Revant Launches Sunglasses That'll Last Forever

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Jason Bolt founded Revant Optics in 2010 after a mountain-bike crash scratched up his favorite pair of sunglasses. He was left frustrated trying to find replacement parts, as few brands stock spare lenses and arms for all their models. So Bolt set out to fill that gap by creating a company that would produce replacement lenses for frames from major sunglasses companies, like Oakley and Smith. Business boomed.

Now the Oregon brand is coming out with its own frames, which will come with a lifetime warranty and a repair program. Manufacturing defect? Get your glasses fixed for free. Break them? Buy replacement parts or send the frames in to be repaired for a fee. Lose them entirely? Get 30 percent off a new pair.

Every part on the sunnies is replaceable or repairable. Exact pricing is still to be determined, though the cost will likely depend on the extent of the damage and the number of parts that have to be replaced. Spare lenses will run for 20 percent off their full retail value (this is also TBD, though the lenses Revant makes for other brands’ frames typically run between $24 for nonpolarized to $60 for polarized). 

The new Revant line consists of three models, all of which will be manufactured in the U.S. and cost an estimated $155 to $175. There’s the full-frame F1L, which blocks the most light of the bunch; the ultralight S1L, which has minimal frames and smaller lenses; and the S2L, which has the widest frames and the widest lenses, for maximum field of vision. The frames themselves are also manufactured to be burly and easy to fix should they break. Injection molded and unpainted, the frames won’t chip; molded arm hinges don’t need screws (a common failure point); and the temples are imprinted with a 3-D pattern that grips as well as an embedded rubber strip (impossible to replace once it’s worn out).

Revant’s goal is to “create an eyewear brand that will reshape the industry.” While we can’t say yet whether the sunglasses will live up to those standards, there’s this: the Kickstarter campaign was fully funded within three hours. Clearly, Revant has tapped into something people want.