alex de BoldThe eyewear industry generates a lot of waste on a yearly basis. About 4 million pair of spectacles (250 metric tons) are discarded in North America alone. This waste is accumulated in the form of scraps, prototypes, and more.
However, if technology has helped us with something, it is definitely in reducing waste and energy consumption. The virtual try on tool has become one of the most useful eyewear technology recently. It is helping the entire eyewear industry restructure their manufacturing process to reduce or minimize their waste.
Let’s learn how VTO helps achieve diminish material waste and support sustainability for the future.
What Waste Does The Eyewear Industry Generate?
The eyewear industry generates significant waste throughout its production and consumption cycle. A major portion comes from acetate offcuts, the plastic sheets used to make frames, up to 80% of which can end up as scrap during manufacturing.
Additionally, metal shavings, lens blanks, and chemical waste from polishing and coating processes contribute to industrial pollution. Packaging waste is another issue, as eyewear is often shipped in layers of plastic, cardboard, and foam.
Beyond manufacturing, unsold inventory, defective frames, and discarded prescription glasses add to landfill waste, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable materials, recycling programs, and circular production models in the industry.
The Introduction of Virtual Try On
The introduction of Virtual Try-On (VTO) technology revolutionized the eyewear industry by reducing the need for physical samples and prototypes. Before its adoption, brands depended on multiple design iterations and tangible models to visualize frames, leading to significant waste from discarded materials and unsold inventory.
With VTO, this process shifted to a digital-first approach, where frames could be created, tested, and refined virtually. Designers no longer needed to produce dozens of physical models just to finalize a collection, a single digital model could serve multiple visualization and marketing purposes.
Key impacts of VTO on reducing waste include:
- Eliminating excess prototypes: Virtual modeling replaces traditional sample production cycles.
- Reducing product returns: Consumers can virtually try on frames, improving purchase accuracy.
- Lowering overproduction: Brands can predict demand more effectively before manufacturing.
- Optimizing design workflows: Digital experimentation saves material, time, and cost.
Ultimately, VTO has allowed eyewear businesses to merge creativity with sustainability, transforming how products are brought from concept to customer.
How VTO Minimizes Waste and Promotes Sustainability?
Virtual Try-On (VTO) technology has transformed how eyewear is designed, marketed, and sold. By digitizing key stages of the process, VTO not only enhances consumer experience but also drives tangible progress toward sustainability.
Below are the primary ways in which VTO minimizes waste and supports a more sustainable eyewear ecosystem.
1. Reducing Physical Prototypes and Material Waste
Traditional eyewear design required numerous prototypes to refine styles, test fits, and visualize colors or patterns. Each prototype consumed materials such as acetate, metal, or resin, much of which was eventually discarded.
VTO eliminates this cycle by enabling designers and manufacturers to create and modify frames digitally. They can experiment with colors, finishes, and dimensions virtually, viewing real-time changes without cutting or molding physical materials. This digital prototyping process drastically reduces acetate offcuts, rejected samples, and excess materials, helping manufacturers lower their environmental footprint while also saving production costs.
Moreover, many brands now rely on 3D modeling and virtual visualization tools integrated with VTO, allowing teams to present entire collections digitally before moving to limited, on-demand physical production.
2. Lowering Overproduction and Unsold Inventory
One of the eyewear industry’s biggest sources of waste comes from overproduction. Brands often predict demand inaccurately and manufacture large quantities of frames that end up unsold, ultimately being discarded or destroyed.
By using VTO, companies can test new designs and gauge customer interest before committing to mass production. Digital try-ons, combined with data analytics, reveal which frames are most frequently tried, saved, or purchased. These insights help brands produce smarter, not more, manufacturing only the styles that resonate with consumers.
This approach shifts the production model from forecast-based to demand-driven, minimizing the environmental impact of surplus inventory while ensuring better alignment between production and market needs.
3. Decreasing Product Returns Through Better Purchase Confidence
Returns are a hidden but major contributor to waste in fashion and eyewear retail. Each returned item often results in additional shipping, repackaging, or even disposal if it can’t be resold.
VTO minimizes returns by giving customers a realistic, interactive experience before purchase. Through facial mapping and augmented reality, shoppers can virtually see how a frame fits their face shape, size, and style preferences. This increases purchase accuracy, ensuring customers receive products that truly match their expectations.
By helping consumers “try before they buy,” VTO reduces the carbon footprint associated with reverse logistics and prevents returned items from ending up as waste.
4. Streamlining the Supply Chain with Digital Integration
Sustainability in eyewear goes beyond materials, it also involves process efficiency. Virtual Try-On (VTO) technology plays a crucial role in creating a digitally integrated supply chain that reduces unnecessary steps, saving energy, time, and resources.
With VTO, designers, manufacturers, and retailers can collaborate seamlessly using shared virtual models instead of shipping physical samples back and forth. This approach:
- Minimizes transportation-related emissions
- Shortens the overall product development cycle
- Reduces delays and redundancies in design approvals
Moreover, many VTO platforms integrate directly with digital catalogs and e-commerce systems, enabling brands to:
- Maintain smaller on-hand inventories
- Implement made-to-order production models
- Cut down on warehouse space and long-term waste from unsold goods
By streamlining workflows and connecting teams digitally, VTO not only improves efficiency but also supports a more sustainable, resource-conscious approach to eyewear production and retail.
5. Encouraging Sustainable Consumer Behavior
Virtual Try-On (VTO) technology plays a subtle yet powerful role in promoting sustainable habits among consumers. By providing a realistic digital try-on experience, it encourages shoppers to make more thoughtful decisions before purchasing.
Key ways VTO supports conscious consumer behavior include:
- Taking time to explore multiple frame styles virtually
- Understanding which shapes and sizes suit them best
- Reducing impulse purchases that often lead to waste
Many brands also pair VTO with educational content about sustainable materials or eco-friendly collections. This combination raises awareness of environmentally responsible production practices.
By empowering consumers to make informed choices and reducing unnecessary purchases, VTO fosters a culture of sustainability, minimizing waste and promoting long-term environmentally conscious behavior in the eyewear industry.
6. Supporting the Shift to Digital-First Retail Models
As retail increasingly moves online, Virtual Try-On (VTO) has become a key tool in reducing the environmental impact of traditional physical stores. By offering digital try-on experiences, brands can showcase their collections without relying on large in-store inventories or printed promotional materials.
Ways VTO supports digital-first retail sustainability include:
- Eliminating the need to stock every frame physically in stores
- Reducing materials used for displays, signage, and marketing
- Allowing consumers to explore thousands of virtual frames from home
For smaller brands, this approach lowers entry barriers to sustainability, enabling them to operate digitally, produce selectively, and scale responsibly.
Overall, the shift to digital-first retail not only conserves material resources but also minimizes waste from short-lived promotions, store fittings, and product transport, making the eyewear industry more efficient and environmentally conscious.
7. Driving Innovation in Eco-Friendly Eyewear Design
Beyond immediate waste reduction, VTO fosters an environment of innovation and experimentation. Designers can use virtual platforms to test out sustainable materials or unique frame geometries without physical limitations. They can visualize the appearance of biodegradable acetate, recycled metals, or plant-based resins instantly, allowing more efficient research and development of eco-friendly products.
By empowering designers to iterate freely in a digital environment, VTO accelerates the adoption of sustainable design practices while keeping resource consumption minimal.
8. Building a Circular Future for Eyewear
The ultimate goal of sustainability is circularity, creating systems where products, materials, and energy are reused or regenerated rather than wasted. VTO aligns with this goal by digitizing the entire eyewear journey from design to sale.
When combined with technologies like digital twins and AI-based design automation, VTO allows brands to store, reuse, and adapt existing frame models digitally instead of re-producing them from scratch. Over time, this creates a library of reusable digital assets, reducing physical manufacturing needs and promoting a fully circular approach to product development.
Reduce Waste and Boost Efficiency with VARAi VTO
VARAi’s AI-powered Virtual Try-On (VTO) helps eyewear businesses minimize waste while streamlining operations. By replacing physical prototypes with ultra-realistic digital models, brands can design, showcase, and approve frames without excess materials.
Key benefits include:
- Eliminates multiple physical prototypes and reduces acetate offcuts
- Lowers overproduction and unsold inventory
- Reduces product returns through accurate virtual fit and sizing
- Enables remote B2B selling and digital collaboration
With VARAi VTO, you not only conserve resources but also enhance efficiency across design, sales, and marketing, creating a sustainable, cost-effective, and future-ready eyewear business.
Conclusion
Virtual Try-On is transforming the eyewear industry by reducing physical prototypes, minimizing overproduction, and lowering returns. By digitizing design, sales, and retail processes, VTO promotes sustainability, streamlines operations, and empowers both brands and consumers to make more efficient, eco-conscious choices, paving the way for a greener, circular eyewear future.
If you want to plug and play with VTO, reach out to VARAi today!