Love at first sight

We’ve been fixating on a pair of Maui Jim Ebb & Flow PolarizedPlus2® sunglasses ever since spotting them across a crowded optometrist’s showroom. They stood out from the me-too designer and not-so-designer brands cluttering the shelves. Their clean lines and vision-forward approach to eyewear set them apart from the pack.

We knew nothing about Maui Jim at that point, other than it was love at first sight. On getting to know the brand a little bit better, our infatuation deepened. Durable, lightweight and sporting polarized lenses, Maui Jim sunglasses are all about enhancing the way you see the world around you.

Thanks to Maui Jim’s proprietary PolarizedPlus2® Lens Technology that protects your eyes from 100% of UVA and UVB rays, the company can support these claims. Not only does the PolarizedPlus2® Lens Technology block 100% of UV rays, it also removes 99,9% of glare. Plus, colour is boosted so that you see all those views in crisper detail and contrast. The sunglasses really are designed to make you change the way you see the world!

So how did this approach start? The brand’s very name is a giveaway for the company’s origin. Yes, Maui Jim was born on the beaches of Hawaii, where the intense sunlight created the need for a solution that would show the beauty of the island to advantage. Which is why there’s sound reasoning for Maui Jim to have made its way across the oceans to South Africa, where our own summery, sunny African climate creates a similar need. Aloha, indeed!

Maui Jim came into the world in 1980 as a small company selling sunglasses on Ka’anapali beach in Lahaina, Maui. “Seeing a need in the market for technology that could combat intense glare and harmful UV while bringing the brilliant colours of the island to life we engineered the revolutionary PolarizedPlus2® lens.”

Maui Jim started humbly with just 7 classic styles and their range has since expanded into over 125 styles of sunglasses, all of which are fitted with the brand’s famed PolarizedPlus2® Lenses. Although the brand has grown enormously, its home office is still located in Lahaina, Maui, where all Maui Jim sunglasses are designed and tested. It is very heartening to know that Ebb & Flow has such a design heritage. We’ll be wearing them with pride – or, as they say in Hawaii, haʻaheo!