CACTUS LEATHER CASES

When it comes to storing your sunglasses, Bajío is in pursuit of the best case scenario. We’ve never wanted to use a traditional plastic sunglass case. Instead, we have sought sustainable materials. We sampled faux leathers made from mango skins, apple skins and more. Unfortunately, these were thin and delicate, and needed a polyurethane backing to hold them together, negating much of the benefit.

So we took a closer look at real leather. We hadn’t initially considered leather because we thought it had a poor ecological impact—but we were wrong. Like mango and apple leathers, real leather makes use of a by-product of food production. We chose leathers that are tanned using eco-friendly processes and prop 65 certified. Leather also lasts a long time—when properly cared for, it can last a lifetime. If it does end up in a landfill, it’s biodegradable. So we began producing leather cases, but didn’t stop there.

Because we are always adapting and evolving, we kept searching for more options. We recently found an eco-friendly producer of cactus-based leather. Cactus does not require irrigation (minimal rainwater does the trick) and the cactus leather is dried using solar energy. Besides being a long-lasting quality material, cactus leather cases also make sense because they are grown in our backyard and REACH certified. One problem with real leather was the carbon emissions that come from long distance shipping in a container from China to Florida. With cactus leather, we are more or less able to keep it local with a simple overnight drive from Mexico, drastically reducing the impact of shipping. Our current leather cases are being replaced by cactus leather using the same design and a 100% natural cotton lining.