Wednesday 17 May, 2006 at 11:46PM (Nereus)  ::  permalink  ::  comments (2)

Almost three years ago I scored a pair of sunnies from Hot Buttered Surfboards in Australia for helping out with some issues on the HB website. Thanks to Blake Foss (the web developer), Terry Fitzgerald (HB surf legend), and Liv (friendly person at HB), I was able to choose the frame and lens I wanted, so I went for a pair of their 'Species' Italian frames in matte black with the blue mirror-type lenses (like in the inset).

The sunnies were really lightweight, very comfortable (no marks on the sides of the nose after wearing them for a while either) and styling big time imho. My old New Zealand Dirty Dog 'Weapon' sunnies were on their last legs, so the timing was brilliant.

The sunnies lasted really well over the couple of years with barely a mark on them, until a couple of weekends ago - no, they weren't destroyed, they were stolen. It was my fault really - I put them down while checking something out in a store, then realized shortly after that I hadn't picked them up again, but of course the sunnies were nowhere to be found. In Brooklyn, New York, that's not much of a surprise. I left my name and contact at the shop just in case, but they never turned up (and I think the staff would likely keep them if they did), so now I was without my beloved sunnies. Tragedy indeed.

I emailed HB to see if I could get another pair - they still have the Species frames available on their website, but not with blue lenses, and unfortunately they don't have the option to pick your own lenses anymore. They replied to say they have those frames with the grey polarized lenses only now. Bummer. I've emailed back asking who the manufacturer is, but I'm not holding my breath.

After searching around heaps of webites, I've ordered a pair of Oakley XX sunnies in the meantime to try out (hard to tell what they really look like until you get them on), but they are similar to the HB ones although not in matte black and, well, here look for yourself:

I have a 30 day period to return them if they look suspect, so we'll see how they go. I'm still hoping HB can do something for me, so think positive. Pretty melodramatic for a pair of sunnies, but hey, I was attached to those HB Species, ok. :P

If you're in NYC and see someone wearing a pair of those sunnies with HB on the side, grab them for me, they're mine - there's almost no way there would be another pair the same sunnies anywhere around here. That's all for now, exams all over the place, scary times, especially with no sunnies. *sneef*