A. SOCIETY x Universal Works.

07.08.2025

“We hadn’t done eyewear before. What changed? We met these guys. It’s about people. We always come back to people.”—David Keyte, UW Co-Founder.

We don’t do eyewear. At least that is what we used to say. Until A. SOCIETY, Hong Kong based eyewear experts, arrived at our showroom with some very exciting ideas and a suitcase full of sunglasses.

Six months after this visit, conversations about a project together were in the works. Both of our teams were heavily involved in the design process, from pinging references back and forth to deciding on materials and colourways. Find out more here.

We wanted to celebrate the vibrancy and creativity of A. SOCIETY and Hong Kong, and of the enthusiasm and expertise of their team. Each design is named after a different street or area within the city: Aberdeen, Stanley and Kowloon. Using colours we often use in our clothing collections—shades of olive, brown, navy, and grey—with each one offered in three colourways.

The Aberdeen is a larger frame in acetate, and the Stanley is a classic ‘Pantos’ shape, chosen for the fact it suits most people. A. SOCIETY’s signature metal tip is added to the back of the arms, which not only acts as subtle branding but as a counterbalance to the frame (no nose marks here!).

The Kowloon is a lightweight titanium frame which can be adapted for an optical lens (the lenses they come with are blue-light blocking) with a contemporary removable magnetic sun protection clip frame. The metal frame uses A. SOCIETY’s patented A. Flex screwless innovative hinge system, which gives flexibility for a better fit, and durability.

The team developed a clever way to keep the clip-off safe: a necklace with a magnetic pendant and we also created a magnetic pin, which can be attached to a jacket. These are in the shape of old water point symbols, hand-painted on Hong Kong streets. Part of the city landscape, we first spotted these fading signs on trips there years ago—a small, forgotten symbol that reminded us of the Ghost Patch, a detail on almost every one of our garments.

A.SOCIETY’s technical drawings blew us away, so much so that we have incorporated these into the packaging design. Each pair also comes with a soft drawstring pouch made from fabric off-cuts from some of our previous collections.