Vidal Erkohen is the founder of RVS Eyewear, as well as working as an eyewear designer behind multiple independent brands. His most recently launched collection is a sports eyewear line for Perfect Game, the world’s largest baseball scouting organization. In 2025, Erkohen plans to bring RVS back into the eyewear spotlight with a brand new collection….
It’s a long time since we caught up here on Eyestylist.com. Do you continue to evolve the RVS by V collection from your base in New York City? It truly has and it’s great to be back. Eyestylist has continued to be a leader in the industry and we are all lucky to have such an informative outlet for independent and main stream eyewear. Thank you!
Although I have been very busy with designing, manufacturing and providing creative direction for multiple brands through out the years RVS has always been at the core of everything I do. Since 2020, I decided to pause on new designs and have only been supplying a handful of our classics directly to our loyal consumers worldwide.
That being said, I’m happy to finally break the silence and inform you that RVS by V will be back in full swing starting in 2025 with a fresh new vibrant collection and will also be available for wholesale purchase worldwide via a select few of our most loyal partners through out the years. If you followed us before I’m sure you know that whatever is coming, it definitely will not be boring! 😎 Above: Vidal Erkohen – pictured wearing “See a clean future” Water sunglasses in collaboration with Mission Blue (Sylvia Earle)
The last few years have seen some developments in the industry as regards sustainability. How have you pivoted in this direction?
Could you explain the See A Clear Future concept and RVS SUSTAIN. What is your view on eyewear materials and how they are evolving? The developments prior and since have been tremendous and it’s a breath of fresh air to see more and more designers and manufacturers moving their materials and production towards more eco-friendly solutions.
I think this is just the beginning and we will continue to see very clever solutions that minimize our carbon foot print in everything we create. As RVS, we learned a lot through our “See a clean future” project and aim to incorporate this in all of our future projects as well.
See A Clean Future incorporates four different lens options which correspond to the elements that make up our world: Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. They tell a story of ECO-HOPE by linking each concept with a hero from our time: Sylvia Earle (Water), Jane Goodall (Earth), Wangari Maathai (Air), and E. O. Wilson (Fire). Each of the aforementioned have provided inspirational words that correspond to the assigned element, which are inscribed on both the inside of the sunglass frames and the lens cloths. Using natural materials.
The frames are produced in innovative materials from the renowned Italian Mazzucchelli company using their M49 bio-plastic, which is eco-friendly, recyclable, and biodegradable. The bioplastic is produced from cotton linters and wood fibers, which are purified into a pulp and then transformed into a resin known as M49.
All the metal inlays as well as temple hinges are made of stainless steel—a recyclable product. The steel is coated with ion plating, which protects the surface and allows the engraving of the frames. Ion plating is a physical vapor deposition process that uses concurrent or periodic bombardment of the substrate with aluminum, which is recyclable and non-toxic to the environment.
The sunglass lenses revert to the traditional use of glass. Typically, lenses are made from polycarbonate plastic but See A Clean Future lenses are made from natural mineral glass produced in Japan. Glass lenses are not only more environmentally sustainable, but also ensure precision clarity and a more refined aesthetic, which is harder to achieve with traditional plastic lenses.
3. We noticed you are working with the artist Ugo Rondinone for your packaging. How did this collaboration come about? Yes, this was a truly amazing experience as Ugo was a friend of the art initiative “One, all, every” that we partnered up with for this project.
Using natural materials, Rondinone designed the packaging, the ether, or fifth element that contains all others (air, water, earth & fire).
When we launched the project at Art Basel Switzerland as well as later in Miami, our booth was made of 15 feet tall walls covered in real soil taken from his native town in Switzerland.
These walls were later cut in to 10 x 10 individual pieces and sold as limited edition artworks along with all 4 sunglasses all signed by Ugo with a portion of the proceeds given to each respective environmentalist organization.
It was a real labour of love and an unforgettable experience working with such tremendous minds.
4. Do you continue to work as a Creative Director for other eyewear brands and what is your favourite project of 2024?
Yes, and to be honest this has taken a big chunk of my time for the last few years hence my absence from RVS. It’s been a treat to work with other creatives while sharing my experience in the industry and building new brands from the ground up. My latest project, Perfect Game Eyewear is a brand new field for me (sports eyewear) which has been extremely exciting.
Perfect Game is the world’s largest baseball scouting organization holding over 5000 events nationwide year long while working closely with the MLB.
To date, more then 2034 players that have played in perfect game events have also played in Major League Baseball. Since 2003, 14,466 perfect game alumni have been selected in the MLB first year amateur player draft.
Following PG’s exclusive deal with Oakley coming to an end we were able to secure a 10 year licensing deal with Perfect Game via our licensing company PROformance Eyewear and will be designing, distributing and manufacturing all PG Eyewear sunglasses moving forward.
Our proprietary “Diamond lens technology” which I created after almost 2 years of research and development is the first of its kind to focus solely on the game of baseball to enhance game play for both pitchers and batters alike. This is just the beginning as we are planning a huge expansion for this brand in terms of technology, design and reach.
5. What are you working on for 2025? Along with the relaunch of RVS which I am most excited for, I am currently also working on a new brand (also my own) which although I can not give to much information about will bring a fresh new concept to the industry. I always like to go the exact opposite direction of where everyone else is going. This will be no different.
6. Are you still a passionate collector of vintage eyewear and do you have a favourite design which you acquired recently. Do you still study vintage eyewear as part of your inspiration?
My passion for vintage eyewear is really what got me started in the industry and restoring vintage frames is how I got to know the ins and the outs of eyewear production itself. I still spend at least an hour of my day doing research on frames of the past with my expertise now focusing on materials that are seldomly used such as genuine tortoiseshell, solid gold, unusual hinge technologies and more! I’m a sucker for nostalgia and manufacturing of the past still hold a big space in my design inspiration. Of course, I’m still a Persol fanatic as at one time I owned one of the largest private Persol (Ratti) collections in the world. It’s the only brand my father used to wear and it always holds a sweet spot in my heart.Good design never goes out of style.
Find out more at www.rvseyewear.com / read more at https://www.eyestylist.com/2013/06/vidal-erkohen-rvs-by-v/