This article originally appeared in Hypebeast Magazine Issue 35: The Wavelength Issue.

According to District Vision co-founders Tom Daly and Max Vallot, eyewear can be a physical and emotional shield. “When it’s sunny, you need it. When it’s rainy, you need it,” says Daly. “If you’re running the Hawaii Marathon and you don’t have sunglasses, you’re fucked, but you’re also fucked if it starts raining during your run and you don’t have a shield.”

The emotional component?

“You and I have both run the New York City Marathon,” Daly says, gesturing in my direction. “So you know how awkward it is when you’re gasping for breath at the final push, and you make direct eye contact with someone. The foundation of emotional protection is removing that unintentionally awkward layer of interaction.”

Daly and Vallot are near-reverential when discussing what they call “running eyewear.” To them, the term signifies a looking glass into—and an aegis for—the soul. That animating principle is reflected across District Vision’s products and the brand’s overall creative and technical approach.

District Vision’s sunglasses boast aerospace-grade titanium frames and shatterproof polycarbonate lenses treated with anti-reflective and oleophobic coatings. If that sounds sophisticated, it is. District Vision frames manifest the brand’s holistic approach to wellness, which stems from Daly and Vallot’s belief that mental well-being is the foundational benefit of every form of physical exercise—and that running is the central practice of individuals who abide by such a mindset.

Founded in 2016, District Vision was among the first of a new generation of boutique running brands. Instead of following in the footsteps of the dominant players in the space (or immediately pumping itself full of venture capital to grow the businesses), District Vision blazed its own trail by offering a precise combination of function and fashion, with the latter always informed by the former’s demands. Its founders’ professional pedigree also aided the label. Daly previously worked at Acne and Vallot at Saint Laurent while brand’s handscrawled “DV” logo was created by graphic artist Filip Pagowski, best known for the iconic COMME des GARÇONS PLAY heart logo.

Besides ever-expanding eyewear and apparel offerings, the brand’s other superpower lies in its slow, intentional approach. The co-founders spent more than two years prototyping District Vision’s first eyewear release, and even now, a decade in, they prioritize mindfulness, intention, and patient, sustainable growth over maximum reach. “It takes 10 years to do anything well,” says Vallot. “You can build faster, but it won’t be real, and it won’t have a solid foundation.”

Why was eyewear the initial medium you chose to present your brand to the world?

Tom Daly: Most people use sunglasses as a social construct. They’re a tool that indicates people should leave you alone, a shield of sorts. If you’re out for a run, you’re likely doing the most challenging thing you’re going to do all day, and you might not want people to see you doing that challenging thing because you might not look your best.

Running wasn’t a sport with a wardrobe until about 10 years ago. As that ethos progressed, running became classified as a sport requiring a “kit,” like baseball or basketball. People started leaning into that, and at the time, our obsessions were centered around eyewear and made-in-Japan quality.

We knew there wasn’t an approach like that in the market and figured we could bring it. We wanted to be very nerdy about it: to iterate, develop, and grow slowly over a long period, which wasn’t something anyone else in the sphere was doing. And we were naive, too, which was important [laughs].

What sort of runner wears District Vision?

Max Vallot: Our understanding of our customers keeps evolving. For the first three years, it was the person Tom described. Someone who got into running, started taking it seriously, and wanted to dress the part. The first significant shift we saw in our customers was around COVID in 2020, when everyone started spending more time outdoors.

After that shift, running wasn’t primarily driven by the person who was part of a running crew or signing up for marathons anymore. It was someone who wanted to be outside, to run for two or three miles, and maybe hike. We moved our base of operations from New York to California around then and started seeing running more as part of a holistic lifestyle rather than a linear, isolated activity. We increasingly consider running a core, primal practice that informs an active, healthy way of life and District Vision as the toolkit to living that life.

How do you turn that lifestyle into a product, especially in the performance sphere?

TD: We find ourselves using “analog technology” as a descriptor a lot these days. If you look at fabric and material usage in running gear today, the brands pushing the envelope often combine natural and synthetic materials. People want the best technological solution but also want to “feel” the run. The same mindset causes automotive manufacturers to attach engine sounds to their electric cars. People want the eco-friendly performance of that silent engine, but they also want the nostalgia of a classic combustion engine.

MV: There’s also been a considerable emphasis on minimizing distractions while running. It’s become synonymous with peace of mind. But when you lean too far into that, you risk losing the “feel.” Why do we like the sound of an engine? Why do we like the crackles and pops of vinyl? If you cut out all the distractions, you feel nothing. So, the feeling of imperfection articulates our life experiences, especially as we start and conclude a practice.

How has the definition of a “running brand” changed since District Vision was founded?

MV: It’s almost become a new brand category. When we started District Vision 10 years ago, there were maybe two other brands that we could say were in our sphere. We recently had to put together a non-compete list for the next chapter of our partnership with New Balance, so I asked the people on our team to put together a list of our contemporaries—and it was shocking to see how many brands there were. Obviously, not all these brands will last, but it’s amazing that so many creative talents are channeling their ideas through the medium of running. Today, we’re both a sports brand and a fashion brand. It’s interesting to see how technical products redefine fashion.

When creating and conceptualizing your products, do you stay up on other brands in the sphere?

TD: We all learn from one another. Anyone who says they don’t is a liar [laughs]. That’s what’s beautiful. No brand is an island. If you look at the legacy California outdoor brands and legacy sports brands, they’ve done a fantastic job laying the groundwork. We aren’t competing because we’re so different. We also have confidence in sticking to our guns and living in our vision instead of being offended by a competitor’s success. The independent brands all have respect for each other.

What might fuel or influence the next wave of brands in your sphere, and how does it feel that those brands may be looking up to you?

MV: The previous generation of brands was the private equity generation. They came from a time when tech money and the tech mindset started informing how fashion and sports brands were built. Now, we’re seeing a response to that with brands that put authenticity above everything. People don’t want to see the same Instagram ads, the same “best practice” design shapes that have been done a million times already. They want to see character and imperfection. They want to see and know the founders of brands: what they think and do, and how they interact with their community. That’s what we were founded on, and the next step on the roadmap for us is to open our own stores to communicate that message even further.

TD: The parallel I like to draw is that growing up in Europe, I’d always go to the same coffee shop, and the same guy would make my coffee. He made a great cup, but that was his main goal: working at his craft as best he could. He didn’t want to try to franchise his shop and take over the world. I call that “classical shopkeeping,” and that’s how I like to look at District Vision. Our primary goal is to make the best product we possibly can.

Now that you’re in the business of running, how do you ensure that running remains a personal passion, as well? Do you separate it from your work on the brand?

TD: That’s the struggle when your passion becomes work. What we’ve realized over the last 10 years running half marathons, marathons, and trail ultramarathons while operating a business in that same domain was the importance of staying true to the roots of why we started running: because it was fun and because it was a journey of progression. We allowed our personal relationships with the sport to remain fluid. We chose to see how running could serve us in the present moment instead of putting rigidity and standards on it.

MV: I’ve gotten into surfing, yoga, dancing, and many different practices. They all start feeling fresh, playful, and exciting, but with time you want to be good at it. And that’s where the ego snaps in. You go from that child discovering something for the first time to a competitive teenager, and then after a while, you realize that mindset defeats the whole purpose of the activity. I’m not against competition, but I think you want to be mindful of where in your life you want to compete and where you want to play. So, I think I’ll compete in the business sector and approach running as play and open-ended research.