Stores dealing in sunglasses have reported a dramatic rise in the sales. People from all age groups have been visiting the stores, including both branded and non-branded, as per their budget.

“Wayfarer goggles are all the rage this summer. They are basically popular among young boys, while young girls are going for cat-eyes and aviator sunglasses,” said Rajju Shrestha, proprietor of The Options, one of the branded eyewear showrooms at Durbarmarg. He said the demand has surged for the last one week due to the rise in temperature.

The Options offers a wide variety of sunglasses from more than 30 brands like Ray-Ban, Vogue, Prada, Swarovski, Dior, Armani, Boss and Gucci, among

others, and are available for Rs9,000-90,000.

“A few years ago, people used to wear sunglasses to protect eyes from heat, but it has become a fashion now,” he said, adding the companies are launching sunglasses that are suitable during the night too.

“Businessmen, actor/actresses and youngsters and professionals are frequent customers,” he said.

“Around 15-20 customers visit my shop daily and there has been a number of enquiries about sunglasses,” said Basu Tandukar, sales manager of Watch and See, another showroom at Durbarmarg. “Two weeks ago, there used to be 7-8 customers a day.”

The shop offers sunglasses from brands like Polaroid, Trussardi and Esprit, among others, and the prices range from Rs6, 000 to Rs30, 000.

Madhusudan Bhetwal, sales manager of Chaitanya Store

at Bishal Bazaar, said the people were compelled to wear sunglasses also due to air pollution. “Even ophthalmologists are suggesting patients to wear sunglasses,” he said, adding around 15-20 units are sold every day at his store.

The products at Chaitanya comes at Rs500 to Rs8, 000.

“Ultra violet (UV) radiation from sun causes harm to eyes, so people should buy 100 percent UV protection and polarised sunglasses. However, most of the sunglasses available in the market are not genuine and are of poor quality. They harm the eyes, not protect,” said Birendra Shakya, proprietor of Gift House at City Centre, Kamal Pokhari.

He said most of the people were becoming brand-conscious these days. The company deals in around 35 brands priced between Rs10,000 to Rs68,000. Shakya said all the branded sunglasses are imported from Italy, while non-branded come from China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

However, most of the people are finding it difficult to differentiate between original and copy products. “I visited five shops and different shops try to sell the same kind of sunglass saying original,” said Sagar Pandey, who was looking for sunglasses at Bishal Bazaar, Newroad.