20 Years of The Sunglass Fix: Our Journey in Replacement Lenses

Every business has an origin story. Ours started in the most unglamorous place possible, a kitchen drawer, with a scratched pair of sunglasses that nobody wanted to throw out, and nobody knew how to fix.

That pair of sunglasses belonged to our founder, Craig, and it's the reason The Sunglass Fix exists 20 years later, as one of the go-to names for replacement lenses and sunglass lens repairs.

Before The Sunglass Fix

Craig's path here wasn't a straight line. He initially studied Business Economics in the US, before moving to Australia in 1993 where he met his wife, Lainie. He then spent the next decade building a corporate career, including a stint as Asia Pacific Manager for MasterFoods Corporate Systems.

When Craig turned down a promotion that would've relocated the family to China, it was with one thought in mind. To build a business of his own. Not long after, he found a scratched pair of sunglasses sitting at the back of a drawer, and naturally wondered why he couldn’t just replace the lenses and keep the sunglass frames.

In his quest for answers, he discovered two things. First, it was either close to impossible, or terribly expensive, to find replacement sunglass lenses. Second, more than 2.4 billion pairs of sunglasses are made and sold around the world every year, which means a lot end up in landfill! These two startling truths became the reason he built The Sunglass Fix.

By offering replacement lenses people could install themselves, Craig was convinced he could create a sustainable business that would help people save money and reduce waste.

Building The Sunglass Fix from a backyard shed

The Sunglass Fix started small: a shed, a tiny optical machine, and a lot of trial and error. Craig spent the first two and a half years figuring out how to make and shape sunglass lenses himself and build a working production line from nothing.

The vision, then and now, was to create a one-stop shop for the world with the largest and most diverse range of sunglass lens models possible so "there's a solution for everybody". With this vision in mind he made a decision that still shapes the business today - outsourcing the lens coating process, while keeping lens design and shaping in-house in Australia. That split let the business stay hands-on with product quality, and customer communication, while still being able to grow.

From the garage to Byron Bay

In 2009, a road trip to Byron Bay turned into a permanent move. Craig ran The Sunglass Fix out of the garage for the next seven years, slowly growing the business one pair of replacement lenses at a time while the reputation for quality sunglass lenses started to spread.

By 2015, demand had outgrown the garage. The business moved into its first proper warehouse and brought in bigger machinery, the first real sign that this backyard project had become something more.

Scaling up production

Between 2017 and 2020, growth picked up fast. The team introduced the first industrial optical CNC machine and a robotic handling unit. They moved into a larger warehouse, and went through a full rebrand; new logo, new packaging, a fresh identity to match a business that had outgrown almost every version of itself so far.

The Sunglass Fix today

Fast forward to 2026, and The Sunglass Fix now runs on multiple CNC machines, a lens picker machine, multiple robotic arms, and two warehouses side by side. What started with one scratched pair of sunglasses and a tiny machine in a backyard shed has grown into a business built to produce high-quality replacement lenses at scale, without losing sight of why it started: helping people fix the sunglasses they already love, instead of replacing them.

Twenty years in, we're still growing, and still just as excited about the next pair of lenses as we were about the first. Want to see how it all started, in Craig's own words? Check out the full carousel on Instagram and keep an eye out — there is more to come.