Sustainable glasses brands disrupting the market

Cubitts Redux

Would you wear a pair of specs made from fungus? What about human hair, sheep's wool or corn starch? These are just some of the weird and wonderful waste materials that London-based optical brand Cubitts has been experimenting with in order to explore more sustainable sourcing.

The Cubitts Redux project has resulted in 10 one-off concept frames. But, though they may not be widely available yet the brand will put the material that proves the most suitable into commercial manufacture - watch this space.

Stella McCartney Eyewear

Stella McCartney is an exemplar of how luxury fashion can be kind to animals and the environment, and her eyewear range is no exception.

All frames are made from bio-acetates which is composed of two main components: cellulose acetate (from wood) and plasticizer (derived from the esters of citric acid). Both are renewable resources of natural origin.

As the brand's bio-acetate is phthalate free it's also bio-degradable, although with frames this stylish you're going to want to keep hold of them for a long time.

Sea2See

Plastic pollution in the sea is a problem. For the planet, for the fish and for fishermen. So Sea2See's solution is to work with Spanish fishermen to pool the marine plastic waste they inadvertently collect, including abandoned fishing nets and ropes, and then recycle it into brand new, high quality frames.

Find optical frames in select opticians, sunglasses can be bought online.

Peep Eyewear

Second-hand, pre-loved, vintage: whatever you want to call it, we know that there are a host more sustainable alternatives to buying new. Peep Eyewear brings that ethos to frames by sourcing vintage and dead stock frames, repairing and renewing them and then adding your prescriptions.

Frames are mostly one-offs, so if you see a pair you like act fast. New styles are uploaded every few weeks, with incoming stock alerts shared by newsletter and on Instagram.

The brand also allows you to purchase multiple styles to try on at home before sending back to get your prescription added to your selection, and a refund on returned styles.

All styles come with a case and cleaning cloth made from recycled PET plastic bottles, and a tree is planted for each purchase.

Dick Moby

Material is important to this brand, but so too is style, evidenced by the wide range of uber-cool shapes and colours on offer.

Choose from oil-free bio-acetate, recycled acetate and recycled steel frames. The brand only uses glass lenses from technological pioneers Zeiss, rather than plastic which has become the industry norm.

Sunglasses can be bought in Toast boutiques or direct from the Dick Moby website, while opticals are only available from select opticians.

Monc London

With a dedicated conscious collection, transparent manufacturing processes and a progression towards closed-loop, Monc London is forging its own, impressive path.

Bio-acetates made from organic cotton seed fibres, plant cellulose and conifer wood pulp go into the frames, factory waste is reduced and reused to divert from land fill or incineration, and lenses are made from mineral glass.