Walter White Sunglasses
Identifying the Sunglasses Brand of Breaking Bad’s Walter White
What can I really say about one of the most famous characters in all of TV and cinema history? Walter White portrayed by Bryan Cranston, is one of the most beloved tv series ever created. But it was one particular scene with an unusual amount of people intrigued. It’s not because of the fantastic performance of both Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, but the humorous attire both characters wore. In the scene featured in season 1 episode 7, ‘’A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal’’ (and various points throughout the series when he ‘becomes’ Heisenberg). The sunglasses were also featured in many other episodes all when Walter and Jesse met with criminal Tuco Salamaker. The Shades Walter wore as a part of his disguise when meeting Tuco in public are comically anti-cool although ironically these styles of shades have grown in popularity since Breaking Bad initially aired back in 2007. So can we identify the brand of these sunglasses, and if so, are they still available to buy? Let’s take a deep dive into the Sunglasses of Walter White.
Walter White Sunglasses: Identifying the Brand
This was a tricky one to start looking into. After all, it’s not like Walter White is particularly known for his sunglasses nor did he wear them often in the series. Let’s start with these glasses styles and go from there. These glasses are what I’d call hip-hop sunglasses as they’re quite popular in this music scene – especially in America. Think of the likes of Easy-E and you won’t be far off this style. The likes of Locs Sunglasses are a good popular example of this style. From the images I’ve looked at the most definitive aspect of these sunglasses is their sides with the sunglasses arms in a triangular shape meeting at a point at the tips. Another aspect that will help with the search is the lack of branding on the frames. Many people online speculated for a long time these were Ray-Ban RB4150’s but the lack of branding and differently shaped arms dispelled this idea quickly.
After reviewing many articles online including social media sites such as Reddit and Twitter it was clear that most people now agree that the sunglasses worn by Walter White are the Smith Optics Turnable Sunglasses. The biggest identified is the metal accents on the side of the glasses which on closer inspection also have the Smith Optics logo on the side. It’s subtle but it’s there. After searching the official Smith Optics website I wasn’t able to find the Turnable Sunglasses, but it wouldn’t be uncommon as it’s likely these sunglasses have been discontinued since Breaking Bad was on TV. I decided to try my luck with the Wayback Machine (a website that allows you to look back at old archived websites) to see if I could find a period where these sunglasses were sold. Looking back at their website from around 2008 yielded nothing as the website used Flash so it would no longer load.
If you’re looking to get your hands on an authentic pair of Smith Optics Turnbable Sunglasses then your only chance these days is on aftermarket websites such as eBay. Unforauntlky, these glasses are exceedingly rare and as of 2023, I’ve been unable to find any examples of these being sold.