While updating our research recently on sunglasses made in the USA, we came across another American made brand that really caught our eye (sorry for the terrible pun) – Saunt Eyewear. The company is one of the more unique ones we’ve come across – all of their frames are handcrafted from a 100% bio-based material, castor bean polyamide, which is made from seed oils. Pretty neat! They have a unique feel to them, unlike anything else on the market.
So, when Tom Kabbash, Founder of Saunt Eyewear, reached out to us over email, we knew we wanted to learn more about the story behind this American made brand. Tom was kind enough to have a little interview with us – the transcript of that interview is below! Our questions are marked with an “AAO” next to them, and Tom’s answers are noted with a “TK.” We hope you enjoy reading about their story as much as we did!
Behind the Scenes of Saunt Eyewear
AAO: Give us a look inside the history of Saunt Eyewear. How did y’all grow up into the company you are today?
TK: I’ve been designing and making eyewear for over 30 years, for many top brands and a couple of my own along the way: sport, lifestyle, goggles, safety, and optical. All of it was made overseas, in Italy, China, Taiwan, Japan, and even Mauritius.
Then I had a part made for a small mold using Multi Jet Fusion, an industrial manufacturing process. When I picked it up, I was blown away by the tolerances, the quality of the material, and the price. Prototyping had always been really expensive. This process brought it to a place where we could actually consider production.
That’s where the light bulb came on. I could see that material as eyewear. That was around 2019, and I launched Saunt in 2022.
The name comes from “saunter,” from a John Muir passage. I liked the feel of it: slow down, take your time.
We mostly make sunglasses, plus readers and prescriptions in the same frames.
AAO: What made you want to get started?
TK: Honestly, it was that picture in my head. I’d spent my whole career sending designs to factories far away. I wanted to see if I could make them myself, right here, and be more involved in every step and detail.
Some of it goes back further. I grew up in Venice Beach in the 80s and 90s. It was a cultural crossroads: surf, skate, art, and design all mixed together.
Growing up surfing, I was always into watching the boards being shaped and glassed. That’s really what got me into design.
AAO: How many U.S. based employees do you have and in what locations?
TK: A bunch of people help make Saunt happen, but they’re all part-time contributors. We work with outside companies in a few areas where we aren’t yet big enough to take on ourselves. We get marketing support from consultants, and local friends and relationships help with many of the smaller pieces, like building our displays and fixtures. When we have big batches to build, I call in my brother and friends to help.
Day to day, though, it’s mostly just me. We’re still a really small company, based in my shop in Encinitas, California. I design the frames and do most of the work myself.
A local lens lab does our prescription lenses. They used to cut our sunglass lenses too, but now we do that in-house as well.
We’re in a few local retailers, but most of our customers have found us online and at events up and down the West Coast. Now we’re growing both: more retail partners and a better online experience.
AAO: Why do you choose to manufacture in the U.S.?
TK: Because I can! I can control everything: the quality, the fit, the materials. If something isn’t right, I fix it here. We make small batches, only what we need, and the money stays local.
When you look at volume and dollars, less than 0.1% of eyewear is actually made in the US. Almost everything comes from overseas.
The frames are made in the US. In my shop, we polish and color them, cut every lens, hand-finish, and assemble each pair. We import the lens blanks from overseas, and some of our metal components.
We try to be open about it all. Our website has a production transparency page that lays out what we make, where we make it, and why we make it there.
It’s not the easiest way to make glasses, but it’s the only way I’ve figured out how to do it.
Our Favorite Saunt Eyewear Products
Check out some of the most popular styles from Saunt Eyewear, including a few notes from Tom.
Nomad
TK: $180. Our best-selling men’s style, and plenty of women wear it too. Rectangle lens, a drop in the bridge, thin temples. Comes in an XL, with or without a diamond texture along the top of the front.
Sky
TK: $180. A women’s cat-eye and one of our first styles. Broad front and sides sculpted with smooth concave surfaces, so it has a slightly oversized look with a medium fit.
Eclipse
TK: $180. A rectangular style, a bit of a throwback to the ’90s wrap. Mostly worn by men but sometimes by women.
Fab
TK: An oversized style, mostly worn by women but sometimes by men.
Bonus: Sky Mesh
TK: Sneak peek: Sky Mesh. Our Sky style with an open mesh structure, the kind of geometry you can’t make the traditional way. Coming soon.
Eyewear With a Unique Look and Feel
AAO: What do your customers love most about Saunt Eyewear and your products?
TK: The weight. People pick them up and can’t believe how light they are, under an ounce on almost every style. Then they notice the texture, and then the fit.
One customer put it better than I can:
“The frames are great. Sort of like river rock or beach stone — smooth, neither rough nor abrasive in the least, not glassy or plastic-y; a nice texture, almost sensuous. Fits perfectly.”
People also think it’s really cool that the frames are made from castor bean oil. We use it because the material has better flex and strength than nylon.
AAO: What makes your products unique vs. the competition?
TK: First and foremost, the look and feel. There’s no other eyewear like this. The frames have a light, textured matte finish and a warmth to the material that people notice the second they pick them up.
That’s really what got me to start Saunt. I wasn’t looking to start another eyewear company. There are tons of companies out there making the same thing: injection-molded sport frames, or acetate fashion frames with metal core wires. This is a different material, with a really different hand and feel.
Beyond that:
- I design them, and we make them here.
- The frame material comes from castor bean oil. We use a process called Multi Jet Fusion, which lets us make the frames ourselves. The light texture is a by-product of that process.
- Under an ounce, with premium polarized polycarbonate lenses in every pair of sunglasses: anti-reflective, oleophobic, and scratch-resistant coatings.
- Scratch a lens and we re-lens it: $45 for polarized sunglasses, $35 for readers.
- Readers and prescription come in the same frames.
The Future
AAO: What gets you excited about the future of Saunt Eyewear? Where are you headed?
TK: Design is what excites me most. The process we use to make our raw frame parts lets us create geometries you’ve never really seen in eyewear. Shapes that couldn’t be made the traditional way.
A sneak peek: Sky Mesh. It’s our Sky style, but with an open mesh structure that shows what this process enables us to do. It’s the kind of thing that really inspires me.
Making small batches also gives us a lot of freedom. We don’t need to order thousands of frames to try a new idea, so the barrier to making something new is much lower. Where that goes, I honestly don’t know yet, but it opens up the imagination. New colors will come later too.
Next year, we’re opening two more stores, starting in San Diego and Orange County.
The results have gone beyond what I imagined, and I feel like we’re really just getting started.
Thanks to Tom and the Saunt Eyewear team for taking the time to tell us your story. Wishing y’all the best in the future!
