Unsustainability in eyewear!                      Let’s break the bad habits of mass production and waste.

To manufacture your glasses; 4 x 6-inch blocks of acetate are cut into the shape of the frame. 80% is wasted and landfilled. This is called subtractive manufacturing and a wasteful approach.

Recent advances in manufacturing equipment and materials have made additive manufacturing (3D printing) a viable alternative process, that is also environmentally and ecologically conscious. Only the material needed for the frame is fully processed. Nouvelle Chicane chose this process as well as several other prestigious brands at the leading edge of this technology.

Inventory overruns are another wasteful impact to the environment generated by subtractive manufacturing. Why? high minimum lot quantities are needed to cover costly setup charges that conventional manufacturers demand. To keep costs down they typically need to run several hundred copies of the same frame. This creates piles of dusty inventory that many times ends up sold at a discount, or worse, landfilled.

When using additive manufacturing and a tightly controlled supply chain the batch size can be as small as one piece.

Nouvelle Chicane makes limited frames and works with our shops closely to support low inventories. Our process allows us to backfill quickly in 3 weeks with novel pieces.

See the following article for further details on additive versus subtractive manufacturing in eyewear. You can make an environmental impact today, by choosing Nouvelle Chicane Eyewear.