Acetate vs plastic

Walk into a glasses shop and you are bound to be asked, “plastic or metal?” This question, while meant to be helpful, can also obscure and devalue the media used to to produce your glasses.

Plastic frames have dominated eyewear fashion for the last two decades, but what is plastic really? Plastics glasses can be made from any type of carbon polymer from injection-molded mystery hydrocarbon to acrylic to nylon.

Cellulose acetate, aka “acetate” is the material you will find at Eyes on Hudson. It is favored by top eyewear designers looking for the ultimate material for form and function. It is strong but flexible, it holds its shape yet can be adjusted easily, and it can be made opaque or translucent in any color of the rainbow.

But the real surprise it what acetate is made out of: plants. Mostly cotton. This is not your petroleum-derived fast-fashion drivel. First it is extruded from cotton, hand-dyed, and baked into sheets. It is then hand-carved into frame-front and temples, and tumbled in drums with bamboo chips to get soft and shiny. And while nothing lasts forever, high quality acetate is going to be extremely generous in terms of aging and wear-and-tear. Brands like Res/Rei, Ahlem, Jacques Marie Mage, and Masunaga, have some of the worlds best acetates showing off this medium’s glorious characteristics. Shiny, matte, opaque, translucent, vibrant, neutral, angular, soft and so dreamy.