In Review: Spier & Mackay Sunglasses

Spier & Mackay Sunglasses – $68

Spier & Mackay is moving and shaking. If diving into the shoe world wasn’t enough, now they’re breaking into sunglasses as well. And just like their suits, shirts, shoes, etc… their sunglasses are priced plenty fair, and feel/wear quite good out of the box. Especially the acetate/round lens options.

Tortoise with green lenses. Classic.

You learn a lot about a pair of sunglasses as soon as you pick them up and swing open the ear pieces. Are they rickety? Do the hinges or ear pads make funny noises when you lift them out of the box? Do the temples flop about? Do they sit on your face square, or do they list to the side? None of these issues arise with these Spier sunglasses.

Branding is on the inside, not outside, of the frames.

The round lens, acetate options are straight up beautiful. All edges round off perfectly. The plastic frames are nice and smooth. The tortoise shell pattern bright without being garish. And they’re super comfortable. Size is 49mm, which usually is a good size for small to medium sized faces, but I found that even my larger than average mug took to these pretty well.

The wire aviators. Lightweight without feeling disposable.

The aviators are a larger 57mm in size, but don’t seem to wear quite as large. Noticeably lighter in weight than the acetate shades, but not feather-weight and weak feeling like super-cheap shades. Nose pads are comfortable. Ear pieces are smooth. No loose plastic seams razoring into the tops of your ears here. Hinges are like the acetate option, and have a smooth operation and just enough tension so they aren’t flopping about.

Good hinges. And again, branding is on the inside.

No polarized options as of yet, but that’s actually preferable if you’re looking at screens outside (or, inside a cockpit if you happen to fly planes and stuff). The plastic/acetate round lens frames feel a bit more luxurious than the wire framed aviators. I can’t quite explain why, but both fill the oddly large gap between gas station throw-aways and crazy high end luxury brands. Nice work outta Spier & Mackay, once again.