A frame worn a decade
The most sustainable frame is the one you keep, repair, and pass on. Irdae uses vegetable-based acetate, beta titanium, single-screw hinges and a 10-year parts inventory. Here, without greenwash, is what that means in practice.
Why these commitments?
The eyewear industry mostly produces fast: injection-moulded plastics, glued temples, riveted hinges nobody can re-rivet, frames replaced every 18 months.
Irdae was founded on the opposite conviction: a frame should be worn a decade, fitted to your face, and repaired when it breaks. That starts with vegetable-based acetate and ends with the small screwdriver in every box.
We're frank about what we do, where we're improving, and where we want to go. Read on.
Four commitments
Not slogans — verifiable acts.
Vegetable-based acetate
Mazzucchelli M49 acetate is plant-derived (cotton linter + wood pulp). Rested four weeks before milling. Not petroleum, not plasticised.
Beta titanium, nickel-free
Our titanium is medical-grade beta, fully recyclable, hypoallergenic. No nickel, no allergenic alloys.
Lifetime repair
Bent temple, lost screw, scratched lens — send it back. We fix or replace at cost. A frame should outlive a phone.
10-year parts inventory
We keep matching temples, hinges and pads for at least 10 years per series. Replacement is engineered in, not bolted on.
Packaging: kraft, microfibre, no plastic
What you touch first is your packaging. It must protect, be sober, and contain zero single-use plastic.
- 100% recycled kraft mailers, soy-ink printing
- Kraft padding, never bubble wrap or plastic film
- Recycled microfibre cloth (reusable, washable)
- Paper tape, no plastic tape
- Zero single-use plastic in our parcels since 2022
Irdae in figures
Our partners
A short, transparent list.
Mazzucchelli (IT)
Vegetable-based M49 acetate — Castiglione Olona, Italy
Cadore atelier (IT)
Mill, polish, hinge-rivet, hand-relief — Belluno, Italy
Annecy lens lab (FR)
CR-39, mineral and polycarbonate edging and coating
Titanium press (JP)
Beta titanium pressing — Fukui prefecture, Japan
Repair workshop (FR)
In-house atelier-side repair, Annecy studio
Kraft packaging (FR)
Recycled kraft mailers, no single-use plastic
Where we still need to improve
We don't claim to be carbon-neutral, and we won't. Here's the honest pipeline:
- Air-shipping reduction: moving prescription shipments from air to road within EU by 2027. Currently 38% air.
- Acetate offcuts: partnering with a Cadore re-mill to recycle our acetate offcuts into new sheets. Pilot 2026.
- Lens recycling: CR-39 lenses are difficult to recycle. We're funding a research project with the Annecy lab on chemical recovery.
- Repair throughput: our atelier currently handles 40 repairs / month. Target 100 by end-2026.
Repair, don't replace.
The most sustainable thing you can do is keep wearing the frame you have. If it breaks, write to us.