The Thousands

‘Eco’ and ‘fashion’ are a strange couple. Fundamentally they’re so often at odds. One says, “keep it real”, while the other whispers, “strike a pose”. Holloway Eyewear don’t care to maintain such pretense. If they were a vegetarian restaurant they’d serve bacon in your tofu burger.

Turning recycled products into sunglasses that wouldn’t look out of place on either runways or laneways, Holloway prove you don’t have to choose between hip and hippie. Furniture, skateboards and car parts are just some of the things they’re turned into shades, and there’s still more to come. Raffaele and Martin tell me that if you really can’t stand your boyfriend’s guitar playing, you can bring in his axe and voila, custom sunnies!

You can tell straight up when chatting to them that they give more than two shits about what’s going on, and Holloway sunglasses aren’t just a way to make a conscious free buck. All glasses are crafted in a Brisbane warehouse, which doubles as a factory for an ice-coffee range and will soon triple as a recording studio for local bands.

Already these guys are racking up the design awards but of course cred counts for nothing if the product looks like it was picked up at a truck-stop. No sales pitch from me, go check out their designs here. Stock is limited so get in quick because these dudes don’t seem like the sort to swap a skate for staying back at work to make more glasses.