Oakley finally launches Kato sunglasses

The long-awaited Oakley Kato sunglasses, which feature a unique nose bridge design, have finally arrived.

Since October last year fans with keen eyes will have spotted the unique Oakley Kato sunglasses on a number of pro cyclists. First seen on Chris Froome and Sam Bennett, the glasses are inspired by super heroes and definitely have a Batman mask energy. The continuous lens curves and wraps over the nose, a design which the brand has called the “nose cone.”

RELATED: What we know so far about the mysterious new Oakley sunglasses

Oakley says the unique lens is designed to “fit as close to the face as possible, providing optimized coverage, wider field of view, frame retention and impact protection.” The lens is rigid in areas that mimic the structural properties of the Katos’ frame.

Customization

The glasses have an adjustable rake, a fit mechanism that tilts the glasses up and down to create the right level of nose bridge and cheek contact. Oakley says the tilt options are there to “comfortably adapt to more faces”—Pit Viper sells glasses with a similar mechanism and many cyclists buy them for this function alone.

RELATED: 7 Oakley sunglasses hits and misses

Another level of personalization is the glasses’ nosepads. The Katos come with nosepads in three different thicknesses and depths, which will create different offsets and adapt to people with wider nose bridges.

All this customization doesn’t come cheap. The Oakley Kato sunglasses will cost $345 for Canadian buyers. The brand is offering the glasses in three shades of its Prizm lenses that are designed to enhance colour and contrast to see more detail. The rose-coloured Prizm Road lens is made for medium light and transmits 20 per cent of light. For brighter light conditions, the Prizm Black lens only transmits 11 per cent of light. The third lens, the Prizm Sapphire, is essentially the same as the Prizm Black with a blue outer look. It features a 12 per cent light transmission with a grey base colour.