Style spotlight

Eyewear promoting green initiatives

BY JOAN GRADY

Mellow collection: the Superfood Series by Hemp Eyewear

Climate change affects multiple areas of everyone’s daily lives – and livelihoods. This simple truth is creating compelling new realities and attitudes in all facets of business and fashion. The eyewear community has joined numerous worldwide companies helping to protect the environment with an active commitment to sustainability.

Discovering unique materials with a low environmental impact has resulted in innovative frames crafted with everything from coffee beans and castor oil to the Indian spice turmeric and the algae spirulina. Further efforts to protect the planet and people are initiated by international companies, increasingly dedicated to responsible, local manufacturing whenever possible. Furthermore, hiring people from the community, using packaging that reduces waste, and shipping products by train and boat to reduce carbon emissions, are all positive steps to halt the debilitating effects of climate change.

PLANTS, HERBS + SEEDS = FRAMES Designers and companies are researching new and unexpected, sometimes edible, products that can be crafted into stylish, sustainable eyewear designs. Unique materials are the foundation for extremely ingenious frame designs from Hemp Eyewear.

The Scottish start-up, created by founder Sam Whitten, explores natural and vegan materials that include a hemp base grown in France. Passionate about craft and maintaining ecological equilibrium, the newest launch from Hemp is the Superfood Series, which includes beetroot, turmeric, spirulina and chlorophyll. The vibrant colours in the series are achieved by first soaking the hemp fibres for 24 hours, and then air drying thoroughly before processing into durable, lightweight eyewear.

There are four collections, each with three limited edition designs: the Cocktail Collection dyed with beetroot; the Mellow Collection with turmeric; the Trailblazer Collection with chlorophyll as a dye; and Holy Mackerel made possible by scientists in Scotland who sourced a blue spirulina, stable enough to withstand strenuous machinery processes. The results are charismatic, individualistic eyewear creations.

FORWARD-THINKING AND FASHIONABLE Eyespace, the award-winning British brand created by Jayne and Julie Abel, brings environmentally-friendly frames to the table with its Eco Conscious collection. The collection is certified as biodegradable, which is the result of extensive development by the company’s design studio. The streamlined frames are made from premium bio-based acetate with nontoxic plasticisers that are sustainable, renewable and fashionably contemporary.

The lenses are also biodegradable, while plastic-free packaging and point-of-sale assets using carbon-neutral FSC-certified cardboard are utilised. The Worcestershirebased company has also committed to a planet pledge by partnering with One Tree Planted. This means that a tree is planted for every frame sold to help reforestation efforts.

From the very first collection launched in 2009, Rolf Spectacles has always created frames in natural products – including wood, stone and horn. Rolf’s latest creative roll-out is plant-based bean glasses, made from a species of the euphorbiaceae plant family.

This unique collection is produced in the Tyrolean valley of Lechtal, the Austrian headquarters for Rolf Spectacles, and has received the European Green award Gold Trophy from the European Institute of

Trailblazer collection with chlorophyll by Hemp Eyewear Juniper and Larch: Eco Conscious by Eyespace Eyewear

Plant-based Bean frames: Substance collection by Rolf Spectacles

Applied Sustainability. The Substance collection includes 23 screwless designs in beautiful colourations.

Style and sustainability is also the foundation for Neubau Eyewear, where every effort is made to source and use justifiable organic materials. The Austrian label recently released the Earth Collection: part of Neubau’s Changing the Perspective theme, with optical designs created using the company’s 100 per cent bio-based Natural 3D material, extracted entirely from castor oil plant seeds. The Earth Collection for men and women features a timeless colour palette that includes ocean teal, sand, roasted berry and black coal – plus olive, deep ocean, morning coffee and concrete.

CREATIVITY AND STYLE In Spain, Jisco Eyewear with its alluring Mediterranean styling has launched a striking capsule collection in eco-titanium that unites 100 per cent biodegradable bioacetate frame fronts with titanium temples. The designs for men and women include a variety of sleek silhouettes – round, rectangular and double-bridge – in desirable colourations with refined details. Jisco is also supporting the Save the Med Foundation by donating a percentage of sales of a beautiful cleaning cloth made from 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles.

The streamlined aesthetically designed frames in the Götti Dimension and Perspective collections are fully crafted in Switzerland. Götti has developed its own manufacturing site utilising local production facilities, as well as providing employment to people living in the area – whilst ensuring top quality control for each frame. Dynamic technological input in the designs is married with traditional handcrafting elements – resulting in environmentallyfriendly, aesthetic, beautifully constructed contemporary frames.

Lowercase NYC is a young eyewear business launched in 2016, with designer Gerard Masci uniting his love of New York, modern technology and traditional spectacle making. A quality, eco-attitude is practised with all frames crafted by hand in Brooklyn. Artistic expression is coupled with an emphasis on premium, elegant eyewear ‘Made in America’. The foundation of the brand is to incorporate sustainable materials in optical designs and sunglasses for men and women in luscious colours.

The use of recycled acetate enables the Belgian brand Komono to create charismatic eyewear in avant-garde colourations. Komono was launched by former professional snowboarders, Anton Janssens and Raf Maes, and they strive to create products that are sustainable, but also viable in the long term. There is a choice of materials, and the overall goal is to have a positive impact on both the planet and its people.

‘Climate speak’ is now an important consideration for governments, scientists, chief executives, creators and designers. The alarming crisis of climate change is happening more quickly than scientists ever anticipated and, globally, extreme fires and weather events are rapidly increasing.

The eyewear sector, and particularly independent opticians, have the pressing opportunity to aid in planet preservation. By supporting designers and brands that are seeking to promote ideas and concepts that establish creative goals and benchmarks in sustainable style, the eyewear industry has accepted the global challenge for a healthier and more balanced planet.

Earth collection: Changing the Perspective by Neubau Eyewear

Eco-titanium and bio-acetate frames by Jisco Eyewear

Götti Dimension by Götti Switzerland Carr by Lowercase NYC