It’s no secret, wooden sunglasses are a trend, one that we hope is here to stay. The overwhelming majority of sunglasses produced are made from single-use plastics. While we love seeing the market shift towards more eco-friendly looks, it’s worth noting that not all wood sunglasses are created equal.
True hardwoods, like cherry, oak or walnut take years to grow, and once harvested the plant is killed. All-natural? Sure. Sustainable? Not really. And while the plight of endangered plants is less publicized than that of animals, it’s still critically important to protect these rare species. The sunglasses industry is often at fault, in particular, for use of Japanese Oak, Zebrawood, and many types of Rosewood and Ebony in wood sunglasses frames. If you’re not sure, you can check out this list here of restricted and endangered woods.
So yes, we know that technically speaking bamboo isn’t a wood, it’s a grass, but we’ll still go on the record to say bamboo makes the greatest wooden sunglasses. Why? So. Many. Reasons. But the TL;DR version is this - harvesting bamboo doesn’t kill the plant any more than mowing your lawn kills the grass. This means that using bamboo for wood products like sunglasses frames doesn’t lead to a tradeoff between the life of the plant and the product.
