Today it is common to be able to pay for items with a tap of your credit card, your phone or even your watch. What isn’t common is being able to pay for items with your sunglasses.

At the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival across Australia, prototype sunglasses will be used to pay for food and drinks. Starting from January 26 and finishing February 5 the festival will see attendees wearing WaveShades, made by Visa in partnership with Inamo.

Kate Peck with the visa pay wave sun glasses that will be used at the Laneway festival to purchase items. Photo by DAMIAN SHAW

Kate Peck with the visa pay wave sun glasses that will be used at the Laneway festival to purchase items

The glasses look like a pair of typical Ray Ban wayfarers however stuck to one of the arms is the chip that will allow tap and go payments which is also waterproof. Dance, drink, and be carefree without a purse or wallet, just don’t lose your sunnies!

Commenting on Inamo’s role in the creation of the WaveShades, Inamo’s founder and chief executive officer, Peter Colbert, said, “As an Australian start-up, we are honoured to be invited to provide the payment platform for Visa WaveShades. Using Inamo’s technology in sunglasses is a logical extension of our mission to move people’s wallets to a wearable”.

The sunnies will be available in limited numbers and they are just prototypes at this stage, so you won’t be able to rush out and buy one just yet. It is creative though, we’re keen to see where it goes.