Eyecare Business

Eyecare Business talks to Pro Athletes about what eyewear they wear

PRO PERFORMANCE Evaluation

EB talks to three winning professional athletes about the sports sunwear features that deliver on the field, track, and course

By Erinn Morgan

The Los Angeles Dodgers' Andre Ethier likes Kaenon's street-style sportswear

Who better to ask about sunwear performance than athletes who use sports eyewear every day—and rely on it to enhance their performance? Here, EB checks in with three professional athletes to get their take on what makes their sunwear just right.

ANDRE ETHIER, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

A lefty, this two-time All-Star outfielder has been playing pro ball with the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2006. He set a new Major League Baseball record in 2011 for a 23-game hitting streak in the month of April. His awards include a Gold Glove award in 2011 and a Silver Slugger Award in 2009.

EB: Why is superior optical performance critical to your sport?
ETHIER: Hitting success in baseball is all about your ability to see it, read it, and then apply a quality swing.

Sharp vision, color contrast, and detail are essential to see the pitcher's release point and quickly identify the rotation for type of pitch and location.

Frame design is always critical … not only for comfort, but wrapped, superior, and clean periphery vision is critical. My polarized sunwear combines all of these elements.

EB: Which sports sunwear style are you wearing the most right now?
ETHIER: I'm batting and playing in the outfield in Kaenon's Beacon style. I usually use the darker G12 lens tints in the outfield and switch to their lighter G28 tint when batting.

EB: What are the key features that enhance your performance?
ETHIER: The lenses I currently wear are the sharpest, most detailed lenses I've ever worn. This is the most critical feature for me. The fit and function of the frame I wear is excellent. I also love the style and like wearing a performance street design instead of the traditional jock look.

EB: Which lenses work best for your sport and why?
ETHIER: I prefer the Gray 12 (darker G12 tint) when in the field. I'm able to pick up the ball off the bat from my position in right field, track it through the stands and seats in the stadium, up into the bright sky, through the sun, and back down. The G12 is dark but not too dark.
If it's overcast in the field or a shadow creeps over the hitter and home plate, then I might switch to the lighter G28 tint. I definitely switch to the medium Dark Gray 28 when hitting. I like the very natural tint of this lens, but it picks up all the detail and contrast I'm looking for.

RYAN SABGA, PRO CYCLIST

This professional road and track cyclist is the current National Road Race Champion. A member of Black Dog Professional Cycling, he is a National Team member plus a Six Day and World Cup racer on the track. Since returning to the sport of cycling after a five-year hiatus due to a shattered pelvis, he has earned four medals, all silver or gold, in U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago national championship competition.

EB: Why is superior optical performance critical to your sport?
SABGA: Wind and light can be major distractions when you are trying to focus on giving your maximum effort. This is especially important if you wear contact lenses, as I do. Not only do the right sunglasses help keep your lenses from drying out, but the correct tint and colors on the lenses help keep you relaxed. There is nothing worse than having to squint and wipe your eyes when you're navigating through a pack of riders at 55 kph.

EB: Which sports sunwear style are you wearing the most right now?
SABGA: Currently, I am using mostly Rudy Project's Zyon and Rydon II models. Specifically, I use the Multilaser orange lenses for the day and a variety of lenses for indoor and night races (usually racing red, a dark gray, or purple lens for night).

EB: What are the key features that enhance your performance?
SABGA: First, the frames I use fit better than any other frames I've tried. This is partly due to the custom fit of the nose and ear pieces, but the ability to see clearly out of the lenses in a variety of positions on the bike is unsurpassed. Second, the lens clarity is great and the lens shapes provide excellent coverage.

EB: Which lenses work best for you?
SABGA: In day races, I really like the Multilaser orange lenses. The contrasts of the terrain become more visible and you don't have to worry about squinting. For night and evening races on the track, I like something that doesn't obscure colors. This is especially important because in the Six Day races, every team wears a different color jersey and some colors are close. It's important to see the difference as the races can be chaotic at times.

TRAVIS PASTRANA, PRO MOTORSPORTS RIDER

This American motorsports competitor has nabbed X Games gold in several events, including motocross, freestyle motocross, supercross, and rally car racing. Also a talented stunt rider, he was the first to pull off a double backflip at an X Games Freestyle competition.

EB: Why is superior optical performance so critical to your sport?
PASTRANA: Eyewear used for motocross is the most critical and also the most difficult to get right. In a race, you have to have goggles that do a number of things well. They have to keep sand and dirt from getting inside, but still allow airflow. Not enough airflow and the lenses fog and you will sweat more.
It's also very important for the goggle foam to absorb and hold the sweat from getting on the inside of the lens. Finally, the outer lens has to provide a scratch protection (there are lots of rocks and dirt clods being thrown at very high rates of speed from the tires of riders in front of you), especially with tinted lenses, as any type of scratch might distort a rider's vision. This is a problem because in motocross, timing jumps and lining up to ruts exactly is literally a life-and-death situation.

Whether riding a bicycle or motocross, good vision is key to victory—and safety. Above (from top): Ryan Sabga in Rudy Project and Travis Pastrana in Smith Optics eyewear

EB: Which sports sunwear style are you wearing the most right now?
PASTRANA: For road cycling and mountain biking I really enjoy riding with the Smith Pivlock. For motocross, I use the Smith Intake; but, for freestyle, or when it's cold outside, I usually use the Fuel v.2

EB: Which lenses work best for your sport and why?
PASTRANA: A lot of environments that I ride in are too bright to use clear lenses, but a lot of the times it's also a flat light area. Sand dunes are a great example of a place where I would use a gray lens. A lot of people use mirrored lenses, but I rarely use anything darker than gray because it's hard to identify different variations in the sand or dirt. EB