Xiaomi did not outright state that they named the new sunglasses after famed theoretical physicist duo Neil Turok and Paul Steinhardt, the spacefaring imagery in the promo on Mi Home seems like a pretty obvious nod to the duo, who co-wrote a book called “Endless Universe.” While this could be a coincidence, the name does not seem to correspond to any sort of designer or a Xiaomi staff member. The glasses are up on Mi Home right now for 199 Yuan, around $29, and presumably only available in China for the time being. Xiaomi did not announce when they will begin production or ship out units if the crowdfunding campaign for the shades happens to hit its goal.
