If you don’t know Ritual Vision, here’s the crash course. It’s a burgeoning eyewear brand cofounded last year by distinguished Australian freesurfers Harry Bryant, Noa Deane and Mikey Wright. The brand’s marketing is a unique blend of punk rock, counter-culture and raw meat delivery, which should tap straight into the memory banks of anyone who read ‘90s surf mags. Interestingly, the style has resonated with the younger generation and has amassed a huge following from Australian groms, who cleared out Ritual’s stock in the first quarter.
The man behind marketing is the ageless Dion Agius, the Tasmanian freesurfer who starred in seminal surf films like Modern Collective (2009) and Lost Atlas (2011) and memorable edits like “Electric Blue Heaven”, “Dark Hollow”, and “The Smiling Bag.” In 2012, he co-founded Epokhe, another sunglass company, with filmmaker Kai Neville. But under Dion’s vision as creative director, Ritual Vision is a whole different trip.
It’s a cliche, but this is a brand by surfers, for surfers. Their board meetings take place on surfboards. But that’s not to say they skimp on the product. Quite the opposite, in fact. They have to hold up for road warriors like Harry, Mikey and Noa. The frames are made from injection-molded recycled polycarbonate, which Dion says makes for a more sturdy, robust and heat-resistant product.
“I’ve worked in sunnies for the last 14 years,” Dion said. “One of the main issues with acetate frames (a bio polymer derived from wood) is twisting and warping from heat. We found that if you’re in the sun or at the beach or sunnies on the dash, they’re easy to warp when they heat up. With this form of injection molding, you don’t get that. They’re stronger and more robust and you can bring the price down on the manufacturing.
“The whole reason for the brand is to exist in an affordable space,” Dion continued. “Sunnies have been pretty expensive for a long time. We want to make it easier for groms and give people a more affordable option if they want it.”
Related: Watch: 35 Minutes of Unhinged “Motel Hell” Surf Stories From Harry Bryant
This weekend, Ritual officially made its product available in the United States. In conjunction with that news, the company announced its newest team rider: the inimitable Mason Ho. It’s a mic-drop of a welcome video, featuring some of the craziest and most Mason-like waves from the past four years. Dion and co hoped to sign Mason from the start, but had to wait while he sorted out his sponsorship contracts. Now, they’ve added one of the most viewed surfers on the planet to the roster.
“I’ve known Mason for a long time, but have gotten to know him better over the last few years,” Dion said. “He’s one of those guys who seems to be everyone’s favorite surfer. At the beginning of Ritual Vision, there was a lot of talk about what the dream team could be. For all of us, Mason was at the top of the list.”
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At the end of the day, that stacked list exists to benefit the everyday surfer. That’s because film and video are a key pillar of Ritual Vision’s ethos. Under the astute eye of Wade Carroll (“Saturn”, “Repeater”, “Idiot Box”), the team is curating clips for a feature-length movie, Ritualistic Tendencies, that will debut this November. Dion said with luck, they could do screenings in Australia and the United States.
“It’s ambitious, but every year we’re going to try to release a film,” he said. “That’s essentially the backbone of the company. All of us traveling, on the road shooting. At the end of the year, we want to have a film we can premiere in surf shops and car parks. It’s about keeping that spirit of surf and surf films alive.”