Hasta La Ideas

Surf and skate style meets ’50s inspiration in a Southern California sunglasses brand

While its name may conjure cloudy weather, Raen Optics are a paean to endless summers and drop-tops—an enthusiasm made clear with their limited edition Myopia sunglasses created for surf-loving label Alexandra Cassaniti (in stores Spring ’11). Other latest styles—the Underwood (bottom left), Ryko and Squire (bottom right)—draw from “a very classic, mid-century design aesthetic.” The Squire was inspired by a photograph of James Dean in his Speedster, and all three do double duty as sleekly retro eyeglass frames.

Founded in 2008, Raen is the brainchild of a foursome bonded by an appreciation of iconic sunglasses, Justin Heit, Jeremy Heit, Micah Dunham and Jordan Percy of Libre Design, a creative agency based in Encinitas, CA. The small coastal town thrives with upstart companies springing from skate and surf culture. “[This] has a heavy influence on coastal Encinitas, and this background has certainly shaped what Raen has become and will guide us in the future,” they explain.

Each frame is handmade with select European acetates and hardware that you’d be hard-pressed to find at Raen’s wallet-friendly prices. “We are striving to create timeless pieces,” they say, designed to “be relevant for more than one or two seasons.”

Visit Raen online for collections and retailers. Prices start at $95.

Shwood launches its extra-durable wooden aviators with a month-long giveaway

From watches to sunglasses, fashion accessories crafted from wood are at an all-time high. Pioneers in the movement, Portland-based Shwood just introduced their latest edition, the Ashland, which improves on the durability of other models. Paying tribute to the classic utilitarian design of aviator glasses, the Ashland sets mirrored (below, left) or polarized (below, right) lenses within chunky East Indian Rosewood frames.

The new design boasts a 100% increase in strength, resulting in even longer-lasting glasses. And to protect these gems, Shwood came up with an attractive hard case to house them. Constructed from a mix of Walnut and European Maple, the wooden case features a two-piece slider design to keep frames secure as well as easily accessible.

To celebrate the release of the Ashland, Shwood is giving away one pair of the new style each Thursday during the month of October, 2010. To enter, simply visit the official Shwood fan page on Facebook. The Ashland sells online from Shwood for $145.

by Russ Lowe

Recently put to the test at a German Black Metal show, my Dita frames held up to the frenzy of elbows and foot stomping, returned to me with only a torqued arm that I easily snapped back into place. After wearing them for eight years, I finally realized why they are so coveted outside of their sleek silhouettes.

The episode resulted in a refreshing phone conversation with Dita co-founder John Juniper about good snow, his three-decade friendship with co-founder Jeff Solorio, and his proudest moment since launching the line. Below we discuss their newest arrivals (including the chunky Insider shades, aviator style Condor, and stately Grandmaster-Three) and where the brand is headed in the future.

Dita began out of a childhood friendship?

Yeah, Jeff and I have been friends since kindergarten and kind of ended up in the same place as we got older, with similar interests design-wise, so it was just a natural collaboration. It’s been great.

How did your common interests in design end up applied to optics?

Surfing and snowboarding had been a big part of things for us, and we identified a need in the market from it, and ran with it. It started with a few female board sports athletes we knew that were just frustrated with the lack of options out there. [They wanted] sunglasses that performed, but that they could wear anytime.

How did the first few concept frames from the mid-’90s compare to your current collection?

Even then the frames we were interested in making pulled from more classic shapes from the past—an oversized scale, iconic designs from the ’50s and some ’80s punk rock influences.

How did you leap from progressive action sports optics for women to a more fashion-focused approach?

It kind of just happened because of the sort of stuff Jeff and I were interested in. A lot of our friends in L.A. had good taste, and we listened to the feedback we kept getting.

Actually, we started off producing our initial frame style in 250-unit batches, and celebrities like Jonathan Davis (Korn) and the Olsen twins started wearing them. Boutiques started placing orders, things got pretty hot after that, and we were forced to expand, introduce better designs and find better manufacturing in Japan.

Rad problem. Since Ashley and Mary Kate, how have celebrity endorsements continued to impact your business, and your design perspective?

We’ve been lucky to have a lot of people fall in love with our product, and just show up in the press wearing them. We haven’t had to peddle it too hard. From Brad Pitt to LeBron James (who wears the Grand Master in almost every press conference), it’s been pretty cool to see. It’s really rewarding.

Years back, I was out hearing some music, and John Lee Hooker came out on stage wearing a pair of High Balls. That was kind of it for me. Like, this little full-circle moment where I sat there and just realized what was going on, and what we’d created. It was pretty cool. Even cooler was that they weren’t given to him.

Assuming your drive is to keep making your brand better based on incremental progress, where do you go from here?

Well, it’s tougher than ever to stand out today. There’s just so much great stuff out there, and kids can pump out a sketch on their laptop and connect with a factory somewhere and all of a sudden it’s our competition.

We’re interested in continuing to work with top designers around the world, and investigate channels that keep an exclusive edge so Dita continues to be an experience and a culture, as well as just well-made eyewear.

In many ways, we’re sticking with what’s worked since day one: Minimal to zero logos, refining classic shapes in optics like the circle—just pushing toward pieces that will have as much contrast in the market as possible.

The frames are available from the company’s retail store Dita Legends or by visiting their stores in West Hollywood, Newport Beach and Tokyo.

Emerging like edgy first blooms, a slew of new sunglasses from Stockholm are challenging other fashion capitals known for quality, stylish accessories. Both fashion forward frames and reconceived classics pop as the main styles, but three brands in particular have us excited for blues skies ahead.

Whyred (above) introduced handmade tortoiseshell frames with a sophisticated retro aesthetic. Taking their inspiration from The Who manager Pete Meaden, the look fits right in with the brand’s modern collections abiding by the motto “clean living under difficult circumstances.” The unisex sunglasses sell online for $340.

The Scandinavian staple Cheap Monday leaves nothing to chance with a ride range of styles and colors. (See more in the gallery below.) Putting their spin on the classic Wayfarer, the label adds wire arms in place of plastic while leaving the main shape intact. Rounded edges and cat eye frames in pastels make a more feminine choice, while stylish dark blue plastic rims and gun metal wire aviators bring a harder edge. Pick them up from their store in Copenhagen and online from Urban Outfitters or Tobi for around $40.

The Local Firm continues to reinvent the standard plastic sunglasses—last year, by squaring out the frame and oversizing it slightly. Now they’re even bigger with a more obvious block shape inspired by 3D glasses and ’80s electronica. The dark gray frames of its two models (Shadow or Dust) will sit nicely on the tanned and buff as well as the more pasty-faced. Both styles sell online for kr 995.

Adding a Brigitte Bardot touch to their Moscot Originals collection, the new Mangito frames seize on the cat-eye craze for spring. Moscot’s take interprets the style more subtly than other current versions, like Alexander Wang‘s recent kitschy-slash-punk collaboration with Linda Farrow.

Fit for ladies, the brand named the frames for Sol’s sister Gladys who ditched NYC’s Lower East Side for sunny Cuba Libre-filled days in Havana. Mangito—Cuban slang for sexy, hot and fresh—was the nickname Gladys’ future husband gave her when they met there and defines the demurely flirty essence of the new eye wear.

The Mangito specs come either as sunglasses or standard ophthalmic frames. Pick them up online for $250 in black or tortoiseshell.