Our Story
DEAR LEADER is a unique eyewear brand, who produce high-quality, handcrafted sunglasses with a purpose. By combining fashion with activism, the brand utilises design as a medium through which to promote freedom around the world as a basic human right, and support individuals and organisations working towards a free world.
Our first point of interest and where the inspiration for the project came from, is North Korea. In 2006, founder and film director Johan Stahl, visited the country twice while filming ‘The Red Chapel’ (Sundance Winner 2010).
Notoriously considered to be the world’s most isolated country and as a result labelled ‘The Hermit Kingdom”, North Korea is what many people would consider to be the epitome of a human rights crisis. With little or no access to information and knowledge of the outside world due to strict limitations by the regime, the mission of helping North Koreans to “see” better, began.
