EVOLVE Business and Professional Magazine November 2019 | Page 35

by Brigitte Hoarau
I
t’s a foundational principle of starting a business: discover the
intersection between something the world needs and what you
can uniquely provide, and you’ve found a niche to develop
but to help sustain the world it was born from, for the water-goers
who loved it.
That focus has endured and evolved through the company’s
into a thriving business. And if you’re lucky enough, your passion history. Even the quickest research on Costa sunglasses illuminates
“life” you want. materials. The glass lenses are made from mineral glass derived
intersects with your lifestyle, and your “business” just becomes the
Costa del Mar has taken this concept to such heart as to personify
the founder’s original values to this day. According to its Vice
President of Marketing, T.J. McMeniman,
any discussion of Costa with new partners or
potential customers starts with its story: In
aspects of their efforts to sustain the oceans, starting with their
from a plentiful resource: sand. And many other parts are made
from 100% aluminum, which is infinitely recyclable. All of their
plastic frames are made from bio-resin derived from the castor plant,
a more earth-friendly product than petroleum-based plastics. As a
1983, hardcore angler, Ray Ferguson couldn’t
find a pair of sunglasses that could stand up
to the harsh conditions of long days in the
salt and sun that he and his fellow fishermen
T.J. McMeniman
endured, so he engineered Costa Sunglasses.
But what good are durable sunglasses if the
purpose for which they were created disappears? Ferguson knew,
even decades ago, that the world’s oceans were endangered from
pollution and abuse. And so from the outset, Costa aimed to not only
produce sunglasses that stood up to the conditions of the lifestyle,
Kick Plastics
NOVEMBER 2019 | 35 |