424's First Sunglasses Will Make "You Feel Like a Sick Dude" (EXCLUSIVE)

When you're an established clothing label looking to branch out into the wide wild world of accessories, there's always the temptation to do it yourself. After all, you fought for everything else you've accomplished — what's one more category?

But 424 knew better than to go it alone for its first proper stab at eyewear. It brought in luxury glasses label DITA to create something beautiful. But these handmade sunglasses ain't dainty objects. They ought to be worn. Hell, not just worn, but worn-in. To look that much cooler. And make you that much cooler in the process.

Each pair comes with an authentication card made of a rough material that functions like sandpaper. "It verifies the product, and it invites the owner to hand finish the frame and add a patina of their own," KC Clarke, Dita CMO, tells Highsnobiety. "The frame arrives pristine. What happens next is up to them."

"DITA has always been a bit of a cowboy in this industry, doing things its own way. That’s how I’ve built 424, too," 424 founder Guillermo Andrade adds. "I walked out of that first meeting [with DITA] thinking, 'These are my people.' It didn’t feel like either was being pitched. There was already an understanding."

Indeed, 424 and DITA feel like a natural fit. Both specialize in luxury tempered by rock 'n roll grunge, these seeming contrasts informing urbane but unpretentious products that only get better with wear (and tear). Sure, their respective oeuvres look beautiful when new but that much better when not. And isn't it perfect that the 424 DITA campaign was lensed in 424's cavernous Melrose flagship? It feels like a manifestation of their shared insouicance, because even the most exquisite objects look better beat up.

I chatted with Andrade and Clarke about their collaborative shades and the handicraft that informed them — because for all this talk of scuffs and scrapes, these are also artisanal objects.

Talk to me about the process of actually shaping this collaborative pair of sunglasses. How did the conversation start?

Andrade: I knew DITA before I ever got to Los Angeles. To me, the brand always represented something cool and unique. We’re both independent. We don’t need someone else to sign off on what we believe in, and that gives you a certain freedom to create.

So that was the starting point: mutual respect and a similar way of looking at things. From there, the conversation became “What does that look like in a pair of sunglasses?” Something that feels like me and 424, but that the DITA team sees themselves in, too.

And was the intent always to produce a limited edition?

Clarke: Yes, but not for the reason people assume. The limited edition is the start of a relationship, not the end of one. The bigger question, in this case, that we’re chasing together is how to make the perfect pair of aviators. This drop lets us answer it quickly and respond to the demand that came out of the frames appearing in Guillermo’s Paris runway shows. It also suits the idea.

Every pair leaves Japan identical and numbered, and the moment the owner picks up the sandpaper and adds a bit of personal patina, it becomes a pair nobody else can have. That only works at a limited scale.

Aviators feel very DITA but also very 424.

Andrade: The aviator is Americana to me. It’s part of LA, part of how men dress here. It’s masculine and sexy without trying too hard. You put on a pair of DITA aviators and you feel like a sick dude. That’s very much the world of 424. I care about quality, but I also care about how something makes you feel when you wear it. There has to be that sex appeal.

DITA already makes a great aviator, so I didn’t feel like we needed to reinvent the shape. I wanted to bring my point of view to it without losing what makes it great. With something that iconic, the question is, “What’s going to make someone want another pair?” For us, it was the diagonal gradient lenses. "Pigeon Blood" and "Smoke" came out of our seasonal palette. They give the frame a different attitude without overcomplicating it. You still have that clean, classic aviator, but you see 424 in it. 

Talk to me about the handcraft and key details.

Clarke: Every DITA frame is handcrafted in Japan from start to finish. Not finished in Japan, but built there entirely, because the depth and detail in a frame like this only happens when the whole process lives under one roof. A single frame can take up to eight months, pass through 350 steps, and touch the hands of around 100 craftsmen. It’s forged in titanium, which is where the lightness and durability come from.

The details people tend to miss:

• The gradient on the lens runs on a diagonal rather than top to bottom, a small move that changes the entire attitude of the frame.

• Each frame is subtly laser engraved on the nose pad with its edition number, so the proof is on the frame itself, not just the paperwork.

• The packaging tells the collaboration story in the order you open it. The outer sleeve is clean and pristine, a nod to DITA. Remove it and you reveal a rich textured wood grain box, a nod to 424. 

• Alongside sits the iconic 424 bag, distressed by hand until a DITA logo shows through.

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