GREEN GLASSES

No not green colored glasses, although very cute, but green as in environmentally friendly!  We are all trying to do our part to be kinder to Mother Earth and the optometric community is no different.  We see it at every level.  From cleaner lab manufacturing habits to biodegradable frames!  I'm, of course, going to focus on the fashion aspect.  There are two incredible companies that I work with in my office that are leaders in this field.

The first is ICU.  You may know them as the vibrantly colored, over the counter, readers that are one of  Oprah's favorite things.  What you may not know is that they are a very environmentally conscious company.  All styles use frame and lens material that is fully recyclable.  Some frames are made with sustainable bamboo temples or bio based plastic.  Many frames is this line are made from excess material from the manufacturing process that would typically go in the landfill. These frames are marked with this special tag.

Here are two of my favorite styles.

The second company I want to tell you about is Prodesign.  They have an eco-friendly capsule collection that is everything!  All styles are made from biodegradable acetate material which contains cotton! Yes cotton! So not only is it environmentally gentle and sustainable, it is super light weight! This was genius of them! What I love about them the most is they are high fashion and stylish as well as environmentally conscious! Here are some of the styles so you can judge for yourself.  

Another way that we can be good to environment is buy or use vintage frames.  It's fun to go through our collection and pull out one of our beloved frames from the past and revisit that moment.  This works great as your second pair.  Your main pair can be something new and modern, while your second pair can be fun and retro!  There are also a lot of great vintage stores that have great frames for sale. 

One last way that we can be kind to the environment when it comes to eyewear is donate.  We accept donations at my office and many other offices do as well.  This is a great way to keep a frame out of the landfill AND you are providing sight to someone who otherwise would have nothing. A win/win in my book.