UK company reducing the carbon footprint of eyewear manufacturing

The future of production and manufacturing eyewear is “definitely” going to move from traditional methods to 3D printed manufacturing, according to the co-founder of Kite Eyewear.

Speaking to OT at the launch of its bespoke service, KiteOne, at Design Junction in London (20–23 September), Amar Radia (pictured) said: “KiteOne is a fully bespoke, 3D printed solution for eyewear. We take a high precision head scan, we then take that 3D image and a frame is rendered onto it.”

Mr Radia explained that bespoke frames can typically cost around £600–£700 plus, but Kite’s new frames will cost between £275–£325 depending on the finish and ophthalmic lenses.

“What we have done with KiteOne is work really hard on a cost engineering point of view to get the best quality, creating as much value as we can for customers,” he said.

Highlighting the benefits of the service, Mr Radia said that 3D printing can reduce the carbon footprint of eyewear manufacturing. “With KiteOne, we design in London and use a 3D printing workshop in Camden. The polishing and the colouring will also happen there. It then comes back to our lab in Shoreditch. It’s almost a zero-kilometre carbon product.”