The self-care industry offers endless ways to tend to your mind and body. In a market saturated with aesthetic but ineffective remedies, people are scrambling to find coping mechanisms for their stress. Austin Soldner, the co-founder of California-based new-wave sunglasses brand Futuremood, realized this need and sought to make a difference.
After several months of careful planning and testing, Soldner seems to have a solution that is natural, effective, and fashion-forward. These effortlessly cool sunglasses are bold and beautiful, but they don’t simply look good—Soldner claims they are mood-altering as well. Based on the effects of light therapy, these sunglasses offer a stylish way for the health-conscious to make their mark with a mental boost.
Whether you need some help focusing, relaxing, or recharging, Futuremood has a unique solution for your individual needs. We were intrigued to talk to Soldner to find more about this groundbreaking technology, and discover the metaphysical relationship between the mind and light.
What inspired your vision to create mood-altering sunglasses?
I’ve been a DJ since I was 12 years old and I’ve always been fascinated with exploring different ways of curating experiences.
Mood-altering sunglasses and fashion, in general, are just another outlet for this quest to help people express themselves and explore their inner and outer worlds.
Once my co-founder Michael Schaecher and I aligned on creating a sunglasses company, the universe aligned and ushered the mood-altering concept to us in the most fantastic way.
One of the great things about Futuremood is that it blends eastern philosophy with modern technology. Can you share some of the scientific backings behind what makes your glasses so effective?
Light is the most ancient and least understood technology. IFYKYK. Historically, light therapy has been seen as woo-woo because people didn’t understand it. Once we had a chance to work with our scientific partners to really study and fine-tune the lenses we could clearly see the physiological effects and there are white papers to support the findings. This is definitely a breakthrough for the field. Turns out the eastern healers were right, but that’s really not that surprising!
The technology is proprietary so I can’t really divulge all of the inner workings. Essentially, it is a combination of reflecting unwanted light and maximizing specific frequencies coming into the visual cortex to have the most impact.
Have you seen any long-term effects on mental health or mood from using the lenses regularly?
Most definitely! On a day-to-day basis, I use the Aurazone (yellow lenses) to lock in when I’m designing and the Aurabliss (green lenses) for hangovers or when I’m wanting to chill. The long term is harder to study, but plenty of customers use them almost religiously for the desired effects.
The current lenses have recommended wearing times. Do you plan on creating doses that make them wearable all day?
Maybe 😉
Futuremood has been working closely with athletes, have you heard any feedback in regards to better focus of any sort, or enhanced performance?
Yes! From E-sports to the court I’ve seen people lock in with them on. We are really at the beginning of this journey, so I look forward to seeing all the different uses that manifest.
Eventually, they might get banned from a few sports.
Can you share a little about your design process and why you picked these staple design shapes?
My process is typically fairly intuitive, however, these were picked from 30 other luxury sunglasses we designed as we aligned a vision around mood-altering sunglasses.
These two first shapes felt like they held down a good range of the things we needed in a debut collection. We wanted to show what we could do, but also make sure that people who were just starting to wake up to the importance of eyewear had a mix of classic and futuristic, as well as lowkey to stunty to choose from. Also, we wanted to make sure that they all had a super high level of details around all parts of the frame because we only think about sunglasses from a luxury & artistic POV.
What is your favorite pair of lenses right now?
Aurazone 100’s are my go to. I love the effect and the gold and yellow combo is so nuanced and elevated IMO.
Are there any new and exciting products or designs from Futuremood that we can look forward to?
Absolutely, we are always creating things for the Future. We are about to drop a ton of new shades that we are obsessed with and think our community will go crazy for them.
Soldner is excited about the upcoming journey for Futuremood’s mood-altering sunglasses, and the company is making its colorful mark in the fashion industry. Though production and shipments have faced some hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Soldner is confident that the sunglasses are worth the wait.
Judging by the Futuremood website, the demand is certainly there as each version of the stylish shades is currently out of stock. No need to worry as it is just a matter of time before you can get your hands on a pair of your own. The unique look will turn heads, and you can rest easy knowing you are taking one more step to care for yourself throughout the day.
Credits:
Sunglasses: Futuremood
Photographers: Gustavo Oliver | Sahar Nicholette
Models: Grace Fernandez | Dhani Valles | Luis Sanabria | Elly
MUA: Edsel Navarro
Designer: Herman Nadal
