DITA vs Oliver Peoples: titanium, acetate, fit and price

Both brands come out of Southern California, and both began by looking backwards. Oliver Peoples opened its first shop in 1987 at 8642 Sunset Boulevard, in the middle of Sunset Plaza, on the Sunset Strip. The brand's own account of that year describes a shop built on eyewear from the most glamorous years for shades, the 1920s to the 1960s. DITA's history page dates the brand to 1995 and says its first collections were vintage-inspired frames from the 1950s and 1960s, designed from frames found in vintage shops. DITA's site gives its headquarters as Aliso Viejo, California.

Where the frames are made is where they part. DITA says it began concentrating production in Japan in 1999, and its craftsmanship page puts it plainly: we finish all our frames in Japan, not because we can, but because we must. The same page says a single frame can take as many as 350 separate production steps over eight months, in factories that include some owned by the same families for generations. Oliver Peoples says each of its frames is handcrafted in two dedicated factories in Italy and Japan, and dates its relationship with Japanese producers to 1987. Our Oliver Peoples listings say made in Japan or Italy without recording which, so if the country matters to you, ask before you order.

Both describe design as slow work. DITA says each design is treated independently and takes months from conception to production. Oliver Peoples says it takes many months to perfect the design drawings, with revisions to a fraction of a millimetre, and that prototypes are carved by hand before production begins.

We stock both brands and speak for neither. Everything attributed to DITA or Oliver Peoples here comes from the brand's own site, and every measurement and price comes from our own listings. For DITA alongside two other brands whose frames are made in Japan, see our guide to Japanese eyewear brands.

The practical difference between the two, as we carry them, is material. Most of our DITA listings are titanium, alone or paired with acetate. Most of our Oliver Peoples listings are acetate. Both brands work in both materials: Oliver Peoples' Takumi collection is titanium, and DITA's craftsmanship page describes how it polishes its acetate frames. So read this chapter as materials first and brands second, and check the material on each frame's own page.

Weight. DITA's FAQ describes titanium as roughly 30% stronger and 50% lighter than steel, and its craftsmanship page puts its beta-titanium at a third the weight of steel. The same FAQ calls cellulose acetate lightweight as well. The difference you feel on the nose comes from how much material a frame needs. A titanium rim can be very fine and still hold a lens, where an acetate front is cut from a plate with some thickness to it. As a rule, a fine metal frame weighs less than an acetate front of the same size. We do not list weights in grams. If heavier frames have left marks on your nose before, titanium is the place to start.

Adjustment. Acetate is warmed to adjust, and once an optician has set the temples to your head it tends to hold that set. Titanium is usually adjusted cold. DITA describes its beta-titanium as light, durable and extremely flexible. Metal frames usually sit on adjustable nose pads, which an optician can move to raise, lower or level the frame. An acetate front usually rests on a bridge shaped into the front itself, so the fit at the nose is mostly decided when you choose the frame rather than afterwards.

Wear. DITA's FAQ describes titanium as highly resistant to corrosion, particularly from salt water, and as nickel free and hypoallergenic, and notes that it can be plated in a wide range of colours. In acetate the colour is in the material rather than painted onto it, and Oliver Peoples says some of its frames are made from layers of custom acetate, so the pattern differs from one finished frame to the next. Both materials dislike heat. DITA's care page warns that storing a frame somewhere hot, such as a car, can deform it, and that resting glasses on your head can widen the arms. That holds for any frame on this page.

Both brands size their frames with the usual three numbers: lens width, bridge and temple. Our listings record all three for every frame. DITA's FAQ sets them out as LW/DBL-TL, with the temple measured from the centre of the hinge to the tip. Oliver Peoples adds a word on its own site, describing fits as Petite, Standard or Generous according to how much of the face the front covers. Our frame size guide explains the numbers in full.

The number that decides fit is the width across the front. Add the two lens widths and the bridge and you are close; the tables below do that sum for every frame in their Across the front column. When this guide was written, our Oliver Peoples listings started narrower, at about 110mm across the front, and ran to about 128mm. Our DITA listings started at about 118mm and ran past 130mm. The two overlap between about 118mm and 128mm, and that overlap is where a straight choice between them exists.

Eye size alone can mislead across the two brands, because the bridges vary. When this guide was written, bridges in our listings for the two brands ran from 13mm to 23mm, so the frame with the larger eye size was not always the wider frame. Construction matters too. On a metal frame with nose pads, the pads rather than the bridge rest on the nose, so a narrow bridge number matters less. An acetate front usually rests on its bridge, so the bridge number matters more. Compare widths first, then check the bridge against a pair you already wear.

Depth is the other difference. The DITA frames we have listed have tended to run deeper from top to bottom, and the Oliver Peoples towards shallower, vintage-proportioned fronts. The Lens height column shows each one. Depth changes how much of the face a frame covers, and it matters for lenses: if you wear progressive lenses, the optician fitting them confirms with your measurements whether a frame's depth suits your prescription. The single-brand guides go further: the DITA fit guide and the Oliver Peoples fit guide.

The frames we list from both brands are new and sealed, and the price is for the frame alone. Lenses are separate, and are arranged with whoever fits them.

When this guide was written, Oliver Peoples frames in our listings sat between roughly $300 and $500, and DITA frames between roughly $700 and $1,000. On average a DITA frame has cost nearly twice as much as an Oliver Peoples frame here. The Price column in each table is each frame's current listed price, and it is the one to trust.

We will not guess at how either brand sets its prices. What each says about its own making is set out above, and you can weigh that for yourself. What we can say is that price tells you nothing about fit. A frame at the lower band that is the right width will serve you better than one at the upper band that is not. Our guide to whether designer frames are worth it takes the wider question further.

Width comes first. A frame that is the right width across the front looks right far more often than one of the right shape at the wrong width, so settle the number before the shape.

Oliver Peoples, as we carry it, is the quieter of the two. The frames are vintage in proportion, mostly softly squared, rectangular or round, and the branding stays off the front. The brand's own site says that when it first opened it was known to launch one frame in eight different tortoise colours, and tortoise, black and brown acetates make up much of what we carry from it. It suits someone who wants glasses that look considered at close range and unremarkable across a room. In our listings it also has the narrower fronts, which makes it the likelier of the two for a smaller face.

DITA is the more technical of the two, and it can be the bolder. Its history page describes the Flight-Series, from 2002, as an all-titanium, thicker take on the classic aviator, and describes the range as running from bold character frames to new interpretations of timeless shapes. Our DITA listings take in navigator, faceted geometric, round, cat-eye and squared shapes, and on the frames that combine the two materials the metal holds the line while the acetate carries the colour. It suits someone who likes to see how a frame is built, and it reaches the wider, deeper fronts that a broader face can carry.

On shape, the usual rules of thumb apply to both. Rounds tend to soften a square jaw or a strong brow. Squared and rectangular fronts tend to give structure to a round face. A navigator or any deep front wants a face with the width and the brow height to carry it. A cat-eye lifts at the outer corner and draws the eye there. None of this outranks a frame you simply like on your face.

1. Measure first. Take a pair you wear comfortably, read the three numbers inside the arm, and add the two lens widths and the bridge. Look for frames within a few millimetres of that figure in the Across the front column of the tables.
2. Choose the material. If weight or marks on the nose have been a problem, start with titanium, which here mostly means DITA, and ask us whether the frame you like sits on adjustable nose pads. If you want a frame that holds its set and carries colour and pattern in the material, start with acetate, which is most of what we carry from Oliver Peoples.
3. Check the bridge and the depth. Keep the bridge within a millimetre or two of a pair that sits well, unless the frame has pads. If you wear progressive lenses, ask the optician who will fit them about lens height before you choose.
4. Set a budget. The two brands sit in different price bands, and the band may make the choice for you.
5. Then shape and colour. Done in this order, you end up with a frame that fits and that you like.

We sell frames only. We do not sell prescription lenses online. Lenses are fitted by an optician, in our Arlington or Dumfries shops or by your own, who confirms with your measurements whether the frame suits your prescription. Our lens guide covers what to bring. Shipping is free and insured across the US. Returns are accepted within seven days, less a 15% restocking fee, which is one more reason to do the arithmetic before you order.