The best aviator sunglasses for men have always been cool, but I first became enamored with them as a kid, watching reruns of CHiPs before school. The plot lines were largely forgettable. The reflective, teardrop-shaped frames those fictional highway patrol officers swore by? Not so much. Once I moved on from spending my mornings with Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox, there were aviators again, framing the faces of Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, Tom Cruise in Top Gun, and Robert Redford wherever he went. All of this to say: Aviators are as American as apple pie, blue jeans, and Coca-Cola—and have represented a specific brand of grownup swagger for as long as I’ve been alive.
The original aviators were created in the 1930s by Bausch & Lomb, a precursor to Ray-Ban, but these days, there are countless riffs on the silhouette that yank it into the here and now. The exact ones pilots used to wear are still a sure bet—part of the aviator’s appeal is how much of the eye it protects, making it one of the safest choices for pilots, drivers, and bikers—but there’s no shortage of high-flying designer joints, too. Below is every pair worth your time in 2025, from the age-old, genre-defining icons to the new-school, wild-style iconoclasts.
The Best Men’s Aviator Sunglasses, According to GQ
In This Guide
Best Aviator Sunglasses Overall: Ray-Ban RB3025 Classic Aviator Sunglasses
Really, there’s no better place to start than with the brand that invented the silhouette. In 1936, these iconic sunglasses were introduced for pilots, designed with distinctive large lenses that covered the entire eye to minimize light intrusion from all angles—a critical feature for clear vision during flight. The Ray-Ban design soon soared beyond the cockpit and into pop culture, but beyond their stylish appeal, these aviators also offer 100% UV protection, and come with the classic Ray-Ban green lenses—though there’s also pink, brown, gray, blue, and other lens options should you lean a different way.
Best Budget Aviator Sunglasses: Sunski Shoreline Sunglasses
You don’t need to break the bank to shield your eyes from harsh rays, either. Crafted from recyclable materials, Sunski’s more-affordable frames still feature polarized lenses that improve contrast in ultra-bright conditions, and block over 99% of UV light. The Shoreline model stands out, too, with its slightly larger, square-shaped aviator design calling to mind Hunter S. Thompson’s signature oversized yellow lenses.
Best OG Aviator Sunglasses: American Optical Original Pilot Sunglasses
These sunglasses made it to the moon and back. Carried by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during their historic moon landing in 1969, it’s all the proof you need that American Optical’s aviators are more than capable of handling anything Earth throws your way. Crafted specifically for American military pilots, these iconic frames feature bayonet temples specifically designed to eliminate interference with military helmets—or your favorite ’47 branded cap. But their impressive heritage is just the beginning. The frames are built to last, with scratch-resistant lenses that offer distortion-free clarity, and an anti-reflective backside coating to combat glare, even when driving into the sun. What’s more, they’re still made in the USA today, adhering to the same rigorous military standards that have defined them for decades.
Best Air Force-Approved Aviator Sunglasses: Randolph Engineering Aviator Sunglasses
The Randolph Engineering name has been synonymous with quality eyewear since 1973. (Like American Optical above, in 1982, the brand secured a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to produce military-issue sunglasses.) Each pair is handcrafted, in a process that takes up to six weeks and involves over 200 intricate steps, taking into account comfort as much as quality, with adjustable nose pads and flexible temple arms to guarantee a fit that’s tailored to you. So confident is Randolph Engineering of its military-grade durability, in fact, that the brand backs each frame with a lifetime warranty.
Best Mood Board-Famous Aviator Sunglasses: Persol PO0649 Aviator Sunglasses
While Persol’s tortoise frames aren’t the classic metal frames associated with aviators, those lenses are as aviator as they come, so we’re including them here. Inspired by Turin’s elegant, swift tram drivers, and featuring the iconic glasses brand’s signature Meflecto temple technology—which ensures the glasses fit to your head, rather than putting pressure on it—these glasses offer exceptional flexibility and comfort, making them a perfect choice for all-day wear. That was at least the opinion of Marcello Mastroianni and Steve McQueen, both of whom were frequently seen in their Persol PO0649s.
Best Mirrored Aviator Sunglasses: Ray-Ban Aviator Mirror Sunglasses
It’s easy to think that mirrored aviators are only for Highway Patrolmen, but they have plenty of benefits beyond increasing your privacy. For example, mirrored aviators reduce glare more than any other style—and they also just look great. (In fact, Robert Redford was in long-term relationship with his.) And if you’re looking for your first pair, Ray-Ban have pretty much perfected the form. Its mirrored aviators have a dark gray lens and a matte silver frame—because we don’t need everything to shine, do we.
More Aviator Sunglasses We Love
How We Test and Review Products
Style is subjective, we know—that’s the fun of it. But we’re serious about helping our audience get dressed. Whether it’s the best white sneakers, the flyest affordable suits, or the need-to-know menswear drops of the week, GQ Recommends’ perspective is built on years of hands-on experience, an insider awareness of what’s in and what’s next, and a mission to find the best version of everything out there, at every price point.
Our staffers aren’t able to try on every single piece of clothing you read about on GQ.com (fashion moves fast these days), but we have an intimate knowledge of each brand’s strengths and know the hallmarks of quality clothing—from materials and sourcing, to craftsmanship, to sustainability efforts that aren’t just greenwashing. GQ Recommends heavily emphasizes our own editorial experience with those brands, how they make their clothes, and how those clothes have been reviewed by customers. Bottom line: GQ wouldn’t tell you to wear it if we wouldn’t.
How We Make These Picks
We make every effort to cast as wide of a net as possible, with an eye on identifying the best options across three key categories: quality, fit, and price.
To kick off the process, we enlist the GQ Recommends braintrust to vote on our contenders. Some of the folks involved have worked in retail, slinging clothes to the masses; others have toiled for small-batch menswear labels; all spend way too much time thinking about what hangs in their closets.
We lean on that collective experience to guide our search, culling a mix of household names, indie favorites, and the artisanal imprints on the bleeding-edge of the genre. Then we narrow down the assortment to the picks that scored the highest across quality, fit, and price.
Across the majority of our buying guides, our team boasts firsthand experience with the bulk of our selects, but a handful are totally new to us. So after several months of intense debate, we tally the votes, collate the anecdotal evidence, and emerge with a list of what we believe to be the absolute best of the category right now, from the tried-and-true stalwarts to the modern disruptors, the affordable beaters to the wildly expensive (but wildly worth-it) designer riffs.
Whatever your preferences, whatever your style, there’s bound to be a superlative version on this list for you. (Read more about GQ’s testing process here.)