On June 28, Quiksilver will drop 150 pairs of sunglasses made from upcycled surfing wetsuits, a limited-edition series created with French eyewear producer Oceneo. In October 2022, the board sports brand launched the Take Back programme, whose goal is to bolster research efforts for developing a collection and recycling system for used products. This has led Quiksilver to collect damaged wetsuits via six stores on the Basque and Landes coast in France.

Quiksilver has now published the first results of its recycling research, and announced its partnership with Oceneo, a company based in the Arcachon basin in France, specialised in upcycling surfing wetsuits that have reached the end of their useful life. Oceneo is able to transform these neoprene wetsuits into sunglasses and other accessories. Using this transformation process, Quiksilver and Oceneo have reinterpreted a flagship model of Quiksilver sunglasses, the Ferris, now rechristened FerrisNeo.

One wetsuit is sufficient to produce frames for four pairs, using a mixture of neoprene and pine resin. The other components are all made in France: the bio-nylon lenses in the Jura region by Dalloz Créations, the upcycled neoprene glasses case in Soustons by Tearing Waves, while the packaging is produced in Saint-Jean-de-Luz by Donibanekopi.

“150 pairs [of sunglasses] have been produced for the first stage of this partnership. A roadmap has been set out to deploy this programme more widely, notably by utilising this material for other products in our range,” said Quiksilver in a press release.