Sunglass Maker Repurposes Old Denim Into Eyewear That Feels Tough But Looks Soft
Image via Mosevic
These sunglasses that look like they’re fitted in body-hugging jeans are, in truth, composed of them (something something DNA and jeans). Mosevic, a luxury eyewear firm based out of Cornwall, England, gives unwanted denim a second lease of life, retooling scraps into eco-friendly shades.
Fashion, as you may know, is one of the greatest contributors to the climate problem. Denim requires copious amounts of water and energy to produce, in addition to toxic chemicals send dyes. The American Textile Recycling Service also estimates that only 13% of textiles in clothing and footwear are ever recycled.
Jack Spencer, a self-taught designer and the founder of Mosevic, noted the ubiquity of jeans in both fashion and fashion waste. He’d then spend the better part of a decade figuring out how to transform “floppy denim” into “solid denim,” Reader’s Digest quotes. Mosevic is a family name that also pays tribute to Spencer’s Norwegian heritage.
To construct its Shades of Denim range, Mosevic stacks layers of waste denim and reinforces them with bio-resin to turn them into, well, ‘Solid Denim’. The material is then built into eyewear hardware to create the shades, which can be purchased in light and dark denim options.
Spencer sources his textiles from local thrift stores, as well as clothing labels who are left with excess stock or fabric.
The handcrafted sunglasses preserve many of denim’s classic properties, like its unmistakable patterns and feel. Of course, wearing jeans in the summer doesn’t seem practical—even if they’re just grazing the top of your ears and nose—and Mosevic has thought this through.
The outside of the frame might have the texture of denim, albeit hardened just a touch for durability, but the inside has been varnished to form a “soft, smooth, and satin finish that feels great against your skin and repels sweat and sun cream,” says the brand.
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The resulting eyewear feels “substantial” and “lightweight,” Reader’s Digest quotes reviews.
The Shades of Denim collection is available in five styles and uses polarized Zeiss lenses. Those with a prescription can simply opt to get the Solid Denim frames.
Moving forward, Mosevic hopes to up the eco-friendliness of the shades further. As of now, the synthetic resin it uses is the best option to keep them sturdy, but it has 20/20 vision to eventually use biodegradable resin.
Spencer acknowledges that his small-batch business isn’t going to transform the climate. However, he’s certain that if designers created products more responsibly and “with a bit of patience… then we would be getting somewhere.”
[via Yanko Design and Reader’s Digest, images via Mosevic]
