Do the environment some good while protecting your eyes from the sun’s harmful rays with eco-friendly shades. There are a wide variety of sustainable sunglasses on the market today that provide the latest trends with both eyes on the environment.
MODO’s eco line, which stands for Earth Conscious Optics, uses high-quality recycled plastic and stainless steel to bring its sunglass designs to life. The collection is certified with an UL Environment Validation, indicating that eco’s sunglasses are made from at least 95-percent recycled materials.
For summer 2011, eco has released two new aviator styles that are a must-have for every discerning fashionista’s summer wardrobe. The unisex frames offer contemporary variations on traditional aviator frames and are available in four colors, ranging from gold and silver shades to black, green and tortoise.
The sunglass maker has also partnered with Trees for the Future, an agroforestry resource center, in an effort to restore degraded lands in Africa and Southeast Asia by planting trees. For every frame sold, Trees for the Future plants a tree as part of eco’s One Frame One Tree campaign.
Also, within every box of frames eco sells it encourages customers to continue the recycling process by sending their old sunglasses to One Sight, a global organization that seeks to provide vision care and eyewear to those in need.
Local retailers, Acton Vision at 163 Great Road in Acton and Harvard Square Eyecare in Cambridge, carry MODO’s eco line.
Recently, Juicy Couture got in on the sustainable action, too, launching its Choose Green collection, which features frames in three shapes retailing from $98 to $135. The Jasmine model, with oval shaping, comes in black or brown/pink; the rounded square Fern frames are available in brown/pink; and the cat’s eye-shaped Peony design come in natural/green, in addition to brown/pink. Made from 55-percent renewable, plant- based plastic, the three frames feature temple accents made from highly sustainable, rapidly renewable bamboo. Each set comes with an organic-cotton canvas pouch to protect the renewable shades from scratches and other damage.
If it’s exotic woods that you’re looking for, check out iWoods Eco Design, which has carved out a niche as a designer of handcrafted wood frames. The featherweight frames, which are made in the United States, are sanded by hand and adorned with Italian temples. With Carl Zeiss, 100-percent UVA/ UVB-protected lenses, iWoods’ sunglasses are Forest Stewardship Council-certified and harvested by sustainable methods—the materials used to make the frames come from reclaimed woods used to decorate private luxury jet interiors.
iWood’s president, Stephen McMenamin, notes that the collection of designer sunglasses is a perfect marriage between fashion and function. Where plastic designer frames may be affected by temperature and humidity, wood frames may be less likely to distort with atmospheric changes.
The current iWood collection features classic frame designs, as well as modern trends, with frames retailing for $370. Visit www. iwoodecodesign.com to peruse its offerings.
By Laura Starczewski
Image courtesy of iWood
