Together with Key Optical Europe founder Sabrina Rege Turo, we continue on our journey to discover eco-sustainable collections in the eyewear world. The Tuscany-based company oriented the subject in terms of a proprietary brand: Forever Green.
The decision to sell the eyewear directly to opticians through the company’s website was both interesting and unique.
When and how did you get the idea of creating an eco-sustainable proprietary brand?
We created the Forever Green line of organic-based eyewear basically for clients who are highly sensitive to the impact our presence has on the planet and who want to protect the environment as well as their eyes.
Because it is a line of our proprietary brand Forever, which is sold to opticians solely on our website, we wanted to complete the offer of easy-to-wear glasses with an eco-sustainable line.
What are the characteristics of these glasses?
45% of the material used to make all the prescription glasses and sunglasses is organic and derived from castor beans and eco-sustainable crops. Processing is unique: the castor beans are harvested from the plants and then turned into oil. During a subsequent stage polymers are created; these are then melted and poured into moulds for making totally natural frames.
It is important to remember that the beans are harvested from sustainable agricultural land and all the polymers are recyclable and reusable. Every pair of glasses guarantees excellent comfort thanks to the lightness of the material and they are sold with a recycled cardboard case and a recycled microfiber cloth.
Can you tell us why you decided to sell the line to opticians solely on your website?
The organic farming philosophy includes the so-called km 0, so we wanted to convey this in the Forever Green line. We are in direct contact with our selected opticians to offer them a top-quality product with the idea of guaranteed sustainability at attractive prices and, above all, without any minimum order quantity, about which our clients are highly sensitive.
What are KOE’s future strategies with regard to this type of product?
Taking a leaf out of Bill Gates’ latest book on the climate crisis, we are aware that we have reached a historic crossroads of the irreversibility of damage to the environment and still being in time to put solutions into practice.
In our own small way the question of sustainability will become increasingly important, we will continue to experiment with new materials that have a low impact on the environment and will not compromise the balance with nature. With this idea in mind we want to launch a new line of frames every year.
Will you be at MIDO 2021? If so, with what new additions?
Primarily, we will present the Forever Green collection with sun and prescription models for men and women. They will be fresh, brightly coloured and incredibly lightweight. We haven’t stopped at aesthetics and we have transferred to this collection all the experience and expertise we have acquired in 100 years of frame making.
In fact, our reading glasses offer anti blue light lenses that protect against the light emitted by LED screens, thereby reducing eye strain and disturbed sleep patterns.
The models in the sun collection have polarized lenses to minimise glare from sunlight reflected off light-coloured horizontal surfaces, like white sand beaches, snow and water. For 100 years protecting the eyes has been the principal duty of all our glasses.
Which we must continue to pursue.