The chic finishes of the most advanced sustainable materials continue to surprise this year. We found three unique tortoise-inspired choices that we’d be thrilled to wear!
In eyewear, elegant tortoise tones are no longer the exclusive preserve of virgin acetate. Forward-thinking eyewear producers who have adopted genuine sustainable materials are creating frames with classic tortoise colours or varieties of the coloration, that have their own unique qualities and beautiful intensities and transparencies of colour. At Mykita, a company that has switched to sustainable Eastman Acetate Renew across its entire portfolio of collections, models like Davu in colour Zanzibar represent the cutting-edge of design in the Eastman material which is said to be hard-wearing and long-lasting, as well as having a good-looking finish and lots of potential for creative colour. Above: the Davu frame by Mykita in the very attractive Zanzibar colorway – www.mykita.com
Model Malta is a new style from Sea2see, the company that collects and transforms recycled marine plastic into a material called UPSEA™ PLAST which is suitable for the production of high-quality frames with a variety of contemporary colours and finishes. Their most recent collection, which also includes marine-inspired colours, shows that the material is versatile and adaptable, as well as having practical qualities of lightness, strength and comfort. Sea2see is one of a small number of optical companies that is now BCorp certified, meaning that it meets particular standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. The company also operates its own non-profit Foundation and waste collection operation in Ghana. www.sea2see.org / www.sea2seefoundation.org
The latest collection from Paradigm features the trendy square Debbie style in a selection of colours. The frame is made from ISCC-certified recycled acetate and offers an attractive modern take on colour and pattern.
To further support their sustainability mission, the producers of the Paradigm collection, Kenmark Eyewear, has pledged to donate 20% of sales from their models Sid, Debbie, and Seymour in Ginkgo from this collection to ‘Cool Earth’ to aid in the fight against the climate crisis. www.kenmarkeyewear.com /