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Well, gang, we've officially made it. Summer is here, which means the days are long, the nights are longer, and that sun is shining down as bright as ever. Though I used to fumble my way through the heat waves with nothing but gas station aviators, I've recently come to appreciate just how crucial it is to have a pair of well-made sunglasses.
With polarized lenses to protect your eyesight, high-quality materials making an environmental impact, and chic frames to accent the best of your summer wardrobe, the nine brands below represent the best in class. Totally unisex, totally versatile: these are the kinds of sunglasses we're confident will be crowdpleasers.
Christopher Cloos
It's no secret that Denmark has an eye for design. Christopher Cloos, an eyewear brand based out of Copenhagen, brings that same minimalist cool to its Euro-inspired frames. Christopher Cloos glasses run the gamut from prescription to blue light to clip-on, and all feel like something James Bond might wear dashing around Monaco. While buzzy collaborations with Tom Brady and Elsa Hosk brought them a whole new wave of fans, I opted for an earlier favorite: the St. Barths in Espresso ($219). With a premium acetate and golden stainless steel frame that's lighter than air, these glasses perfectly nail the balance between luxury and ease.
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l.a. Eyeworks
On the other end of the subtlety spectrum is l.a. Eyeworks, who dazzles with its eye-popping, avant-garde designs. Iconic for its four-decade-long black and white portrait campaign, immortalizing celebrities like Andy Warhol, RuPaul, and Grace Jones in their signature pieces, this brand tends closer to the art world than to fashion retail. By playing fast and loose with color, thickness, and shapes so bold they practically defy geometry, l.a. Eyeworks has remained totally iconoclastic since its founding in the late 70s. I was over the moon to try the COTATI frames ($450) from the new SUN '22 collection, and while I can't pretend they're versatile, everyday frames, why the hell should they be?! These are sunglasses as a true statement piece, and you better believe I'll be turning heads in them any chance I can get.
Le Specs
Dashing our way over to Bondi Beach, Sydney, we find the playful Australian brand Le Specs. After two brands in a row that represent the higher end of the price spectrum, you'll be thrilled to learn that though LS has been worn by the likes of Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Queen Bey herself, these frames are stunningly affordable. Ready to get my hands on a round silhouette, I snagged the Hey Macarena in Blonde. Despite the polarized lenses and unique colorway, they clocked in at a very modest $69. With plenty of fun, contemporary designs (and by "contemporary" I mean fully Y2K, since that's the sandbox we're playing in these days), Le Specs has something for everyone. If it's good enough for Rih, it's good enough for me.
Montague
Let's face it: as much as we all love a good sunnies splurge, the reality is you're probably going to leave them on a hotel nightstand before the summer is over. Sometimes spending as little as possible is the way to go, and for that route Montague has most definitely got you covered. With frames averaging around $30, these glasses might not be the most impeccably crafted on our list, but what they lack in materials they more than make up for in sheer lewk factor. There's not a dowdy frame in the bunch, from the very Olsen twin New York line to the futuristic Tokyo specs. I went for the Saint Tropez ($28.95), Rio ($26.95) and Berlin ($32.95), three completely different shapes and colors that cost me less together than one pair would elsewhere. Hats off to Montague for reminding us that in this case, less really can be more.
Opolis Optics
Aside from being a pretty badass alliteration, Opolis Optics stands out in another crucial way: only using environmentally-friendly materials. These glasses are made from either Bio Acetate, which is derived from natural, renewable sources like hemp and cotton seeds, or recycled ocean plastic taken directly from beach cleanups. Inspired by a terrifying forecast that by 2050 there will be more plastic than marine life in our oceans, Opolis’s mission is to remove that garbage and make something new with it instead of consigning it to landfills. As a fan of the Briny and Champlain (both $145) frames – specifically how well they cut down on glare and hold up to salt water – I'm incredibly inspired by how determined Opolis is to make an impact. This intersection of style and sustainability is a noble one indeed.
OTIS Eyewear
Though not as explicit in its environmental messaging, OTIS Eyewear is also defined by its non-toxic core material: mineral glass. Sourced from natural elements like sand and soda ash, it's an eco-friendly answer to plastics that also provides superior optics and strong scratch protection. OTIS' frames are classic in style, setting themselves apart not in the silhouettes but in the small details. The quirky metal nose bridge swayed me towards the A Day Late frames ($240), which are available in a wide range of color tints that all provide 100% protection against UV rays. And while they're certainly not on the affordable end of things, the ability that mineral glass has to provide clean, undistorted vision is nothing to sneeze at.
SPY+
Bear with me here: what if I told you there was a sunglasses brand that claimed to enhance your mood, going so far as to name its new product line the HAPPY BOOST? It's not as crazy as it sounds. While standard high-contrast sunglasses enhance certain colors at the expense of others, creating a visual experience that's inferior to regular eyesight, SPY+ uses AI technology to evenly enhance the entire color spectrum. These lenses also allow long-wave blue light in while blocking its short-wave counterpart, enhancing mood and alertness along with color contrast. I checked out these icy blue lenses in the Logan frame ($180), which had me looking somewhere between a pro snowboarder and Cyclops from the X-Men (in a good way, I promise). The color quality is totally undeniable, and while I can't pretend wearing them was some instant serotonin boost, there's definitely a mood boost that comes from seeing the world so vividly.
Vallon
Unlike the other brands above, Vallon's sunglasses have athletic performance in mind at every stage of design. From the side shield lenses made to protect from glare off of snow or ice, to its uber-chic goggles, Vallon frames are inspired by the Alpine lifestyle of Switzerland. But for a California boy like me, the Surf Aviators (a counterpart to the Ski Aviators, both $96) were even more appealing. With a unique 1970s silhouette and polarized lenses fit for days out on the water, these babies now sit comfortably on my dashboard to accommodate any impromptu beach outings. From the Swiss Alps to the shores of Laguna, Vallon is at home just about anywhere.
WearMe Pro
A small, family-owned business based out of Arizona, more concerned with sponsoring its local Humane Society than charging premium for a designer logo, WMP ended up being the dark horse of this whole roundup. They're as affordable as the Montague frames but feel even more durable, and I couldn't be a bigger fan of how the Bexley ($26) and Carter ($34) glasses fit. And some pretty significant bonus points go to the fact that for every pair you purchase, one can of food is delivered to shelter animals in need. In a time where e-commerce is able to dissolve state and even national boundaries, it's worth shouting out the brands that are still making a difference in the place they call home.
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