Last week, at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market trade show in Denver, Colorado, Costa Sunglasses won the inaugural Innovation Award for their new Baffin sunglass frames. The sunglasses are part of Costa’s Untangled Collection, which has four frame styles created from recycled fishing nets.
Growing by roughly 640,000 tons each year, fishing nets and gear make up 10% of the ocean’s plastic. The collection was made in partnership with Bureo, whose Net+Plus recycling program works with fisherman to bring nets back to land instead of leaving them out in the ocean. For each pound of nets brought back to land, Bureo donates money to help improve local communities. They have collected over 220,000 pounds of old fishing nets so far!
“We are truly honored to receive this year’s Innovation Award at the OR Winter Market trade show— the opportunity to create a collection of products that so closely ties to our broader mission of protecting our oceans and waterways, while raising awareness for plastic pollution and giving our consumers the opportunity to be a part of the solution, has been such a rewarding experience for the Costa team,” said Costa Sunglasses CEO Holly Rush.
For over 35 years, Costa Sunglasses has not only been at the forefront of quality eyewear, but also raising awareness to the growing issue of plastic pollution in our oceans. Costa’s long-term partnership with OCEARCH, a shark research organization, and running their program the Kick Plastic campaign, has helped push them towards their goal of cleaner oceans.
The Untangled Collection is available at retailers now.
