A Sustainable Sunglass Brand Sets Sail With Virgin Voyages
Coral Eyewear, the sustainable brand using regenerated ocean waste to create designer sunglasses, has today announced a new partnership with Virgin Voyages and launched a store on-board its first cruise ship, Scarlet Lady.
Sailors travelling on-board the ship, which stops at destinations including Mexico and the iconic Beach Club in Bimini, will be able to choose sunglasses from over 30 style and colour combinations. The brand&rsquos best-selling mirrored-polarised sunglasses have been engineered to reduce glare and enhance colour perception a particular strength given the sunny surroundings.
All of the British brand's luxury sunglasses are created with ECONYL® regenerated nylon - an innovative material made with harmful nylon waste such as fishing nets and carpet waste, which would otherwise pollute oceans. As well as cleaning oceans, the material also reduces the global warming impact of nylon by up to 90% when compared with the material from oil.
The Coral Eyewear store is part of a wider retail experience offered by Virgin Voyages, which includes the Virgin Vinyl record store and offerings from luxury brands such as Bvlgari, Vivienne Westwood and MAC Cosmetics.
Sustainability is at the centre of Virgin Voyages&rsquo Scarlet Lady, winner of Cruise Critic&rsquos Best New Cruise Award for 2021, with single-use plastics including bottles, bags, straws and take-away tea and coffee cups all banned from the guest experience. Richard Branson&rsquos latest venture has also taken measures to reduce fuel demand and offset its carbon dioxide emissions through onboard technology that generates energy using heat from the ship&rsquos engines, and through the purchase of carbon offsets.
George Bailey, Coral Eyewear Co-Founder, says &ldquoThe entire team at Coral Eyewear is incredibly excited to launch our sunglasses on board Virgin Voyages. Scarlet Lady has completely changed the game when it comes to luxury travel, and I can't wait to see this partnership grow. Bringing handcrafted, recycled products created with regenerated ocean waste to beautiful locations such as Miami, The Caribbean and Mexico shows that sustainability doesn&rsquot have to compromise on style.&rdquo
Bailey started Coral Eyewear in 2019 as a teenage entrepreneur at University of East Anglia with a goal to improve the sustainable credentials of the global eyewear industry. The brand has partnered with global sports teams such as Mahindra Racing and the
Extreme E Championship.
Virgin Voyages has banned single-use plastics on-board its ships, including straws, bottled water, other beverage bottles, condiment packets, shopping bags, food packaging, stirrers, and take-away coffee and cups. Instead, the company emphasizes the use of recyclable and reusable materials across the ship.
