Coral Eyewear was founded by George Bailey back in 2019. George was just 19 years old and studying at the University of East Anglia in Norwich when he launched the sustainable eyewear brand.

The enterprising young student would miss lectures so he could develop his prototype and pitch it to possible investors. Instead of reprimanding him, the university recognised the climate change credentials of this new product and financed the first set of frames George developed, designed, and manufactured.

George’s idea originally came from looking at the number of abandoned fishing nets in the world’s oceans. Joining forces with a recycling company, a team of designers and project managers, George put together an innovative eyewear collection made from ECONYL® regenerated nylon.

Coral Eyewear has taken onboard the concept of sustainability. Recycled fishing nets from the seabed and landfill sites are put through a process to remove the plastic from the fishing nets, which is reborn as a polymer known as Nylon 6 and then injected into bespoke moulds to form the optical frames. They have gone one step further to produce packaging made from recycled kraft paper. And the case and cleaning cloths are made using recycled PET too.

They have even considered the impact of their carbon footprint in the delivery process and have partnered with DPD, which is committed to fighting climate change. DPD have 1600 electric vehicles operating in the UK, and they deliver every parcel with a carbon-neutral guarantee.

We first came across Coral Eyewear on a small stand at 100% Optical back in January 2020. Back then, the collection only had six models. But once we saw the prototypes, we knew we wanted Coral Eyewear to be part of the Respectacle eyewear collections.

We committed ourselves to bring Coral Eyewear to Market Harborough because we love the sustainability aspect of the brand. The Polyamide 12 has a lovely tactile feel about it. It is light and flexible, adding robust strength and impact resistibility to the frames.

And there is zero waste. Coral Eyewear is truly recyclable because the company will take back old frames and return the eyewear back to its granular form to then produce a new pair of glasses.

Moving from their initial prototype of just black frames into production was delayed during the pandemic. But we are now delighted to stock a selection of Coral Eyewear in various colours and shapes. As this fabulous sustainable eyewear brand expands and develops its range, we are excited to follow their journey.

Here at Respectacle, we want to improve our carbon footprint by partnering with sustainable eyewear brands who – like Coral Eyewear – embrace recycled, eco-friendly materials.