Friendly Frenchy

You can guess by the name that at Fri­end­ly Fren­chie you will find glas­ses of French ori­gin. The pro­duc­tion pro­cess takes place here, but also the mate­ri­als come from France and are a hint to French cul­tu­re. Who knew that eye­glas­ses could be made from shells and wine gra­pe seeds?

The brand laun­ched its first coll­ec­tion of shell glas­ses in 2018 and in France, in the regi­on Britt­a­ny. Lau­rent Pezé and Sand­ri­ne Guy­ot star­ted the brand tog­e­ther. Lau­rent with expe­ri­ence in the gas­tro­no­my and events sec­tor and Sand­ri­ne with expe­ri­ence in the inno­va­ti­on and sus­tainable deve­lo­p­ment sector.

Ethical

Fri­end­ly Fren­chy con­tri­bu­tes to the pre­ser­va­ti­on of jobs and exper­ti­se in the regi­on by pro­mo­ting local pro­duc­tion and sup­port­ing trai­nings to give new gene­ra­ti­ons oppor­tu­ni­ties in the field as well. They gua­ran­tee com­pli­ance with good working con­di­ti­ons and fair wages for workers. Ethi­cal working con­di­ti­ons can also be assu­red by the Euro­pean regu­la­ti­ons under which French pro­duc­tion falls. In addi­ti­on, they aim to increase social com­mit­ment by working with an ESAT, which is a pro­gram for the inte­gra­ti­on of peo­p­le with disa­bi­li­ties. They also sup­port the reinte­gra­ti­on of pri­soners with a pro­gram in prison.

Materials

Fri­end­ly Fren­chy has coll­ec­tions made of dif­fe­rent mate­ri­als that honor French tra­di­ti­ons.

The frames of the Pla­ge coll­ec­tion are made from 100% orga­nic, plant-based mate­ri­als that are not used for human or ani­mal con­sump­ti­on. The mate­ri­al con­sists of recy­cled oysters, mus­sels, and scal­lops. The scal­lop was­te comes from the Britt­a­ny and Nor­man­dy coasts and is sourced from the food indus­try and part­ner­ships with fisher­men and trad­ers on the French coast. 

The Solar­mor coll­ec­tion has the label ​“Ori­gi­ne France Garan­tie” and is hand­ma­de using wood cel­lu­lo­se com­bi­ned with recy­cled shells. Other mate­ri­als in the­se glas­ses are made from pro­duc­tion was­te from eye­wear manu­fac­tu­r­ers. The latest series of eye­glass frames is made from recy­cled French orga­nic gra­pe seeds, an orga­nic was­te of winemaking. 

Animal welfare

Alt­hough some shells were the home of living mari­ne ani­mals, the­re is no infor­ma­ti­on about the living con­di­ti­ons of the ani­mals. The shells that Fri­end­ly Fren­chy uses are lef­to­ver pro­ducts from fishing and restau­rants. The­se mate­ri­als would other­wi­se end up in the trash. Why not make glas­ses out of them? The felt eye­glass cases are made from 100% meri­no wool of French ori­gin, howe­ver, the sta­te of the con­di­ti­ons on the farms of the meri­no sheep are unknown.

Circular economy

Fri­end­ly Fren­chy aims to redu­ce its impact on the envi­ron­ment through local and sus­tainable pro­duc­tion fol­lo­wing the prin­ci­ples of cir­cu­lar eco­no­my and eco-design. The­r­e­fo­re, they use natu­ral mate­ri­als of bio­lo­gi­cal ori­gin, recy­cled and recy­clable mate­ri­als, and resi­du­al pro­ducts from fishing and viti­cul­tu­re. In addi­ti­on, they sup­port the actions of the Sur­fri­der Foun­da­ti­on Euro­pe to pro­tect the coast and sea.

Slow fashion

The mate­ri­al of the frames may not be tra­di­tio­nal but in terms of design, the­re is some­thing for ever­yo­ne. From clas­sic to modern, with a pat­tern or uni­co­lo­red and with angu­lar or round shapes, who knows, you might stumb­le upon your next favo­ri­te and eco­lo­gi­cal­ly sun­glas­ses at this brand. You can find sun­glas­ses and glas­ses for shar­per visi­on. At Fri­end­ly Fren­chy, you will find glas­ses for your own style. You will be able to be sty­lish throug­hout the years. 

Short supply chain

From mate­ri­al to finish, the glas­ses of this brand are made enti­re­ly in France. Fri­end­ly Fren­chy, the­r­e­fo­re, has a short sup­p­ly chain and the glas­ses tra­vel a short distance: from the shells of the French sea to your nose.

Transparancy

Fri­end­ly Fren­chie has a map of France whe­re they show whe­re each step of pro­duc­tion takes place and whe­re the mate­ri­als come from. Unfort­u­na­te­ly, the­re are no fac­to­ry names to be found. Howe­ver, it does indi­ca­te for each frame of glas­ses what kind of shells it is and what city the­se rem­nants come from. The ori­gin of the mate­ri­als is thus easi­ly traceable!

You can find uni­que glas­ses made from recy­cled and natu­ral mate­ri­als at Fri­end­ly Fren­chy. This French brand is available at the stores on the map below.