Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Fashion & Style

Seeing Green with Hemp Eyewear

Hendrik Broekelschen
By

Hemp-Glasses
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Hemp. What comes to mind when you first hear that word? For most of you, I’d guess industrial crop wasn’t at the top of the list. Well, it should be. Because of its relationship to the recreational drug, some countries — including the US — have strict regulations that do not permit hemp cultivation as an industrial crop. That’s too bad because hemp is a versatile and eco-friendly resource and it looks great in Hemp Eyewear’s new glasses.

I’ll address the elephant in the room — the big, stinky, green elephant. Marijuana and hemp are the same plant — Cannabis Sativa L. — so, yes, you weren’t wrong earlier. However, one is selectively bred for flowers/buds with high THC content, while the other is the plant’s most natural form with negligible amounts of the mind-altering chemical.

Recommended Videos

Natural hemp is a tall, stalky plant that is an ideal crop for a variety of manufacturing goods. It can grow almost anywhere, does not rely on pesticides for survivability, and has the potential to be utilized in various different industries. According to VoteHemp, thousands of products can be made from hemp including clothing, paper, auto parts, building materials, nutritious foods, dietary supplements and more.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

So hemp won’t get you high, but it can produce some high-quality eyewear. Hemp Eyewear is a company that crafts frames made out of natural hemp fiber. The founder of the company, who is passionate about innovation and sustainability, found industrial hemp to be the most eco-friendly and diverse resource available. Hemp Eyewear was founded in 2014 by Sam Whitten, a product design entrepreneur who is now headquartered with his company in Edinburgh, Scotland. We had the chance to talk with Sam and get the inside scoop on his innovative product:

How did you get started?

I wanted to use hemp, but I also wanted to create something that has never been done before. After looking for a product area I was interested in — eyewear — I found there was no hemp fiber frames on the market. I ran a few tests in the university workshop where I developed the initial frames. Thus Hemp Eyewear was born.

Hemp has an interesting, spaced-out cousin. Have you had any issues with the law in regards to that relationship? 

There have been absolutely no issues with the law at all. Hemp is not illegal to grow in Europe because it is an industrial crop grown for its long and strong plant fiber. Hemp and marijuana are completely different plants, hemp is really tall and thin, marijuana is small and bushy. We have science and tests to back this up so there really is no problem.

These glasses are supposed to be eco-friendly, what about the coating you use to finish each pair?

The eco-friendly binder is water based and contains no petrochemicals in its make up. The only waste it produces is steam, so it is a really green material.

Finally, can you describe the feel of your glasses? 

Our glasses are really lightweight. Our material is actually stronger and lighter than carbon fiber, plus it’s sustainable. The finish is incredibly smooth and people often comment on how light the frames are as well as their tactility.

Now that you’ve learned a little bit about hemp and an innovative company that brings style and sustainability to eyewear, check out Hemp Eyewear and their kickstarter to be the first to own a pair. We at The Manual are excited to try out these green frames ourselves!

Editors' Recommendations

Hendrik Broekelschen
Hendrik Broekelschen
When not leading active travel adventures around the world -- believe it or not, it's his job -- Hendrik strives to be…
New dial colors, slimmer design for IWC’s Portugieser watches
The IWC Portugieser Collection nods to its 1930s roots while bringing new details to the line
The IWC Hand-WOund Night and Day watch.

If you've been orbiting through the same collections of watches looking for that perfect addition to fill that something missing in your arsenal, stop your search. Swiss brand International Watch Company, known more appropriately to wearers and collectors as IWC Schaffhausen, has a heavenly lineup at this year's Watches and Wonders you've been waiting an eternity for. If unmatched caliber and exceptional craftsmanship — along with a touch of planetary elements — are a few things you look for in a luxury watch, the Portugieser Collection from IWC is the right fit for your wrist.
The IWC Portugieser collection

The collection throws it back to the Portugieser of the 1930s, where the design got its first inspiration from those gorgeous navigational watches on the deck of a ship. Keep that nautical theme in your head because each piece in the collection has celestial details as the star.

Read more
Ready for a comeback? PUMA’s Easy Rider is back
Easy Rider Sneakers

 

With many sneakers coming back in recent seasons, PUMA is getting ready to blow them all out of the water. Once again, one of the company’s staple sneaker designs is ready to grace shelves and give us the true retro sneaker. While still iconic and recognizable, there’s no doubt that PUMA’s Easy Rider sneaker was the beginning of a new era for the casual sneaker, and to many regarded as one of the first of its kind. 

Read more
This new Cartier watch tells time backwards
Turn back time with the new Santos
Cartier Rewind on wrist

Wristwatches may be distinctly masculine pieces of hardware now, thanks to some very popular people in pop culture and in our own history adopting them. British super spy James Bond, movie stars, and athletes are the people we look up to who wear watches that catch our eye. Soldiers, cops, firefighters, and first responders wear watches they trust to ensure they can save lives. Pilots and divers created an entire industry around watches specifically designed for their vocations. And the very first pilot's watch was none other than a Cartier watch.

Alberto Santos-Dumont was a pioneer in the flight world and was one of the first people on Earth to achieve air travel. He was a competitor of the Wright Brothers, and, depending on the source, he preceded them in flight. In any case, the French celebrity went to Louis Cartier, another pioneer of his craft, and procured a square timekeeper meant for the wrist. The Cartier Santos Dumont was born. Over a century later, Cartier attended Watches and Wonders and presented the newest in the line of Santos watches, one that reverses time.
The Rewind tells time backwards

Read more