DITA Eyewear in New York
Our Carroll Gardens shop holds more than 160 DITA frames across 75 different models. Not a display case with a few pieces in it, but a collection deep enough that most people find something they did not know existed.
What Is on the Wall
The split is close to even between optical and sunglasses, and it includes the models DITA is known for. The Grandmaster and Grandmaster-Eight are there, which are the frames that built the brand's reputation. So is Mach-X, from the series drawn from machinery and sports car design. Flight, Statesman and Senator cover the aviator and classical shapes.
Then there are the more unusual pieces, Cosmohacker, Obsidion, Radihacker, Terracraft, which are harder to describe and easier to understand once they are on your face. Seventy-five models is an unusual amount of range to have in one place, and it means the collection covers ground rather than repeating itself.
Two Friends Who Thought Luxury Eyewear Had Got Lazy
John Juniper and Jeff Solorio had been friends since grade school in Laguna Beach. Before eyewear they were professional snowboard filmmakers and photographers, which is a useful thing to know about a brand this concerned with how objects look.
They founded DITA in Los Angeles in 1995 for a straightforward reason. They thought the luxury eyewear on offer was uninspired and poorly made, and they believed the category could be much better than it was. The first collections drew on frames from the 1950s and 60s, shapes with real presence, rebuilt with modern materials and modern engineering.
The name came from Dita Von Teese. Juniper met her in 1993 and asked whether he could name the brand after her. She agreed, modelled the earliest prototypes, and years later collaborated on a collection of her own.
Made in Japan, Slowly
DITA frames are handmade in Japan, in the workshops that set the standard for frame manufacturing worldwide. A single frame takes hundreds of individual steps and months to move from a drawing to something you can wear.
The materials list is short and expensive: titanium, Japanese acetate, 18 karat and white gold. Our own collection runs roughly a third titanium and a third acetate, with a smaller number of combination and semi-rimless frames.
DITA has never advertised in the way most eyewear brands do. No mass merchants, no campaigns, no seasonal push. It is sold through a small number of opticians in about fifty countries, and that is how most people encounter it.
Seeing Them at Carroll Gardens
We are an independent optical practice, not a fashion boutique. We have been in New York since 1989 and we have three shops, but the DITA collection lives at Carroll Gardens.
That matters if you want prescription lenses in them, which most people do. We do the eye exam, take the measurements and fit the lenses ourselves with ZEISS optics, in the same shop where you chose the frame. Progressives included. Nothing is sent away to a lab you never see, and we are here afterwards when the frame needs adjusting.
Some of the more sculptural shapes interact with strong prescriptions in ways worth discussing in person before you decide, and that conversation takes about five minutes. We accept VSP and most major medical insurance for the eye exam. Frame and lens coverage varies by plan and we are happy to check yours first.
The collection changes as frames sell, and DITA produces in small quantities, so what is on the wall today is not a permanent fixture.
Come and See Them
Walk-ins are welcome. If you would like lenses the same visit, book an eye exam and we can usually have you finished in about an hour.
Carroll Gardens · 315 Court Street, Brooklyn · (718) 596-3740
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