Best Brand Sunglasses: 5 Picks Worth the Money

The Wayfarer has been in production since 1952 and is still the most reliable answer to the question of which brand sunglasses to buy. The current RB2140 pairs a thick acetate frame with Ray-Ban's G-15 lens, a green-grey tint that keeps colours fairly natural; polarised versions cost more but cut glare off wet roads, water and windscreens. It is sold in more than one width — try both, because the narrower one suits slimmer faces and the wider one sits properly on broader heads. Add a shape that flatters nearly everyone and you have the closest thing to a universal pair.

Persol designed the 649 in 1957 for tram drivers in Turin, and the details that made it useful then are the ones you notice now. The Meflecto temples carry flexible steel inserts, so they give rather than press against the side of your head, and the Silver Arrow hinge folds with a satisfying click and no screw to work loose. The Suprema glass lenses are the real draw: noticeably clearer than most plastic lenses and highly scratch-resistant, though they add weight and not every colourway is polarised. This is the pick for someone who wants the craft to be visible rather than implied.

The Snowdon is Tom Ford's most recognisable sunglasses silhouette: a generous acetate square with a metal T set into the temple and a weight that feels deliberate rather than merely heavy. Made in Italy, it has the finish you are paying for — thick bevels, tight hinges, deep saturated colour — and it looks expensive from across a room, which is either the point or the problem depending on your taste. Some versions ship with blue-light-filtering lenses aimed at screen-heavy days; treat that as a bonus, not a reason to buy. It is a statement frame, and statements are not for everyone.

If your sunglasses live in a kit bag rather than a hard case, the Holbrook is the sensible buy. The O-Matter frame is light and springy, Plutonite lenses filter UVA and UVB up to 400nm, and the Prizm tints sharpen contrast on tarmac, water and trail — a real advantage when you are driving into low sun. The three-point fit keeps the frame steady without pinching, and grippy nose pads hold it in place when you sweat. The styling is sporty-casual: perfect with a T-shirt, less so with a suit. Nothing else on this list shrugs off a dropped bag so cheerfully.

Gentle Monster built its reputation on sculptural shapes, and the Heizer is a clean expression of it: an oversized flat-top square with a heavy brow line and chunky acetate arms. It suits wide faces and anyone who finds classic Wayfarer proportions a little polite. The trade-off is weight — this is a substantial frame you feel on the bridge of your nose after a few hours — and the silhouette is trend-led rather than timeless, so it will date faster than a Persol. Generally less expensive than the Tom Ford, with a lighter frame and a much louder shape.