Bacardi creates rum barrel sunglasses

Bermuda-based drinks group Bacardi has created a sunglasses collection from recycled rum barrels as part of its Good Spirited sustainability drive.

Bacardi has partnered with RAW Eyewear to produce sunglasses made from rum casks

Many Bacardi barrels are chipped up for mulch or reused for decorative purposes. Now, others have been turned into eyewear by Puerto Rican brand RAW Eyewear.

The producer assembles, sands, and finishes the wood to produce the wooden-framed, flat front sunglasses, which offer a retro seventies feel with androgynous details.

Available in four designs, the sunglasses feature Italian polarised lenses and the Bacardi bat logo at the temple. Lenses are available in cobalt blue and sunrise orange, while the frames, each unique, come in blond wood and dark chestnut.

It is hoped the shades will encourage guests at the Casa Bacardi Visitor Center in Puerto Rico to “see sustainability in a new light”.

“With sights set on seeing a net-zero impact, the company’s eco-friendly, reclaimed-wood eyewear innovations metaphorically promote our eco-focus and allow clients to take a new, ‘greener’ view with wearable, sustainable art that actually protects their eyes,” said Maggie Matias, managing director at the Bacardi Visitor Center.

Eduardo Vallado Moreno, vice president for supply chain and manufacturing for Bacardi in the Americas, added: “At Bacardi, our challenge is to think in new, creative ways to help the environment and our consumers. This is just one example of how we recycle materials to give them new life and ensure that nothing goes to waste, and this is part of our long-term view for the future.”

The sunglasses retail for US$195 each, and are only available from the Casa Bacardi Visitor Center store in Cataño, Puerto Rico.

Earlier this year, Glenmorangie partnered with British sunglasses company Finlay & Co. to create the “world’s first” whisky sunglasses created from ex-casks.