EdCFDA Gives Back With Annual Pride Collection
The seven designers are passionate about using their work for good, donating to Bring Change to Mind.
CFDA eyewear designers are uniting for a cause, once again marking Pride Month in June with a special collection of frames that give back to the LGBTQIA+ community.
The third annual edCFDA Pride Eyewear Initiative has seven brands — up from five last year — taking part: Blake Kuwahara (Blake Kuwahara Eyewear), Christian Roth (Christian Roth Eyewear), Gai Gherardi and Barbara McReynolds (l.a.Eyeworks), Jeff Press (Press), Patty Perreira (Barton Perreira), Selima Salaun (Selima Optique) and Stirling Barrett (Krewe). Each will offer a limited-edition sunglass design, with a portion of proceeds collectively benefiting Bring Change to Mind.
"We want to celebrate our sexual identities and our rights," Christian Roth explained. "But we need to stay aware of the challenges, which are still very present. LGBTQ+ issues concern most families today at some point. We feel every effort even a small one like ours are very crucial and challenging attitudes of discrimination."
Established in 2022, the Pride Eyewear Initiative is spearheaded by creatives within the edCFDA — a group of eyewear designers in the CFDA with the goal of understanding and presence of designer eyewear as a vital component of contemporary fashion. The initiative targets and highlights specific needs within the LGBTQIA+ and gender nonconforming community. In the last two years, the group has donated more than $100,000 to LGBTQIA+ causes.
“While it is the eyewear designers, with the CFDA's support, who have piloted this outstanding effort, it is also a testament to the optical community — retailers and customers alike — who have embraced the importance of visibility for these causes,”
said Gherardi, cofounder and designer of l.a.Eyeworks.
Proceeds from sales of the 2024 edCFDA Pride Eyewear Initiative will benefit Bring Change to Mind, an organization dedicated to ending stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health. “Access to mental health resources particularly for LGBTQ+ youth is so critical and often lacking in most communities,” said Kuwahara, founder and designer of Blake Kuwahara Eyewear. The edCFDA's collective donation will target BC2M's high school programs — where almost half of the teens identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community — as well as BC2M's LGBTQIA+ Youth Mental
Health Task Force designed to build empathetic allies and activists.
The seven-piece collection will debut at optical boutique and larger retailers nationally in May, priced from $335 to $875. Donations will happen on an honor system, with each designer committing to a sizable minimum donation amount, Roth said, regardless of sales outcome. Upon concluding the initiative, each designer will consider, depending on success of their design, making an additional donation.
"Given the expanding legacy and impact of the edCFDA Pride Eyewear Initiative, Bring Change to Mind is honored to be recognized for our mental health work with high school teens across the country," said Pamela Harrington, executive director of Bring Change to Mind. "We are excited to partner with the designers that will be donating a percentage of their Pride collection sales to enable the growth of our LBGTQ+ programs. BC2M's peer-led clubs are building safe spaces for students to convene in their schools, create connectivity, build critical supports, promote allyship and save lives."
"It's our responsibility," Roth said. "Of course, it is a satisfying experience, but it's our mission. It's in our in our mission statement for the edCFDA, we want to do good. If everybody does a little good thing every day, we would be living in a better world."