MILAN — In a significant new growth for Kering Eyewear, the corporate revealed on Tuesday that it has inked a partnership with Google for the event of AI-powered glasses with Android XR.
“We’re honored to share the values of innovation and ahead pondering with Google, and we’re proud to associate with them to discover new horizons for the long run growth of our firm,” mentioned Roberto Vedovotto, founder, president and chief government officer of Kering Eyewear. “Collectively, we’re shaping a product that folks will wish to put on: a pair of masterfully designed, high-quality, trendy glasses that unlock the potential of synthetic intelligence, whereas redefining the way in which of interacting with each the actual and digital worlds.”
Aimed toward seamlessly integrating into on a regular basis life, the good eyewear will characteristic intuitive, personalised AI-driven features enabling customers to interact with their atmosphere in new and significant methods.
“We’ve all the time believed in mixing cutting-edge know-how with nice consumer experiences,” mentioned Shahram Izadi, normal supervisor and vp of XR at Google. “Integrating our immersive XR platform with Kering Eyewear’s glasses will give shoppers the style and performance to get essentially the most out of Android XR.”
A exact timing of the launch will not be but accessible.
Based in 2014, Kering Eyewear was a pioneer in altering the enterprise mannequin for luxurious teams with regard to the eyewear class, straying from the well-trodden licensing enterprise mannequin. It has grown to provide and distribute collections for 14 manufacturers, together with Gucci, Cartier, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Chloé, Alexander McQueen, Montblanc, Dunhill, Alaïa and Puma. It additionally owns manufacturers Lindberg, Maui Jim and Zeal Optics.
In April, Kering Eyewear inked an settlement to accumulate Italian eyewear producers Visard and Mistral, as reported. The 2 corporations have been strategic companions of Kering Eyewear since its basis in 2014 and this operation will permit the corporate to additional strengthen its place within the business and to advance its industrial growth.
In 2024, Kering Eyewear reached report income of 1.6 billion euros, a 6 % enhance on 2023 on a comparable foundation. It reported recurring working revenue of 277 million euros, and a margin of 17.5 % on gross sales.
The collaboration with Google marks a brand new chapter in design good glasses as it’s going to leverage the eyewear experience of the Italy-based firm and Google’s revolutionary technological improvements inside prolonged actuality.
Though tech corporations have been fairly prolific on this subject, with Snap launching its Spectacles digicam glasses that counted a high-end trend collaboration with Gucci, unveiled in 2019, and Bose introducing Frames, embedded with an open-ear audio formulation, for instance, fashion-leaning eyewear gamers have stayed quieter. A couple of exceptions embody Ray-Ban Tales, a joint effort of the EssilorLuxottica-owned model and Meta, and South Korean buzzy label Light Monster’s related eyewear developed in tandem with Huawei.
In September, EssilorLuxottica mentioned it had prolonged its partnership with Meta Platforms with the goal of constructing on the success of its Ray-Ban Meta good glasses to develop the subsequent era of good eyewear merchandise.
The 2 corporations initially joined forces in 2019.
The second iteration of Ray-Ban good glasses permit wearers to make telephone calls, seize and share images and movies, take heed to music and livestream content material to Fb and Instagram. Meta lately launched an AI assistant for shoppers within the U.S. and Canada.
In September 2023, Safilo launched a brand new high-tech Carrera mannequin in partnership with Amazon, outfitted with good options courtesy of Alexa, the latter firm’s digital assistant know-how, dropping solely within the U.S.
