Shaded by a tree – The Tumbleweeds

The Tumbleweeds brand of sunglasses denotes nothing of the symbolism that its namesake insinuates. Far from encapsulating the desolate, dryness of Hollywood’s Western shrubbery, the sunglasses are welcoming, rejecting the don’t-look-at-me pretension of Perspex shades so that the wooden veneer of the frames warm the face. This charm is a reflection of the label’s founder, Beca Lewis Skeels, whose charisma and endearing affability is evident from her blog, Tales of a Tumbleweed.

Notifying her Etsy customers that Tumbleweeds operates a ‘3-4 week turnaround time, maybe longer’ and concluding her forewarning with a love heart, the love with which she has nurtured her brand matches the care taken to individually produce each pair. For Tumbleweeds, quality is paramount and the brand brazenly disregards the commercial motivation of its competitors. Rather than being an annoyance, this timescale champions the respect that Beca demands of her brand: the antithesis of which is the ubiquitous disposal of season specific fashion. Having waited a month for handcrafted shades, it is implausible that the venom of throw-away fashion would seep into the frames and poison its creation, catalysing its dumpsite decay.

Experimenting with woodwork, Tumbleweeds imitates the variety of styles which individualise sunglasses through the colour and style of the veneer frame. Particularly noteworthy is the vertically striped Clubmasters, which amalgamates ebony, poplar and mahogany wood to compliment an array of wooden shades. Aptly, the price points of these shades are above those of the high-street, yet not offensively so, and cost reflects the expertise which crafts these sunglasses and the longevity to be enjoyed, fashionably, by the shaded.

Ryan Brown

Find out more about Tumbleweeds here.