After having won the 2017 Bears’ Lair Entrepreneurial Competition this pastn April, Peterborough sunglasses company Loch has now reached its first crowdfunding goal in just 12 days.
Loch, which manufacturers sunglasses made exclusively from 500-year-old wood reclaimed from the waters of the Great Lakes, has already exceeded its goal of $10,000 on Kickstarter campaign — even though the campaign is still running until July 7th.
Along with offering exclusive discounts, Loch is adapting is sunglasses line so that frames purchased through Kickstarter will also be compatible with a variety of prescription lenses.
Brothers Dan and Tim Waggoner of Lakefield are co-founders of the business and have been working on Loch sunglasses for several years. Sustainability was an important element of the business.
“The quest to craft sustainable eyewear began with a search for a material that checked off all the boxes,” Dan says.
“For all of wood’s rich, authentic qualities, we didn’t want to contribute to deforestation or the importation of exotic woods through wasteful shipping networks. Within our lakes and rivers we have an immense source of this lost, ancient wood that is far superior to anything we can access today.”
More than 500 years ago, North American forests were teeming with massive old-growth virgin timbers. These unspoiled trees were harvested by Canadian settlers during the logging boom and floated down the fast-moving rivers to the Great Lakes; but not all survived the journey. Sinking to the bottom they were preserved in a near-zero oxygen environment.
Made in the Peterborough area, Loch’s sunglasses use eco-friendly materials and come with a five-year warranty. The frames are manufactured with 10 layers of cross-grained and pressed old growth wood reclaimed from the Great Lakes.
“Lochs are made possible by a proprietary cross-grained lamination technique under thousands of pounds of pressure,” Tim explains, “as well as advanced machining techniques and handcrafted attention to detail.”
“We end up with eyeglass frames of deceptive strength and discerning style.”
Loch’s Kickstarter campaign features a range of frame styles, all available in dark oak, oak and midnight, as well as three different sizes. The frames will start shipping out in July, with the earliest supporters receiving their pairs first.
For more information on the campaign, visit Kickstarter. For more information about Loch, visit www.locheffects.com.
