Part of their upcycled collection, the Clover LL sunglasses from Dragon Alliance use recycled water bottles to produce stylish sunglasses that look and feel great, while simultaneously helping to keep plastic out of our oceans. This is my review:
The Clover LL is currently just one of 16 different pairs of shades in Dragon Alliances upcycled collection. While these are technically recycled, not upcycled, the end result is the same. Less plastic in the oceans and landfills, which is a good thing. These particular glasses come in two colors, matte black and matte olive.
The Clover LL provide 100% UV protection thanks to their Lumalense technology, which not only blocks UV lights but emphasizes highlights and contrast, making terrain and objects easier to view in harsh or even dim conditions. This technology concentrates on filtering out harsh bright light, while retaining and even at times enhancing greens and blues, making the scenery vibrant and uplifting instead of dark and dreary. I found that terrain was much easier to read in general when the sun was out, and transitioning into darker areas, such as shade and overcast, didn’t prove to be a challenge. I could still make out sticks and roots on the trails, keeping me safter in my journeys as I wasn’t tripping or stepping onto unstable objects.
They provide good overall sun coverage for the eyes and similarly good wind block as well. They have also shown to be rather durable throughout my testing. The frames are stiff and rigid, without feeling frail or brittle, but still have just enough flex to not feel like they’re going to snap if put under pressure. Being stuffed into various cars, backpacks and generally just tossed about in use, they’ve held up great. I have a minor scuff on one lese that resulted, I believe, from a branch hitting my (luckily shielded) eye while mountain biking, but that’s not something any glasses would just shrug off. Normal use hasn’t shown any signs of wear and the hinges are still wobble free. These do come with a two year warranty if anything does happen, but I’ve never dealt with their customer service to report on that just yet. Still, it’s nice to have a guarantee applied to them.
At $135 these are clearly in the premium sunglasses category, and I believe they fit into that quite well. They look great, feel great, and have held up to the abuse I’ve put them through. They didn’t come with any sort of hard case, which is a little disappointing for the price, but I can deal with that as an effort to reduce how much plastic is in circulation. I can reuse cases I already have. They did come with a microfiber cloth sack for storage and cleaning, which is something.
As a classy yet sporty, environmentally friendly option, the Clover LL is an excellent choice. They’re not doing anything particularly new, but they’re still solid glasses that I keep coming back to. I really enjoy the muted but modern aesthetics, and they feel great to wear also. I really have no complaints about them, which makes them easy to recommend.
Highly Recommended
Want to learn more about this product and their other offerings? You can check out their products Here. This is an not affiliate link, but if you want to help us out you can click the image below for and check out some stuff sacks and Dry Bags, which I also recommend especially for water sports.
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