Sunglasses are the ultimate summer accessory – with a pair of half decent shades everyone looks cooler. And aside from the aesthetics, they are an absolute essential for protecting your eyes from the bright summer sun.
But finding a good pair of affordable sunglasses is harder than you’d expect – it seems like most sunglasses are either premium (£100+) or are cheap & nasty (under £15 – supermarket, fast fashion brands, etc). And many of the mid-priced sunglasses aren’t really any better than the cheap ones.
So we set out to find the best affordable sunglasses in the £30-£60 sweet spot to see if any can match the premium pairs. We tried out some pairs and braved Reddit & the menswear forums so you don’t have to! Read on to see the best…
Kent Wang
KW have a small line of sunglasses (6 styles) – but they are all very cool and we hear very good things about their quality. All the frames are priced at $55 (roughly £45).
The only negative we have is that international postage is not cheap – to get these sent to the UK is an extra $17.
Wolf & Badger
W&B are a great retailer partnering with great independent brands from around the world. They have a lot of premium stuff but also have some cool affordable options.
As far as their sunglasses, we really like the models from Sloane & A Kjaerede (pictured) which all come in around the £40-£50 mark.
Izipizi
Paris’ Izipizi have a great range of modern interpretations of classic styles, all available in a variety of frame & lense colours. We particularly like the #E frame pictured here.
They also have a very useful website, giving advice on frames for your face type & letting you try frames virtually with your webcam.
Pricing mostly around £40-£50.
Hawkers
Hawkers have a huge range – something for everyone here.
We have heard some mixed reviews, however we hear that their premium range is significantly better than their other models – and these are priced similarly to many of the other sunglasses on this list.
At the time of writing Hawkers have a great sale on, with some pairs from their premium range available for under £30.
Goodr
If you’re looking for something different Goodr are a great option. Their styles are mostly fairly classic but they come into their own with their colourways – loads of fun, bright & bold designs but just staying on the right side of tasteful (most of the time!)
Pricing is mostly around £30-£40 (cheaper if you’re in the US).
Vans
Finally, for our bargain basement selection, you can’t get much better than these Vans shades for under £20.
These can be picked up dirt cheap on Amazon – £16 at time of writing but we’ve seen them under £10 at other times of the year.
Are they the best shades in the world? No, but they are pretty solid, they’re available in loads of colours & we think they are cool!