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Since its August 2020 relaunch, Dan Levy’s DL Eyewear has certified itself as the ultimate go-to for fashionable, price-conscious frames. The eyewear brand offers unisex, high quality pieces for both people in need of opticals or just a fantastic pair of sunglasses. With the turn of spring, DL Eyewear is headed into a new era. The company recently tapped Elena Doukas as their new co-creative just as they are getting ready to release their new spring collection. Ahead of the line’s April 22 launch, Modern Luxury spoke with Levy and Doukas about their partnership, adding a pop of color to DL eyewear and the importance of seeing with love.
Elena, what excited you most about joining the company?
Aside from being friends and having a shared passion for eyewear, I’ve always admired Dan’s strong vision for the brand and every project he works on. He had started the brand several years ago, and we had many conversations about how he wanted to bring it back after having to commit himself fully to Schitt’s Creek. There was a lot of great brand foundation and dedicated following, and I was extremely intrigued at coming to a company that had such a direct line of communication with their customers.
Over the last several years, it feels like fashion calendars have become more and more demanding, and that has an effect on the product quality and design, and even then limits the bandwidth you have to then communicate what you’re trying to do. The rush of it all can make the process feel very material and fleeting, so being somewhere that puts product first is a must. Designing frames intended to last is very fulfilling, and that’s also something Dan and I are very aligned on.
And Dan, why was Elena the right person to take on the role as co-creative director?
Elena has been such a respected force in the eyewear space for a long time. Her eye, her instincts, and her ability to pave a unique creative path through a highly competitive industry are an invaluable asset to DL Eyewear.
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Dan and Elena, what makes one another an ideal collaborator in the eyewear space?
A collaborator with shared vision.
What are you most excited about with the spring collection?
It’s a very bright and vibrant collection and our biggest release to date. We had a lot of fun using more color with this collection. In previous collections, we wanted to establish staple pieces in must-have colors. We can see our customers collecting and building their own eyewear wardrobes, so this time we wanted to expand the offering with really fun plastics and lenses.
DL Eyewear has contributed over $50,000 to Local Initiatives Support Corporations. Why was LISC your go-to organization to support?
We relaunched the brand August 2020 after several delays, and as a small business, we knew firsthand the obstacles of running a business in a pandemic. LISC does great work in providing resources and support to businesses in underserved communities, and the thought of being able to give back to other small businesses was incredibly exciting and important to us.
DL Eyewear’s motto is “See with Love.” How does the mission inform the way your company operates?
“See With Love” continues to take on new meanings, and for us it’s always started as a mindset in how we design and operate the business. “See With Love” is stamped into every DL Eyewear frame and serves as a driving perspective for all things in the DL world.
How can DL Eyewear’s commit to this mission in their everyday lives?
We are constantly inspired by how our community has continued to embrace this motto. There’s such comradery amongst our customers, especially on our social channels. We’ve seen them help one another with frame recommendations and launch details, and we’ve even seen a customer buy frames for another customer who couldn’t afford them. Recently, we were really moved by an anonymous donation directly to LISC that a customer made on our behalf. The fact that “See With Love” has become such a force of positivity for our customers is completely overwhelming for us.
This interview has been edited.
Photography by: Courtesy DL Eyewear
