Clear Vision, Clear Conscience

As the eyecare industry continues to evolve toward a more sustainable future, a mission is materializing: Patients want their conscience to be as clear as their vision.

Increasingly, sustainable materials are making their mark across brand portfolios, allowing consumers the opportunity to feel good about how they utilize the power of their spending without having to sacrifice durability, quality, or style. 

Here, we dive into the basics of frame materials that are becoming increasingly common throughout the industry.

→ Recycled Plastic: One person’s waste can become a producer’s opportunity, as some companies are spearheading initiatives for removing plastic waste from where it doesn’t belong, or preventing it from getting there in the first place, to create optical and sun frames. Ocean waste like fishing nets, plastic bottles, and even discarded eyewear and related materials are being remade into new frames.

→ Plant-Based Plastic: Plant-based plastic utilizes plant fibers like cork, flax, rice, and straw. Hemp especially, with its unique ability to grow almost anywhere without much water, is a renewable resource with much potential, as its fibers can be used for many purposes, including eyewear. Frames crafted from hemp and other plant fibers are known to be lightweight and durable.

Bio-acetate, also known as cellulose acetate, is made from renewable sources like cotton and wood, unlike traditional acetate, which is derived from petroleum-based plastics. Bio-acetate is known to imitate its counterpart in terms of feel, durability, and styling options while having biodegradable and hypoallergenic qualities.

→ Recycled Metal: Frames crafted from recycled metal are just as lightweight, durable, and versatile as frames crafted from freshly produced metal—but with a much smaller carbon footprint.

→ Bamboo: Crafting eyewear styles from bamboo, an incredibly fast-growing renewable resource, results in lightweight, durable frames that are biodegradable and naturally hypoallergenic.

→ Wood: Eyewear frames crafted from sustainably sourced wood, with its endless variety, unique and eye-catching patterns, and beautiful earthy tones, are both durable and biodegradable.