Kickstart: Looking better

The eyewear industry has been going through a lot of changes. First we transitioned from picking out glasses at the eye doctor's office to selecting frames from a wide array of options sold on the internet.

And just as the industry got used to the disruptive business style brought by Warby Parker and similar firms, 3D printing may change things up again — this time with a sustainability angle as well.

Youmawo GmbH is a German company that uses 3D printing to produce "bespoke" glasses. Customers pick their style of frames then have a computer scan their face to customize the frames specifically to fit them. In three to six weeks, they get a pair of custom glasses. (The company's brand, You Mawo, is working with eye doctors at this point, so the frames are sold exclusively through an optician's office at this point.)

Now Youmawo says that not only do the glasses fit better, thanks to a sustainability study by EOS and Fraunhofer EMI, but also the company claims that the frames have a smaller environmental footprint.

Our sister paper Sustainable Plastics writes that 3D printed eyewear outperformed traditional competitors in 18 categories including climate change and water use. The carbon footprint of a customized 3D printed pair of You Mawo is 58 percent lower than traditional glasses and generates 80 percent less waste, the company says.

But if you want to make a different kind of impact with your glasses, how about a pair from rock icon Elton John?

The musician has signed on to do his first eyewear design collection for Walmart Inc. and its sister company Sam's Club. The fact that no one got Elton John on board for a line of glasses before this seems mind-boggling.

The Foundations Collection launched Nov. 1 at Sam's Club and samsclub.com, our sister paper Advertising Age writes. Later this week the glasses debut at Walmart stores. The collection has 36 frames unique to Sam's and 24 unique to Walmart, retailing for $95 to $100 in prescription, nonprescription, sun and reader varieties.

John picked the names for each frame, including "Rocketman," "A-List" and "Prodigy."

Walmart has not revealed details on where they will be made beyond stating they will have U.S.-made content.

"The line is designed to have something for everyone," John said in a statement. "It's not about glasses. It's about changing the way people see themselves."

Meanwhile, Mastercard has introduced a new series of credit and debit cards with a special notch cut out of them so people with limits to their vision — or who simply find it hard to find the right card, for that matter — can more easily locate and use their credit card.

The Touch Card uses special cutouts in the plastic material itself: a round notch for a credit card, square notch for a debit card and V-shaped notch for a gift card.

While credit cards used to have raised lettering that would help the blind identify the correct card, most produced today are embossed with the card holder's name and account number, Mastercard said in a news release. Advances in card technology have made it possible to add the identifying notches without affecting its use.

"As the banking industry responds to new trends and developments, it's critical that any innovation brings progress for everyone, including those with a visual impairment," says David Clarke, director of services for the Royal National Institute of Blind People. "We're very pleased that Mastercard understands how important it is that blind and partially sighted people have equal and independent access to their own finances."