Sustainable Vision by Synsam
About 25 percent of Sweden's population needs glasses. Every fourth person you meet wears glasses or contact lenses. It is very common with vision impairments today, but thanks to modernities, good knowledge and new methods it is easier than ever to correct vision defects. Then there are some who wear glasses even though they do not need them. There are frames with glass without strength that you can wear because you think it is cool and it might spice up your outfit. And guess what, now you can wear sustainable glasses, revolutionary!
The Swedish optical store Synsam has been named the most sustainable brand in the optics industry for the third year in a row by Best Sustainable Brand Index 2021. Synsam has announced that they are bringing their spectacle production back to Swedish land, leaving the Asian industry behind. This decision has had a fantastic impact among their customers. The fact that they have gone from word to deed to reduce their climate footprint has made Synsam a role model on the optics market; a company you want to work for and shop from. According to Synsam’s President and CEO Håkan Lundstedt it is with a warm heart and pride that they receive this fine award and incredibly positive feedback, which shows that Sweden's consumers have a genuine commitment to sustainability issues.
For the Everyone Must See (Alla Ska Se) initiative and community, Synsam has distributed more than 26,000 free activity glasses to children in order to increase the motivation for active leisure - because a visual impairment should never stand in the way for anyone to do what they dream about. Synsam has also opened second-hand shops for glasses with Synsam Recycling Outlet being the first opening in December 2020 in Linköping, Sweden.
Synsam’s sustainability journey does not stop just yet, they have developed a collection of recycled sea plastic spectacle frames in collaboration with the organization Sea2See, which collects floating plastic and rubbish in the Mediterranean sea. And to close the loop they have initiated a cooperation with one of Sweden's leading recycling centers for sorting spectacle materials that can be handed in at all of the 500 Synsam stores in Sweden.
Great move Synsam, we are sincerely hoping that more optical brands and stores will follow the steps of Synsam.
