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From the get-go, DITTO has been a unique presence in the online eyewear space. Founder Kate Doerksen had set out to create and redefine the experience of buying eyewear and since the site’s inception a lot of new ideas have come to the fore.

Employing a unique, 3D Try-On technology, which enables customers to create a unique “Ditto” of themselves, which they can view, share and save for current and future purchases, DITTO has been evolving via the number and scope of the brands on the site but even more for the “experience” the site is bringing to visitors.

“We’ve always been about making the experience of buying glasses online easier,” Doerksen said, “but as I talk to customers—and I do that regularly to hear what they have to say and how they view that experience, with us and elsewhere, we’ve learned that there are ways to rethink some of the barriers which have traditionally been part of that experience.”

DITTO devised a solution to the “discovery” process with the advent of its Quiz last year. Visitors to the site follow a series of visual image prompts which ask them their preferences toward a range of style or activity choices and the end results provides them with a personalized guide to those looks and collections that reflect their choices. The results can be stored in what becomes “Sally’s Shop” and can be used for reference later.

Just last month, DITTO also launched a totally new concept: Endless Eyewear. Modelled after ideas like “RentTheRunway” and, taking a page from the emerging “share economy,” as Doerksen described it, Endless Eyewear offers people the chance to commit to a monthly fee and they can swap/return/exchange their eyewear for a new pair.

For a fee of $19 per month for sunglasses or $29 per month for Rx eyeglasses (single vision only, at this point), Endless Eyewear tackles the economics of buying eyeglasses in a whole new way.

Said Doerksen, “Many customers I speak with are trying to solve the problem of budget. They would buy one and were done. But from our conversations and via their interactions with us on our site and via our social media, we felt our interactions with them could be more. We can deliver value to customers if we enable them to swap a pair at any time. They have control. It’s exciting for them and for us.”
At top, left: DITTO’s new Endless Eyewear lets customers sign up for a monthly fee so they can swap eyewear anytime. At bottom and top right: DITTO’s Quiz lets customers answer quick questions to create a Personal Shop.


The concept is already so popular that DITTO has created a Waiting List for Endless Eyewear aspirants, fielding requests from 15,000 customers in the space of a week.

Finally, DITTO wants to further explore retail partnerships, kiosk ideas and ways to share its capabilities with other retail partners, via licensing agreements. A four-store, in-store test with America’s Best, one of the country’s largest value optical retailers, will begin this spring. This month, DITTO is creating its own pop-up shop near its HQ in San Francisco, to showcase kiosk concepts. And it will start a new partnership with GlassesDirect.com, a UK-based online eyewear retailer.

Said Doerksen, whose fast-growing company received an additional $7 million in funding last year, “We envision co-creating custom solutions for retailers. But overall, we want to be a meaningful player in the mid to high end online space, and see ourselves as part of a big ecosystem in eyewear.”