Handmade sunglasses and optical frames are being manufactured right in the heart of George Town by husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Chris and Sydney Seggie.
The Canadian couple used to live and work in Cayman around 18 years ago, at dive retailer Divers Supply and Bamboo restaurant respectively, but left to work in brand management for leading designer brands in Hong Kong and London. They then returned to Canada to learn the craft for themselves, setting up their own glasses production company, Fellow Earthlings, on Prince Edward Island in 2015.
Learning the craft
“Having worked in marketing and branding for eyewear companies, we had the chance to learn all about the manufacturing side of things by being mentored by a British guy in Canada who had been making frames since he was 15,’” said Sydney. “It was great to have this old-school opportunity to learn how to make the frames themselves, which meant we could work with runway designers who have a very quick product turnaround.”
Declared ‘the hottest eyewear brand of fashion month’ by Vogue magazine, Fellow Earthlings was soon the go-to source for designers such as Anna Sui and Luar and were sported by the likes of Madonna and Solange Knowles and even Canada’s former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Now the pair have fulfilled their long-held dream of returning to the Cayman Islands and have set up a retail and manufacturing outlet in Monaco Towers in George Town in the former bank site next to Starbucks, with the official launch taking place on the evening of Friday, 30 Jan.
Visitors to Fellow Earthlings’ first-floor office are greeted with rows of their signature brightly-coloured frames, as well as an assortment of new and vintage machines, which carry out different but crucial parts of the glasses-manufacturing process, from cutting and shaping to building and polishing.
Behind the scenes are yet more machines including the ‘tumbler’, which polishes the frames, and a $25,000 CNC 3D printer that takes rectangles of acetate and turns them into robust but stylish frames. There are also rows and rows of acetate sheets – some of which are vintage Ray-Ban designs hailing from the 1980s – that are the raw material for the designs.
All Fellow Earthlings’ glasses are made in-house from the left-over pieces of acetate that usually get thrown away after the frame has been created, in much the same way spare pastry is left after shapes are cut out.
“Around 80% of the acetate usually gets discarded,” explained Sydney, “and we just weren’t comfortable with that. Maybe it’s an island mentality, but you’re very aware that if you throw something away, it’s just going to stay here.”
The acetate itself is a cotton-based bioplastic that will biodegrade in time. Sydney said, “Figuring out how to recycle it was such a gem, because it started as a way to improve our own sustainability as a manufacturer, but then it also got us a lot more attention, because nobody else was doing them like this.”
Fellow Earthlings will still work with designers and stores overseas as well as retailing in the George Town store. Prices for glasses start at around $400-$600, with custom-made frames costing significantly more. Fellow Earthlings is also working on creating hand mirrors and lamps. Chris has also worked through dozens of prototypes before perfecting their 3D-printed glasses cases.
With four children aged between 7-12 and a business to run, the Seggies have their work cut out but, Sydney said, “We’re so psyched to be here in Cayman again and to be able to bring something which is unique to Cayman.”
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