Google follows Meta’s lead in pairing Silicon Valley hardware with street-tested style through a $100 million deal with Gentle Monster.
Eyes may be the windows to the soul, but for Google they are fast becoming a portal to the next platform war. The tech group is finalizing a roughly $100 million (about €107 million) deal for a 4% stake in Seoul-born eyewear disruptor Gentle Monster, one month after announcing the label as a design partner for its Android XR initiative.
Founded in 2011 by Kim Hankook, Gentle Monster built its following on sculptural silhouettes and headline collaborations with houses such as Maison Margiela and Mugler; Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar and Billie Eilish all wear the brand’s oversized lenses. That cachet matters. Meta’s Ray-Ban tie-up has sold about two million units, so Google cannot risk another Google Glass mis-step. It is betting that the same cultural pull that fills K-pop arenas can sway early adopters in Soho and Shibuya.
The agreement, reported by The Korea Economic Daily, goes deeper than a white-label contract. Gentle Monster will steer the look of Google’s first Gemini-powered XR glasses, slated for 2026 and co-engineered with Samsung. Google supplies software muscle—AI agents, live translation and turn-by-turn directions—while the Korean label provides the silhouette that makes the hardware disappear. At this year’s I/O conference, CEO Sundar Pichai told developers that smart glasses should function as fashion items, helping users forget they’re wearing them.
Memory of 2013’s Google Glass still stings. Short battery life, overheating and a conspicuous camera turned that prototype into a privacy flashpoint. The difference today feels like trading a camcorder for a smartphone: AR components have shrunk, AI has accelerated and consumers now expect technology to blend in rather than stand out.
Market pressure is mounting. Last year Meta bought a 5 per cent slice of EssilorLuxottica and since expanded from Ray-Ban to Oakley Meta HSTN frames. Google reportedly courted the Italian giant, lost, and pivoted to its present partners—Gentle Monster, Warby Parker and, in future, Kering Eyewear.
For Gentle Monster, the minority investment stretches its reach from boutique fashion capitals to a global hardware rollout. It is the design equivalent of moving from an indie film festival to a Marvel budget—without sacrificing the quirks that draw a generation of selfie-literate shoppers.
What comes next will test whether Silicon Valley and Apgujeong-dong can co-write a style manual for spatial computing. If the alliance works, eyewear may be only the first chapter.
