Serengeti is owned by Bushnell Outdoor Products who are also the parent company for such brands as bolle, Browning Sports Optics, Tasco, Uncle Mike's, Hoppe's, Butler Creek, Stoney Point, Blackwater Gear, and Uncle Mikes Law Enforcement.
Bushnell Performance Optics was founded by Dave Bushnell in 1947 and has offices in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and the US. Bushnell itself is owned by Wind Point Partners, a private equity firm who acquired the company in 1999.
Serengeti sunglasses, which have long been a favorite of serious drivers and pilots, use their own patented technology to provide crisp, clear vision while filtering out harmful ultraviolet radiation. Designed to improve the ability to see detail, depth perception and colors through the use of their unique photochromic glass lenses and spectral control technology, Serengeti sunglasses work not by providing a coating to their lenses but by engineering the photochromic effect into the molecular structure of their lenses.
Uncut photochromic lens blanks are first ground and polished before being placed into a special hydrogen fired furnace where the glass is given its color and photochromic properties and where Spectral Control filters are added. If the lens requires polarization, a polarizing film and a layer of clear UV400 glass is then added to produce a sandwiched lens. The lens is then chemically hardened to provide impact resistance and an anti-reflective coating is added. Next, the lens is cut and polished to fit perfectly into the required frame before being drop ball tested to ensure its safety.
But Serengeti's precision engineering isn't only applied to its precision lenses but also extends to a range of award-winning, ergonomically designed frames which are made from some of the world's most advanced materials including monel, stainless steel and titanium.
Monel is perhaps the most widely used material in the manufacture of metal frames today and is an alloy of copper and nickel. It is particularly useful as it can be worked into a variety of different shapes without losing any of its strength and will also take a number of different coatings and colors with ease. Monel is also extremely lightweight and durable and is resistant to corrosion.
Stainless steel is also lightweight, durable and corrosion resistant but is additionally especially resistant to abrasion and thus to scratching. It also has the advantage of being hypoallergenic which makes it particularly suitable to wearers with any form of skin or eye allergy.
Titanium, which people tend to think of as being used in the construction of space vehicles, fighter aircraft and high-end surgical implants, is being used increasingly for a variety of different purposes including the manufacture of jewelry and even wedding rings. It comes as no surprise therefore to find that it is now being employed in the manufacture of frames for sunglasses. Titanium is once again lightweight, durable, corrosion resistant and strong and will take a wide variety of different finishes and colors.
As a favorite with pilots Serengeti produces its own line of sunglasses based upon the famous Ray-Ban Aviator first produced nearly seventy years ago, but also produces a wide range of other styles.
Not perhaps as popular with the celebrities as some other brands, Serengeti is still amongst the leaders when it comes to stylish high quality sunglasses and its supporters include such names as Patrick Dempsey, Val Kilmer and Petra Wilson.