I Finally Found Running Sunglasses That Don’t Make Me Feel Like a Poser
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Run-club culture moved into New York not long after I did — summer 2021, all earnest and sweaty. It’s been five years since then, and still everyone knows someone who’s training for a marathon, your best friend’s boyfriend is cornering you at the party to tell you about his favoriteperformance gels, and the Prospect Park loop is as heavily trafficked as the Macy’s Parade. Run clubs are instantly recognizable — like any self-respecting club, they have a uniform: wicking fabrics,sneakerswith soles that won’t stop getting thicker, and space-age reflective glasses with lenses that gleam like the hood of a tiny sports car.
Running is my favorite thing to do, and the more of a quote-unquote “runner” I’ve become — the more marathons under my elastic waistband, the more run-club-sponsored bakery crawls I’ve joined — the better I’ve cultivated my perfect wardrobe. I tend to forgo the highly technical for the lo-fi and utterly uncomplicated. I prefer an old Jockey undershirt that belonged to my granddad and the samesports brasI’ve had since eighth grade to the quasi-bionic spandex tops of today. I run in hand-me-downshortsfor the same reasons I pull onjeansI know make my butt look good on a first date — it’s about how they make me feel. By wearing occasionally threadbare and always no-frills running gear, I take the pressure off my performance.
Upholding the less-is-more philosophy has proven difficult when it comes to eyewear, though. The market is largely a mix of the aforementionedreflective windscreensandpairs my mom would wear, and I’m caught between feeling not cool enough and too cool by inches. That is until this spring, when I finally found the perfect, everyman pair —the Clifffrom Warby Parker.
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Every shape in the collection is self-assured and unassuming, low-key and classic without anything to prove. They’re offered in three subdued colorways — black, tortoise, and a slate blue called Marine Trench — and the Cliffs are the platonic ideal. They’re a rounded rectangle that straddles the line between harsh corners and John Lennon circularity, the kind of easygoing shape that would answer honestly, “I want what you want,” if you were trying to decide on a place for dinner.
It’s a nostalgic shape, reminiscent of the pairs your high-school soccer coaches wore or those you might find at a gas station. But the Cliffs are no gas-station pair. They’re Italian-made (allora!) and priced at $195. That’s more than I’d spend on a road-trip stop, but they’re a downright bargain when you compare them to the offerings at Oakley, District Vision, and Bandit, all pushing $250 apiece, $400 if you know where to look. Not flashy or loud, the Cliffs boast the quality of their price point in their design — I knew it from my first jog. Where other pairs have slipped and bounced or worse, stayed so unyieldingly still I’ve been left with a pressure headache, the Cliffs have no-slip rubber nose pads that keep them in place without leaving marks no matter how long the run, and the ultralight nylon frame makes them virtually weightless. They feel like they’re just another part of my face, designed for comfortable viewing no matter which way I look — the frames are fit with polarized, wraparound lenses.
But they’re not just my new favorite running gear. They’ve become mysunglassesof choice when I’m not sweating, too. In their goes-with-everything tortoiseshell, I’ve worn them for sidewalk happy hours and for my walk to work, keeping them pulled up just behind my hairline long after I’ve sat down at my desk (I uphold that good sunglasses are the best headbands, most essentially ones without articulated nose pads that get tangled up in my hair). I think this — their chameleonic capacity to style seamlessly for a 10K and drinks alfresco alike — is the best evidence for their easy cool. No apparent aerodynamics, no intimidation factor, nothing that screams “race me,” just a design that feels familiar and timeless and a construction that speaks for itself.
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They have a simple elastic waistband and breezy, non-restrictive legs.
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Moisture-wicking, cushiony, blister-resistant, and durable.
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Easily fits gels, a cell phone, some cash, and your water.
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