Italy-based developer (and soon to be producer) of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) plastics recently announced its partnership with Kering Eyewear, part of the Kering Group, a global luxury group that develops an ensemble of luxury houses in fashion, leather goods, jewelry and watches.  Some of Kering Eyewear’s portfolio of brands include Gucci, Cartier, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Brioni, Altuzarra, Azzedine Alaia, Boucheron, Pomellato, Puma, McQ, Christopher Kane and Tomas Maier.

Bio-on and Kering Eyewear will collaborate to design, certify and put on the market new eco-sustainable (note: I have no idea what eco-sustainable means…) materials to be integrated with the use of cellulose acetate, one of the most common materials used in the majority of the eyewear products on the market to date.  Bio-on says its Minerv PHA bioplastic guarantee the same thermo-mechanical properties as conventional plastics with the advantage of being 100% eco-sustainable and naturally biodegradable.

The companies did not disclose any information on potential timeline for product launches.

By the way, Bio-on has just started construction of its first commercial PHA facility to be located near Bologna, Italy.  The facility will have initial production capacity of 1 ktpa when it becomes operational in the first half of 2018.  The capacity is said to be expandable to 2 ktpa.  The first product to be produced at this facility is its Minerv Bio Cosmetics, a 100% biodegradable PHA biopolymers that are intended to replace polyethylene microbeads in cosmetics application.

Bio-on will be filming the construction’s progress with drones and fixed cameras to give regular video updates on how the work is progressing. You can check out the first episode of this facility’s story below: