REVIEW: Native Eyewear WELLS™ Sunglasses

The Wells sunglasses at first glance, seem just like any other pair of sunglasses. They have a plasticy frame and lenses that are like magnets for fingerprints. If I’m honest, I was a bit disappointed when I received them because I know NATIVE is a very well respected company in the industry. It wasn’t until I put them on that everything began to make sense.

Design/Aesthetics (4) ★★★★

As I dug deeper and did more research on the WELLS™, I discovered that those “plasticy frames” weren’t so “plasticy” after all. In fact, they’re not plastic at all. NATIVE choose to use a plant-based resin to make their frames which is not only better for the environment, it’s also pretty mind blowing that technology can take something fragile like a plant and turn it into a durable resin that we can mold into whatever shape we want. The only thing I would change about the design would be adding some sort of spring mechanism to the hinge like in some other high-end glasses. This resistance culminating in the arm popping into its opened or closed position, is synonymous with quality in my mind and I think would be a big upgrade to the WELLS™.

Durability (5) ★★★★★

I break everything and when I say everything, I mean everything. I cannot count the number of sunglasses I’ve ruined by either knocking them off my head or sitting on them. It’s a serious problem and I should probably just invest in one of those cheap sunglasses straps to keep them attached to me. I took the glasses climbing one day and without thinking just stuck one of the arms through the back of my harness. as I neared the top of the climb, the glasses fell out and tumbled all the way back to the ground about 30 feet below. I’m happy to say that the lenses are both scratch free and there’s only one small scuff on the frame. Needless to say, I’m impressed.

Functionality (4) ★★★★

When it comes to the functionality of sunglasses, from a 3,000 foot view, it seems pretty simple. Their job is to shield your eyes from the sun. When you start to zoom in though, you start to realize that it’s much more than that. You not only want to block the visible light, but the infrared light as well. With NATIVE’s N3 Polarized™ lens technology, you’re able to protect your eyes from the visible and invisible light while providing arguably the best polarization of any lenses I’ve ever tried.

Value (4) ★★★★

I recently picked up a new pair of sunglasses that were about twice as much as the WELLS™. They are aesthetically very similar and both have polarized lenses. Even though some people think that money equals quality, I would argue otherwise in this case. I find myself gravitating towards the WELLS™ way more than my other pair of sunglasses. Plus, when you look at the amount of technology that is actually in this pair of glasses, you realize that NATIVE should actually be charging much more than they are. For $119, they’re practically giving them away and I would recommend them over most of their higher priced competitors.