In honor of Pride month in June, five members of the edCFDA—Blake Kuwahara of Blake Kuwahara Eyewear, Christian Roth of Christian Roth Eyewear, Gai Gherardi of l.a.Eyeworks, Selima Salaun of Selima Optique and Stirling Barrett of Krewe Eyewear—are uniting to launch the second annual edCFDA Pride Eyewear Initiative.

Each designer will offer a limited-edition sunglass design, and a portion of the collective proceeds will benefit the TransLatin@ Coalition, whose members are trans Latin@ leaders from different parts of the country who organize and advocate for the issues and needs of trans Latin@ individuals residing in the United States.

Accompanying the limited-edition eyewear will be a dedicated lens cleaning cloth created exclusively for the initiative by New York-based artist Pedro Silva.

“What started out as a modest idea led to our first collective launch in June 2022 which raised nearly $50,000 for the Los Angeles LGBT Center,” said Blake Kuwahara. “Building on that momentum and enthusiastic reception from both our retail partners and consumers, we hope to raise even more awareness and funds for the TransLatin@ Coalition.”

The edCFDA Pride Eyewear Initiative is an annual charitable venture driven by edCFDA Members to target and highlight specific needs within the broad spectrum of the LGBTQIA+ and gender non-conforming community.

“Vision and visibility must walk hand in hand to be freeing, and the edCFDA Pride Initiative seeks to amplify both ideas in a responsive and emphatic way,” said l.a.Eyeworks co-founder and designer Gai Gherardi.