It was November 2012 and Dave de Witt was having a bad month. He was down to a couple hundred rands in his bank account, his job as a handyman was not bringing in enough income and, to top it all, his sunglasses, which had been on their last lap, had finally given up the fight and fallen apart.De Witt, an avid skateboarder, decided that, instead of spending cash he didn't have on a new pair, he would try his hand at making his own shades out of recycled wood."I had a lot of spare time - I had more time than money to be honest - and I had an old skateboard lying around so I decided to use it to make my shades. It worked and everywhere I went people were like, 'Those are really cool. Where did you get them?' so I just took it from there."De Witt began working out of the single garage of his Pinetown home, utilising old skateboards of his own, those donated by friends and some traded in by young skateboarders.Skateboards take a long time to deteriorate, giving De Witt the perfect canvas for his product."I really had to put everything into this to see where it led. I said to myself that if I couldn't make this work, then it was time to go find a more stable job."And with that, DDD's Sk8 Shades was born. (De Witt goes by the moniker triple D among the Durban skateboarding circle.)Starting with a Facebook page, De Witt created a buzz online showcasing his hand-crafted, vintage, environmentally friendly sunglasses. Wholesale offers began to trickle in.Locally, Vans in Durban and Cape Town retailers Baseline and Iyos Jewellers stock De Witt's arty shades. Online stores Bike Gifts, Chum5 in China and Italy's Paolo Cristante also stock them.With the success of the product, De Witt has been able to upgrade his workshop, moving from his garage into a creatively built cabin in his back yard. And he has since expanded his staff to include skateboarding buddy Dane Strike.They make about 20 pairs of bespoke sunglasses a week from their collection of skateboards and sell them at R1500 each. Each board yields five to eight pairs. The funky shades appeal to young and old and De Witt offers a "design your own" alternative.He said: "You can buy a R2500 pair of retail sunglasses and walk outside and find that someone else has the exact same pair. Some people like that, they enjoy having a brand. Others want something a bit different that expresses who they are. Each pair we make is different. It's what makes it special."DDD's Sk8 Shades retail at R1500 a pair. For information visit www.sk8shades.com..