Kering & Google launch AI glasses

It’s an alliance as surprising as it is strategic. Luxury goods giant Kering has teamed up with Google to design connected glasses with artificial intelligence. A world first for the American group, which abandoned its famous Google Glass a decade ago.

Kering Eyewear, pioneer of augmented luxury

Founded in 2014, Kering’s eyewear division has established a premium and creative vision, through brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent and Cartier. But today, with the support of Google, it’s moving into a completely different register: that of extended reality.

The next AI glasses, the fruit of this collaboration, will run on Android XR, the new operating system dedicated to augmented reality. They will also integrate Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, for real-time interaction with the environment. All this in models heralded as “elegant, intelligent and human”.

A break with the past… and a risky gamble

This is not Google’s first try. The Google Glass launched in 2012, then withdrawn from the market in 2015, remain a mixed memory. This partnership with Kering is therefore an attempt at a renaissance, this time based on a controlled and desirable design, thought out to be truly worn.

But no launch date has been revealed. And it remains a mystery which brands in the Kering portfolio will welcome this technological shift. Gucci? Balenciaga? Bottega Veneta? The announcement plays the teasing card, hinting at an aura of exclusivity.

Between Harvard and the Watch Valley of the future

With sales of 1.6 billion euros in 2024, Kering Eyewear confirms its solidity. What’s more, the company recently studied at Harvard, proof that its trajectory is intriguing. This foray into cutting-edge tech could well reinforce its status as the Kering Group’s innovation laboratory.

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