The 20-year-old founder and product architect of Tzukuri has spent the past nine months developing the “un-loseable” sunglasses. Using Apple's iBeacon technology and the world's tiniest solar panel the owner is able to track where they last had their sunglasses via an iPhone app. Plus it automatically sends a series of alerts if you leave them behind.

The glasses should also be able to short-circuit those frustration-filled moments when you're rushing to leave home and can't remember where you left your sunglasses. The technology can show you where they are, even if you're just 30 centimetres away.

Sydney-based Liao, who is studying electrical engineering, and his business partner, Michael Sutton, are now on the verge of taking pre-orders for the sunglasses via the Tzukuri website. That will then allow them to begin the manufacturing process, with delivery expected by year-end. However, if they succeed in attracting an investor, Liao says, the delivery times will be shortened significantly.

Trends in the Australian eyewear market suggest that there is also a growing willingness of consumers to buy eyewear online. According to a Euromonitor International report on the Australian eyewear market released in February, a key trend in 2013 was the “increased prevalence of internet retail”. Although store-based purchasing still dominates the market, internet retail has grown from 1.7 per cent of the market in 2008 to 4.3 per cent in 2013.

“Australian consumers became more confident purchasing online over the review period, driven by an enhanced sense of security for online retail platforms, easier-to-use interface, the availability of higher-quality goods and convenient delivery options,” according to the report. However, it reported that “the prime motivation” for shopping online was lower prices.

But many also lose Tzukuri, losing shades is very common. According to a 2012 report by The Vision Council, 55 per cent of adults in the United States lose or break their sunglasses every year.

Tzukuri, on the other hand, will be chasing the luxury end of the eyewear market. The usual price of the sunglasses will be $349 but early adopters will pay $249 in total, a $49 deposit and the balance on shipping. So far too it is primarily looking towards the US market where 99m pairs of plano sunglasses were sold, not including prescription sunglasses, in 2013, according to The Vision Council's 2013 VisionWatch report.

Why the high-end price tag? Liao believes un-loseable sunglasses shouldn't just be functional. It was equally important to make them look good and ensure they were manufactured to the highest standard possible. “If you have an ugly pair of sunglasses that you don't care about, then losing them doesn't really matter,” he says. All the designs will take their inspiration from the 40s, 50s and 60s and the plan is to have them manufactured in Japan.

“When we were deciding where we were going to make our glasses I went to talk to probably 50 optometrists and I asked them: where is the best place in the world to make glasses,” says Liao. “[Japanese manufacturers] have incredible attention to detail, incredible precision, it blows anything in Italy out of the water.”

“There's nearly 100 steps in making a single pair of glasses. There's eight quality control checks along the way and every pair takes around three weeks to make.”

So far traffic to their website suggests they will appeal to men and women of all ages. “We've had over 50,000 visitors to our website in less than two weeks and the demographic is everywhere,” he says.

The sunglasses are not the first product designed to be impossible to lose. Earlier this year a Kickstarter campaign successfully raised $US85,765 to fund SmartWallit Pro, a slim Bluetooth-enabled device that could be inserted into a purse or wallet which will send alerts to the owner's iPhone or Android smartphone via an app if it was left behind. It began shipping the devices to backers at the end of May and is now inviting those who missed out on the crowdfunding campaign to pre-order the device for $US59 via its website.

Plus as Liao points out: “There are Bluetooth tags that you can stick onto your Bolles or your laptop and they will help you find them.”

And people prone to misplacing their keys have long been able to attach a gadget to their key-ring that lets you know where to find them when you whistle.

“Our goal was never to stop people from losing things,” says Liao. “It was to create products that are really new, really beautiful and really useful for people.”