“Our background is material innovation: we love testing new materials, and we love finding out what works, how we can make it better, and how we can make this have a lower carbon footprint,” Ed Bird, the founder of B Corp-certified eyewear brand, Bird Eyewear, told OT.
Exhibiting at 100% Optical in April, Bird shared that the company has had “some really exciting” launches in the last six months, including its Birdies children’s frame range, which is plant-based eyewear that has been produced from castor beans, and a new bio-acetate range. “We are constantly evolving, tweaking and developing our materials and our ranges,” Bird highlighted.
In this video, Bird explained that material innovation in sustainability is key, “and there are so many great, natural materials available.”
However, he admits that when it comes to sustainability, “there is a really good opportunity and a challenge there.”
“Creating and innovating new materials often comes at the expense of margins,” he said, adding: “That is something that is really important for companies to know and understand, that sometimes margins and profits aren’t the most important thing, but the people and the planet are the most important thing.”
The company founder shared that Bird Eyewear is a brand that “always tries to delve in behind the scenes” in order to show people what is going on in the production and manufacturing process of its products “whether that’s our supply chains, or factories or materials, or just how our office works.”
As a result, Bird Eyewear was one of the first eyewear brands to become B Corp-certified. “[This] covers not only our products, but all of our supply chain, our governance, and everything about the brand,” Bird said.
“Doing things like that is really helpful for building confidence with consumers,” he added.
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