Could These Be A Pair of Sunglasses for Life?
Sunglasses seem to some people (like this author) like a real scam. You have to plop down at least $150 for a decent looking/quality pair. For that considerable amount of money, you get a couple ounces of molded plastic, some screws and 2 polycarbonate or glass lenses (I’m sure I’m missing some rare-earth additive that accounts for their expense). You wear them for a couple years at best until you sit on them or mangle them some other way, at which point you buy a new pair.
While they’re still well north of $100, Maui Jim sunglasses offer something for your money. For $10, you can send them in to be fixed. Perhaps because the company is located in Illinois (not Maui) and the glasses are US-made, they reportedly offer generous and quick turnarounds with those repairs. Note that this does not include scratched lenses, though the website indicates they will repair those for an additional cost.
I looked at the websites of a couple other high-end sunglass manufacturers for their repair policy. Unlike Maui Jim, who has a link to their repair policy on their main navigation bar, the other companies had theirs several clicks deep on their sites. Though I can’t say this for sure, this burying of information probably shows that replacement is a higher priority than repair for these guys.
One question that we think about a lot at LifeEdited is “if I were to choose one ______ [pair of sunglasses, computer, pair of socks], which one would I choose?” Companies like Maui Jim, who make repair and servicing easy, make that choice a lot easier.
Do you know of high quality products that offer easy and quick repairs? If so, please let us know.