George Bailey: Coral Eyewear

Elijah Faris

The sunglass market is huge; and as many know, a good pair of shades can be seriously expensive. But despite their price for customers, the prevalence (and disposable nature) of plastic-based items such as sunglasses asks a much larger price in the background: the cleanliness of our oceans. Aware of this issue while attending university in 2019, a 19-year-old Australia-based student named George Bailey began brainstorming. There are a lot of “eco-friendly” brands out there, but what about for sunglasses? And besides, why stop at just “sustainably” sourcing resources when you can just recycle existing materials? After a time of prototyping, Bailey began to see his vision come to life. Working with a team of designers and project managers, as well as a recycling company, he developed a new species of sunglasses: not only fully recyclable, but sourced from salvaged fishing nets.

But how do you turn fishing line into a usable product?

The nets are run through a series of processes. First, they’re thoroughly shredded. Then, the polymers composing their fibers are converted back into monomers. After that step, the monomers are reformed into a nylon variant known as PA6. This is distributed as small pellets, which can be remelted and used in injection molding processes. Coral Eyewear glasses frames are made out of this material; if broken, the unwanted glasses can be returned, remelted, and resold. By tapping into a lesser-known source of raw materials, the company plays off its uniqueness to differentiate itself from better-known competitors.

By figuring out a solution to both a niche consumer problem (eco-friendly sunglass options) and a wider issue (plastic ocean waste), George Bailey laid the foundation for a quirky but trendy sunglass brand quite literally “reframing” the way we look at ocean waste. An abandoned fishing net doesn’t have to just be an eyesore after all… Why not make it into something you can wear? Besides, if you’re trying to support a greener (or bluer, in this case) ocean you might as well look cool doing it.