Why you should think about the sustainability of your glasses.
Our current consumption patterns are having a drastic impact on the planet. While you were reading this first sentence, an entire truck full of textile waste was taken to a landfill in Africa.
It is no longer a secret that the fast fashion industry is not compatible with sustainable principles. Solutions such as recycling, more conscious consumption, capsule wardrobe and fair fashion labels are currently on everyone's lips. But have you ever wondered how sustainable your sunglasses are and what happens to them when you no longer want to wear them?
Acetate - the material our glasses are made of
Traditional frames are usually made of acetate because it is very light and has a high-quality look. In addition, opticians can easily adapt acetate glasses to any head shape, because the material can be easily shaped after it has been heated a little. This sounds like a great thing at first, but if you take a closer look, acetate definitely turns out to be an environmental and health problem. Acetates are often mixed with plasticisers for the production of glasses, which in turn are a problem for our health as well as for our environment. At the same time, these frames take thousands of years to decompose.
So we are faced with two fundamental problems. On the one hand, tonnes of old textiles end up in landfills and cannot decompose there. On the other hand, we are always producing new products that are made of traditional plastics like acetate.
That is why we have developed a process with which unwanted textiles can be completely recycled. We don't make new clothes out of the clothing again but offer an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional plastics. Our eyewear collection is made from this completely new material. In short, your new Kleiderly sunglasses are made from textiles that someone else has thrown away or that could no longer be sold.
From your unwanted t-shirt to your new sunglasses.
We receive donations of clothes from our partners in Germany that can no longer be given to people in need. We can also use mixed blends of fabrics that are otherwise very difficult to recycle. We then process these materials into a material that has similar properties to plastic, so it can be used in the same way and moulded to different shapes. Our material is then combined with natural additives so that your glasses are also stable. In the end, we solve two problems at once:
We save textiles from ending up in landfills.
We replace traditional plastics.
By diverting textiles away from landfills and to our process, we save up to 85% of CO2 emissions.
But for us, sunglasses are much more than just protection from the sun. Sunglasses have become a fashion accessory for us. Your style has changed, there is a new eyewear trend or your old glasses broke in your beach bag - quickly the old model ends up in the back corner of the drawer or in the bin. To avoid this, we focus on a timeless design. However, if you do get tired of your sunglasses, we will gladly take them back and recycle them again. We can use the material from your sunglasses for other products such as furniture or clothing hangers. So in the end, nothing has to end up in a landfill, and we can create a circular economy by reusing ‘waste’.
We hope that now that you see the problem, you can start wearing the solution.
Source:
https://utopia.de/ratgeber/acetat-ein-stoff-fuer-kleidung-und-brillen/