As fashion editors, it’s our job to notice when something starts popping up, and that’s what happened with the luxury eyewear brand Side Eye. I first heard about it through a PR contact, who invited me to the launch event this past May for a look at their first collection. Since then, in less than a year from its start, I’ve watched them rapidly grow.
First, my colleague, associate features editor Ana Escalante, sent me a link to their sporty 223 Butler St sunglasses at the end of May saying: “Your vibe.” Little did I know how much I’d continue to see them from that point on. Next, I saw Senior Fashion Editor Anna LaPlaca wearing the exact same ones at the office. As I followed Side Eye on Instagram over the past few months, I quickly realized their growing popularity, particularly among celebrities, with posts of Laura Harrier and Vittoria Ceretti. Then, this month, Kendall Jenner and Kaia Gerber were each spotted in the Butler pair, and this past Wednesday, Bella Hadid wore another style called 1225 Madison Ave, adding to their growing list of fans.
The co-founders behind the label, Leila Merz and Athina Rickmers, met while studying at Columbia Business School, where they identified a gap in the market: where was the in-between of low-quality, mass-market options and overpriced, logo-driven luxury brands? It was that question that made them decide to create their own line based on timeless design, craftsmanship, and fair pricing.
Below, see my conversation with Merz and Rickmers, and shop the sunglasses.
What were each of your backgrounds and trajectories leading up to Side Eye, and how did you get interested in sunglasses?
Leila Merz: Athina and I met on the subway, on the first day of orientation day at Columbia Business School. I had worked in tech at Amazon and T-Mobile before and always felt drawn to the world of fashion. We became friends immediately and quickly realized that we both had a great passion for sunglasses. They’re a relatively small investment, yet have such an impact to completely change your look, your mood, and sense of confidence. You put on a pair and immediately feel like a different version of yourself.
Athina Rickmers: My background is strategy consulting. I had worked out of Stockholm before across different Industries and learned how to use creativity to reinvent business models and products. I’d always wanted to build something of my own, and I’ve always been visually driven, drawn to fashion and branding. Sunglasses felt like the perfect product because they’re both—deeply personal and incredibly expressive. Often the very first thing people notice about someone. Yet it felt like there was still a real space in-between inexpensive, trend-led, mass-market eyewear (often made in China) and traditional luxury brands with huge markups driven largely by the licensed logo. Leila and I saw an opportunity to create something more personally and beautifully made, distinctive, and luxurious, without the conventional luxury markup.
I’d love to hear more about starting Side Eye.
LM: We came from different professional backgrounds, but connected immediately over a shared love of fashion, a similar sense of humor, similar ambitions, and a common perspective on style and branding. We kept coming back to the same question: why do so many beautifully designed products either come at inaccessible prices with big logos, or compromise on quality? The idea for Side Eye grew naturally out of our friendship. We kept returning to the idea of building something that reflected how we wanted to live and work—seriously ambitious, but never taking ourselves too seriously.
AR: The name captured that mindset perfectly. Side Eye is about doing your own thing, pursuing what you believe in, and giving negativity and outside noise a side eye rather than your energy. It was a phrase and an attitude between us long before it became a brand. Once we started looking closely at eyewear, we realized there was a genuine gap in the market. We wanted the quality, craftsmanship, and feeling of a luxury frame, but with more transparency and a more honest price. As we mentioned, sunglasses have the power to transform your look—so you don’t just want to own one pair, you want several—but that shouldn’t mean compromising on quality. From there, we started speaking with designers and travelled to Italy to speak to independent Italian manufacturers, learning every part of the process, and slowly turning the idea into a real brand.
What are some of your references and inspirations for the brand and designs? Could you give an in-depth overview of your process?
LM: Our references come from a lot of places such as archival fashion imagery, cinema, vintage photography, and of course the people and places we see around New York. We’re drawn to men and women who have a very individual sense of style, people who might pair something polished with something unexpected, and never look overly styled. We’re not interested in designing around a single micro-trend. We look for shapes that feel familiar but have something slightly unusual about them, whether that’s the proportion, the thickness of the acetate, the angle of the lens, or a subtle detail in the silhouette.
AR: New York is always our starting point. The city is full of contrasts—polished and raw, nostalgic and forward-looking, understated and theatrical—and we try to capture some of that tension in every design. Our process is very collaborative. It often begins with a feeling or a person rather than a technical sketch—how we want someone to feel when they put on the frame, and where we imagine them wearing it. From there, we gather references and work closely with our designer to translate that mood into a silhouette. We refine every element through multiple rounds of drawings, prototypes, and fittings, and pay particular attention to proportion, because a difference of just a few millimeters can completely change how a frame sits on the face. Then we work with independent Italian artisans on the acetate, lenses, construction, and finishing. Quality is one of the most crucial values to us, central to the whole process: the frames are handmade in Italy, and we use Zeiss lenses. The aim is to create pieces that feel distinctive immediately, but remain relevant long after a particular season.
Each of the frames is named after a New York address, referencing your favorite places and creating a sort of map around the city. Can you share the significance behind each one?
LM: The addresses turn the collection into a personal map of New York. Each one is tied to a memory—a friendship between Athina and me, a formative period, a nostalgic moment, or simply a feeling we associate with a particular part of the city. Most of the time, they’re not the obvious, hyped spots—more our own side-eye tips. We loved the idea that each frame could carry a small piece of our New York story, rather than just being given an arbitrary product name.
AR: Each address has its own character, reflected in the frame: 141 Waverly Place is the coffee shop where we first had the idea to actually build Side Eye, on the iconic bench outside, where we’d spend hours planning out our work together. It was our first design, and part of our limited-edition collection: bold, glamorous, and slightly nostalgic, so the address felt like a natural match. 52 Grove Street is tied to our Friday-night aperitivo before heading out. It captures the intimate, timeless feeling of the West Village, and became the name for a frame that feels classic but still very current. 223 Butler Street represents our nights out in Brooklyn, the only commute either of us thinks is worth making. The frame is confident, strong, and a little more directional, reflecting the energy we associate with that part of Brooklyn. 1225 Madison Avenue is tied to our Sunday ritual, commuting all the way uptown for our favorite frozen yogurt, rain or shine, regardless of the season. It’s something we looked forward to every week. The frame has a polished, elegant quality that reflects that more refined, uptown side of New York. As the collection grows, the map will keep expanding, with places that mean something to us and to the wider Side Eye community, and a way to keep sharing our tips with them.
If you had to describe the style of each pair, or the person who might wear each one, what would you say?
LM: We never want to prescribe exactly who should wear a frame. What we love is seeing the same pair interpreted completely differently by different people. That said, each style does have its own personality.
AR: 141 Waverly Place is bold, glamorous, and unapologetic. It has a cinematic quality, for someone who enjoys making an entrance. 52 Grove is timeless, effortless, and quietly confident. An everyday frame for someone whose style feels natural rather than overly considered. 223 Butler Street is black tie or a night out, either works. Strong, modern, and slightly edgy, for someone with an individual point of view who isn’t afraid of a more directional silhouette. 1225 Madison Avenue is polished, elegant, refined and maybe a little dramatic. Uptown in feeling, but with enough character to keep it from tipping into traditional.
I’d love to hear more about the designer you work with. I think you mentioned that they had previously been at Tom Ford?
LM: We work closely with Marco Benetti, who was actually the very first designer of Tom Ford Eyewear. That experience gave him an exceptional understanding of proportion, construction, and the small details that make a frame feel truly luxurious.
AR: What makes the relationship work so well is that it’s genuinely collaborative. Leila and I bring the concept, the frame shape, the lens tint, the brand world, the customer perspective, the references, the emotional direction and Marco brings deep technical knowledge of eyewear design. Our ideas aren’t simply handed over to be executed. We go back and forth on every detail, from the initial silhouette and lens shape to the thickness of the acetate and how the frame sits on the face. Combined with the expertise of our independent Italian manufacturers, that collaboration lets us create something with the quality and precision of traditional luxury eyewear, while still feeling unmistakably Side Eye.
What is the best piece of advice you received, or the most important thing you learned, at Columbia Business School?
LM: One of the most valuable lessons was that you rarely feel completely ready before starting something important. At a certain point, you have to move past analysis, trust your judgment, and learn by doing. Building Side Eye alongside the MBA made that lesson very real.
AR: For me, it was learning that the people you build with matter just as much as the idea itself. Columbia gave us frameworks for strategy and finance, but its greatest impact was bringing Leila and me together. It also taught me to get more comfortable asking for help, whether from the community of students and faculty around us, or from industry leaders in New York’s fashion world. So much of building a company depends on relationships, generosity, and being willing to admit what you don’t yet know.
Which pair of your sunglasses would you say is the most “you”?
LM: For both of us, we wear every frame in rotation—but we each go through phases with our favorites. For me, it’s 223 Butler. I love it because I can wear it running or with a black-tie dress—it’s that versatile. It’s the pair I put on without thinking, and it still gives every outfit a point of view.
AR: I’d choose 1225 Madison Avenue, because it’s so classy but still cool. I tend to gravitate toward frames that feel timeless at first glance but have something a little unexpected about them. That balance feels very me, and very Side Eye.
You’ve had quite a few celebrity fans so early on, from Kaia Gerber to Kendall Jenner. How has it felt seeing your pieces on them, and how did that come about?
LM: It’s been surreal. We’re still such a young brand, so seeing someone we admire choose to wear one of our designs is incredibly validating. The most exciting part is that the frames don’t disappear on the person wearing them—they become part of that person’s own style.
AR: A lot of those moments have come through a combination of relationships, stylist pulls, and organic discovery. We love working with stylists, because their feedback and direction mean a great deal to us. Seeing people like Kaia Gerber and Kendall Jenner wearing Side Eye has been a genuine “is this really happening?” moment. But beyond the visibility, it’s meaningful because these are women with access to virtually every eyewear brand in the world, knowing they chose ours gives us enormous motivation. It’s also introduced Side Eye to people who might never have discovered us otherwise, which can make a real difference for an independent brand at our stage.
Is there anything you can share about what’s coming up next for the brand?
LM: We’re focused on growing thoughtfully. That means expanding the collection without losing the clarity of the brand, continuing to work with exceptional Italian manufacturers, and developing new silhouettes that add something genuinely different to the current range. We’re also building Side Eye’s physical presence through carefully selected retail partners, pop-ups, and experiences in New York, Europe, and other key markets. Community will remain a major focus for us, we want people to experience Side Eye as more than an eyewear label, and we believe that’s something missing from the landscape right now. Bringing the community together is a big part of that too. There are new addresses, new colorways, and collaborations in development, but we want every release to feel intentional. The long-term vision is to build a global eyewear brand rooted in New York: beautifully made, culturally relevant, and confident without ever taking itself too seriously and never losing its focus on quality.
Shop Side Eye Sunglasses
223 BUTLER ST
1225 MADISON AVE
141 WAVERLY PL
52 GROVE ST
