EssilorLuxottica, the company behind popular Ray-Ban-branded eyewear, announced its extended partnership with Meta today. EssilorLuxottica started collaborating with Meta on smart glasses in 2019. Since then, both companies have released two generations of Ray-Ban-branded smart glasses. Today, EssilorLuxottica announced that it has signed a new long-term agreement with Meta to develop multi-generational smart eyewear products.
Both companies will bring their industry expertise to create a new wave of smart glasses. EssilorLuxottica will leverage its industry know-how and its global network of retail and wholesale locations, whereas Meta will contribute its expertise in technology.
EssilorLuxottica claims that Ray-Ban Meta glasses are now a mainstream product and are widely available in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and many European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Sweden.
Francesco Milleri, Chairman and CEO of EssilorLuxottica, said:
"Over the past six decades, EssilorLuxottica has led the transformation and modernization of the eyewear and eyecare industry, positioning itself among the world’s leading innovators. We invest hundreds of millions every year in R&D to create products that improve the quality of life for billions of people and impact how they see the world and each other. The incredible work we’ve done with Meta, still in its early stages, has already proven to be an important milestone in our journey to making glasses the gateway to the connected world. I would like to thank the EssilorLuxottica team and our Chief Wearables Officer Rocco Basilico, together with the Meta team, for the great job done. We look forward to continuing to chart the future of the category together."
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Meta, said:
"I"m proud of the work we"ve done with EssilorLuxottica so far, and I"m excited about our long-term roadmap ahead. We have the opportunity to turn glasses into the next major technology platform and make it fashionable in the process."
Over the past few months, Meta has been releasing regular updates to the Ray-Ban Meta glasses to bring new experiences to customers. A new update in June added video recording support for up to 3 minutes, support for Calm, Amazon Music, and more. In September, Meta said it would be possible to capture and upload completely hands-free content to Facebook Story.
Ray-Ban Meta glasses customers can expect more updates in the coming months with several such improvements.