Frames made from fishing nets

New frames from Coral Eyewear will be launched at 100% Optical this weekend (ExCeL London, 25–27 January).

The company was established by a 19-year-old University of Anglia student, George Bailey, who received a £50,000 grant through the university’s Scale it award.

Coral Eyewear has partnered with Aquafil, which transforms nylon waste, such as fishing nets, into Econyl regenerated nylon.

The Coral Eyewear frames will be made by melting plastics and injecting them into a mould by workers at a family-run factory in Italy. Sustainable transportation will then be used to ship them to the UK.

Mr Bailey shared: “I hope Coral Eyewear will initiate a shift away from using virgin plastic in the optical industry.”

Coral Eyewear is developing a buy-back scheme that offers a financial incentive to customers who return frames to the company at the end of use.

Mr Bailey said that he hoped this would prevent frames from collecting in drawers or re-entering water systems through landfills.

The frames will be available for the public to purchase, both online and in High Street opticians, by April 2020.

Image credit: Coral Eyewear