In the beginning it was

The name

For quite a few years, friends operating in the sector asked us to organize an eyewear event in accordance with their specific project. The opportunity to do this came in 2013 but a right name was necessary, one that would be relevant vis-a-vis our work but was not so explicit as to include the word ‘eyewear’. That year we did some research on young movements in Asia and Toshiyuki Araoka, an optician friend in Tokyo, told us about a movement that was gaining in popularity in Japan: DA-TE, which means “fashion eyewear, without prescription”. We had the brainwave. Which name could be more suitable? So DaTE was born, an exhibition/fair with a very peculiar soul.