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Folkal Eyewear
Folkal Eyewear is a marketplace designed to help you make a conscious choice when buying sunglasses. We've curated fashion-forward styles and ranked them for you by their impact on the planet. Only products made from eco-materials make the cut.
Our commitment
Folkal is on a mission to transform the sustainability of the eyewear industry. We looked at what the fashion industry is doing and consulted with sustainability experts to define the elements that makes a pair of sunglasses more sustainable. We then developed a Rating System to help identify brands and individual styles of sunglasses that are doing good, better and best when it comes to the planet. While more and more people want to buy sustainably most people put buying 'green' in the too hard basket. Who can blame them when it's next to impossible to know where your sunglasses have been made, let alone understanding the materials they've been made from and the process it has taken to get them onto the shelf of into the hands of customers. That's were Folkal comes in. In a world's first, we're providing a new level of transparency. On each product page you'll be able to see the sustainability rating at a glance.
Our Sustainability Framework
What is your company doing to reduce your emissions or combat key environmental issues (e.g. waste (packaging, end of life product strategy or recycling), biodiversity, land use, water, chemical use, energy use, and natural resource use etc.)?
In addition to creating a world's first rating system to help buyers make a more sustainable choice with their eyewear, Folkal orders are packaged and supplied in recycled cardboard packaging and sent using Australia Post's carbon-neutral parcel delivery service. In addition to this, every purchase made online at Folkal Eyewear, Folkal donates to Plastic Bank®. Plastic Bank® removes plastic from the ocean and landfill it also turns waste into an empowering form of income by creating positive economic opportunities for those who help collect the waste. The collected material is also reborn as Social Plastic® which can be easily reintegrated into products and packaging as part of a closed-loop supply chain. Plastic Bank prevents ocean-bound plastics from reaching our waterways, but they also reduce the number of new plastics being created by encouraging companies to switch to recycled sources.
How are the products your company offers made from environmentally friendly materials (e.g. recycled, organic materials)?
Folkal Eyewear partners with brands that produce products made from bio-based, recycled, low carbon and/or biodegradable materials that meet a certain criteria to be featured on the website.
Learn more →How are the service/s you offer environmentally friendly?
Because eyewear is made up of multiple parts – the frames, the lenses, the case – that are often made by various suppliers who all have different processes and levels of sustainability practices. The Folkal team reviewed several different rating systems across different industries and consulted with sustainability experts within the eyewear industry and outside this niche. Products and cases are assessed by the material used to manufacture them. Those products and cases made from materials that have a lower impact on the environment are scored favourably. The process used to manufacture both the frames, lens and case is then assessed accordingly to whether it uses renewable energy and/or if low waste technologies have been utilised. And finally, the end-of-life protocol for the frames, lens and case is also assessed including whether it is compostable and/or recyclable, requiring no pre-processing. Folkal also looks at the type of materials used for transit and consumer packaging, the size of the case and packaging plus whether outbound transport emissions have been offset.
Learn more →How does your company give back to the community (e.g. financial donations, volunteering, partnerships etc.)?
Folkal donates to Plastic Bank®. Not only does Plastic Bank® remove plastic from the ocean and landfill it also turns waste into an empowering form of income by creating positive economic opportunities for those who help collect the waste. The collected material is also reborn as Social Plastic® which can be easily reintegrated into products and packaging as part of a closed-loop supply chain. Plastic Bank prevents ocean-bound plastics from reaching our waterways, but they also reduce the number of new plastics being created by encouraging companies to switch to recycled sources.
How has your company made a commitment to achieve and maintain inclusion & diversity (e.g. Gender / Race / Ethnicity / National Origin / Sexual Orientation / Religion / Disability / Age)?
Joint Venture partners behind Folkal are Safilo Australia. Improving people’s lives has always been the goal of Safilo not only with their glasses but also by promoting healthy lifestyles and behaviours. The idea of creating shared and lasting wellbeing is central to all strategic areas: relationships with employees, product integrity, their commitment to cultivating talents, the importance of protecting the sight of future generations and vulnerable people, environmental protection, and the opportunity to contribute to improving living conditions of local communities. Safilo’s Group Environmental Policy is based on five pillars: • Full compliance with environmental laws and regulations • Optimisation of processes to minimise environmental impact • Creation of greater awareness in the supply chain • Involvement and empowerment of all workers • Transparency towards stakeholders Safilo are also committed to ensuring that human rights are respected at all times, both within the company and throughout our supply chain. The Group Worldwide Business Conduct Manual outlines fundamental principles, including the prohibition of forced labour, the freedom to join trade unions and the right to collective bargaining etc.
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