Pala Eyewear
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About Pala Eyewear:
Pala Eyewear make contemporary, long-lasting eyewear that minimises impact on the planet and maximises impact on people. Designed for those who acknowledge the need for a better future, they produce a range of stylish, sustainable sunglasses from recycled and bio-acetate. At the heart of the brand is positive social impact, for every pair of glasses sold, they give back to eye-care programmes across Africa, amongst the other social causes they support.
Fair Pay and Good Working Conditions:
Pala Eyewear are made in a carefully chosen factory in China which undergoes a regular third party ethical trade audit (SMETA) encompassing all aspects of responsible business practice, covering Sedex’s four pillars of Labour, Health and Safety, Environment and Business Ethics to ensure adherence to ethical trading and corporate social responsibility.
They’re as proud of their glasses cases as they are about what goes into them. Each is uniquely handmade by a traditional weaver from one of three rural communities in Bolgatanga, Upper East Ghana. By utilising recycled plastic, they give the weavers access to a readily available material, rather than the more traditional straw which is limited by seasonality and climate change. This provides the chance for a more regular income for the weavers throughout the year. They provide each artisan all the materials they need; they then weave the cases in their own time and return the finished product for payment (which is over the fair wage).
Sustainable / Organic Materials:
From 2020 onwards, all styles added to the Pala collection will be exclusively recycled acetate or bio acetate. Most sunglasses are made from acetate due to its durability, flexibility and high quality. Acetate is a natural material (made from cotton and wood fibres) but has plasticisers added to it in most cases. With bio-acetate, plasticisers are not added meaning the material left is 100% plant based.
Sustainable Practices:
In addition to the use of recycled materials, for every delivery Pala make to a customer they put £1.00 towards offsetting the CO2 cost of that delivery. They also offset all flights the team make for business reasons as well as any events they might attend. They work with not-for-profit Atmosfair to offset their C02 through the financing of Wonderboxes in Nigeria and Rwanda. These incredible cooking pots will retain heat for a very long time, therefore reducing the need to burn fuel for heating and thus lowering the CO2 emissions.
Animal Welfare:
As standard, their range of sunglasses, the woven and soft cases that come with each and all packaging across the board is vegan and cruelty free.
Packaging:
Their boxes are FSC MIX certified, from responsible sources. All of their print materials come from recycled paper stock. For all single orders they use 100% recycled mailer envelopes, which can either be reused (best option!) or recycled after use. All supplied point of sale materials in stores are made from upcycled wood and recycled cardboard.
Social Responsibility / Charity & Community Contributions:
Giving back is at the core of the Pala Eyewear brand. We help to tackle a global problem, they provide grants directly to eye-care projects in Africa; 640 million people are unable to access the eye-care they need and a pair of spectacles is an invaluable economic tool providing empowerment for the wearer. Their grants support product such as; building a new Vision Centre, a dispensary, purchasing equipment or supporting an outreach programme – all sustainable, long term solutions that facilitate eye-care, tests and provision of spectacles.
In terms of pricing strategy - from the funding of these projects Pala can calculate a ‘cost per patient’ helped and it is that cost that determines the cost of the eyewear.