Disclaimer: Spier & Mackay was kind enough to send these sunglasses to The Peak Lapel for free for the purposes of this review. Read to the end to find out how to win a pair for free for yourself!
We’ve spoken about Spier & Mackay at length before on the site. They are widely regarded as one of the best values in menswear these days, and we have been big fans of theirs from the very beginning. As time has gone on, and as major big-box retailers like J Crew have been on the decline, Spier & Mackay have been expanding their offerings from suits and dress shirts to ties, shoes, chinos, polos, sweaters, and now, sunglasses as well. For this review, we’re taking a look at their Aviator sunglasses ($68+).
Packaging & Experience
This is, in all honesty, still the one, single weak spot in Spier & Mackay’s business. Since they are based in Canada, shipping to the US is still not super great. It’s a bit slow, and returns are, let’s face it, a hassle (and not free if it’s not your first purchase, but they have updated their policy to give you store credit). I understand that margins are tighter with their great prices, and perhaps this is the “price to pay” for that, but I wish, wish, wish they would offer free shipping and returns. That would be a game changer for them, would shoot them to the top of the list for menswear destinations online, and I think added revenue would offset any return shipping costs. But that is just my two cents.
Oh, the glasses come with a nice little carrying pouch that doubles as a cleaning cloth. So, no hard-shell case here, but yes cleaning cloth. B
Style & Design
These are pretty standard aviator sunglasses. They have a nice double nose bridge, as is typical, and come in both a gold and silver color. You can also get them polarized for $10 more. We got the gold model, and the shades themselves are nicely tinted in a subtle brown hue. These are the sorts of glasses that go with just about anything, and any colors in an outfit. As far as sizing goes, these are on the smaller side when it comes to aviators and they sat a bit small on my face. Still, my face is quite large so that will surely not be everyone’s experience. (In comparison to their tortoise round sunglasses, these are much bigger. Those would be way too small on me.) In an ideal world, Spier & Mackay would offer different sizes of each frame. But this is something even exclusively sunglasses companies don’t offer, so you can’t really expect it here. As a guy that has trouble finding glasses that fit his face, though, I can dream…
In all, these are very well designed, and look like something that usually goes for twice the price. A-
Quality & Construction
I’ve worn glasses for years, and I know my way around good and bad pairs. I have felt, worn, and owned everything from $7 glasses to $500 glasses, and everything in between. I find these to be very fairly priced. They are very lightweight and so might appear at first to be “cheap.” This is not the case. They’re just made to be lightweight, which makes them quite comfortable when worn for extended periods of time. The hinge is strong and quality, and the overall material and feel of components is sturdy, despite being so light-feeling. Again, it messes with your head a bit, but you can see the attention to detail with things like the cool, stylized nose-pads, as well as the intricate hinge mechanism, and well-finished ear tips. The final result are a pair of frames that sit well on the face, and easily adjustable, and will be comfortable and durable for long-term wear. For the price, these are about what you would expect to be getting. Way above glass-store quality, but below top of the line stuff. These sit somewhere neatly in the middle, with a good price to go along with it. I would put them way Warby Parker quality, in all honesty.
One more note: I wear prescription glasses every day of my life, and never wear contacts. Because of this, any sunglasses I buy need to be filled with prescription lenses. Not every pair of cheap sunglasses can do this though, as it requires a bit of manipulation of the frame to pop the lenses in, and a prescription pair back in in its place. These are able to do it no problem though, and are absolutely quality enough to do this swap. If you wear prescription glasses, and want a super solid pair of prescription frames, these are an excellent buy. They’re inexpensive, and you can get them filled likely for $50-$100 (depending where you go) putting the total cost at ~$150, which is a super deal for prescription sunglasses. A-
Value & Conclusion
Spier & Mackay Aviator Sunglasses — $68: With a super reasonable price and solid quality rivaling that of Warby Parker, these are an excellent budget sunglasses option, and continues Spier & Mackay’s longstanding trend of offering great value menswear — and now accessories — at super fair prices. Final Grade: A-
Giveaway
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