| Ditto | |
| Type: | Private |
| Founder: | Kate Endress, Sergey Surkov, Dmitry Kornilov |
| Location City: | Oakland, CA |
| Industry: | Software |
| Products: | Virtual try-on software |
Ditto (stylized as DITTO) was a company that sold software that enabled eyewear companies to sell their products online using virtual fitting. Originally Ditto was a retailer that sold designer prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses. The company was originally based in San Francisco, CA[1] before moving to Oakland, CA in 2018. It used virtual fitting technology to let customers try on eyeglass frames from a computer. The technology measured a customer's face by homing in on pupils, ears, cheekbones, ears and other facial landmarks, and then produced images of dozens of different pairs of glasses that might be a good fit.[2]
Ditto was founded in 2011 in Mountain View, CA by Kate Endress, Sergey Surkov, and Dmitry Kornilov.[3]
In April 2012, the company announced that it had picked up $3 million in funding from a group of investors led by August Capital.[4]
At the end of February 2017, Ditto sent an email to its customers explaining that its online eyewear e-commerce and eyewear distribution would be closing down.[5] They continued to license their virtual try-on technology to other eyewear retailers.
In 2021, the company was acquired by 1-800 Contacts and rebranded as Luna Solutions, LLC.[6]
Ditto's product line included prescription and non-prescription designer eyeglasses and sunglasses. The company carried brands such as Ray-Ban, Persol, Chloé, TAG Heuer, and Vera Wang, as well as niche fashion and boutique brands like Jason Wu, Selima Optique, Alain Mikli, Anglo American, and John Varvatos.[7]
In May 2013, Ditto was sued by 1-800 Contacts and Lennon Imaging Technology for patent infringement.[8]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation claimed that 1-800 Contacts abused patent law by acting like a patent troll in its lawsuit against Ditto. In a blog post, the EFF accused 1-800 Contacts of "leveraging the massive expense of patent litigation to squelch the competition"[9] and asked its followers to help Ditto by crowdsourcing prior art.
The lawsuit by Lennon Imaging Technologies was dismissed on October 7, 2013, without prejudice.[10]