Born from Fishing Nests – The Hybrid Performance Styled Costa Antille

Total Score: 8.33 - EDITOR'S CHOICE

Introduction: As we start the new year it is time to look at one of the pieces in our fishing kit that comes on every trip, the unsung hero in the angler’s arsenal, our polarized sunglasses. Costa Del Mar sunglasses creates optics for all applications, but has very strong roots in angling, and continues to design optics specifically for the sport of fishing. The subject of our review is the Antille, which is one of four new frames in Costa’s Untangled 2.0 collection, which was launched at the most recent ICAST show.

From first glance you might never know that the Costa Antille's frame is made from recycled fishing nets

Impressions - Getting Untangled: The name “Antille” comes from the 1,500-mile Caribbean Island chain, which is fitting considering that the frame is made from 97% recycled fishing nets. All the Untangled 2.0 frames are built from recycled fishing nets and other sustainable materials like recycled aluminum logos and mineral glass (580G) lenses. To achieve this Costa continues to partner with the team at Bureo who are working with communities in South America to provide an end-of-life solution for worn out plastic nets.

Costa is proud work with Bureo to create new frames from this recycled material

Bureo started by collecting old nets in Chile and last year alone collected over 300 tons. Once collected the team washes the old nets, grinds them down into plastic form to create pellets that are then used for manufacturing of various products including skateboards, bike components, and sunglasses like the Costa Antille.

The Antille is a hybrid frame that sports styling and features from both performance and lifestyle frames

All the Untangled 2.0 frames feature a matte finish that looks raw and unpainted. This is the result of using the recycled materials, and a conscious decision to keep them as natural as possible. The Antille, has a 100% traceable supply chain, and is built from a more durable NetPlus material that is 97% recycled fishing nets and only a 3% performance additive. Not only are they built from recycled materials, but the frames are designed to be easy to recycle as well, including the frames themselves and even the aluminum Costa badging on the side. But enough on all that, talking about the end-of life is getting ahead of ourselves, and the real question for most anglers is just how well the Antille performs on the water.

The new frames are also recyclable. Even the stamped logos are made from lightweight aluminum

Real World Tests: To test the Antille I went fishing in as many different bodies of water as I could, targeting multiple species, and putting the Antille to work in a variety of light conditions. This took me from fishing for snook and tarpon in Florida to targeting largemouth bass in our home waters back in Northern California and even a side trip exploring the deserts of Southern California. I compared the new glasses to other Costas including the new Pro Series Fantail Pro and more lifestyle oriented Spearo frames.

Over these tests I compared the Antille with other Costa frames including the Fantail Pro which is very performance oriented