Smart specs finally fashionable
Dior, Fendi eyewear maker branches out into tech category where Google failed
Safilo Group, the eyewear company that makes frames for Dior, Fendi and Hugo Boss, is looking to succeed in a high-tech category where even Google has struggled: smart glasses.
With the help of technology developed by a Toronto-based company, the Italian company is debuting a set of Internet-connected spectacles next month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Unlike Google Glass, a product that was discontinued last year, the Safilo frames won’t have a camera or display — they’ll just look like regular glasses.
The Safilo product also will have more limited functions, for now. It will mainly measure brainwaves and send the data to an app installed on a smartphone or tablet. The idea is to let people assess their moods, helping them relax and meditate. Additional features will be added over time, chief executive officer Luisa Delgado said in an interview.
But the main selling point may be that Safilo specs won’t make the wearer look like a cyborg. The glasses, under Safilo’s sports eyewear brand Smith, are fashionable enough for everyday use, so they’ll appeal to a broad set of consumers rather than “a few geeks,” she said.
But the smart glasses industry has a mixed track record. The Google Glass prototype was phased out in January 2015 after drawing ridicule for its clunky camera — as well as privacy concerns about surreptitious video.
Another take on the idea has fared better, especially this holiday season. Snap Inc.’s Spectacles, which are mainly to shoot 10-second videos and upload them to the Snapchat app, have largely sold out since they debuted in November.
If high-tech glasses catch on, they could follow the same path as smart- watches. But unlike with smartwatches, it’s been difficult to make high-tech glasses palatable to mainstream consumers, according to Ramon Llamas, an analyst at International Data Corp. Virtual-reality goggles are popular for gamers, but many spectacles on the market today aren’t suitable to wear outside the house, he said.
Glasses with a camera or computer attached have “a certain creepiness factor,” Llamas said. Delgado chose Toronto-based startup InteraXon to help develop the new glasses. The eyewear, in development for a year, works the same as the Canadian company’s existing $250 flagship product, the Muse Headband.
It relies on electroencephalogy technology, which doctors and scientists use to detect brain signals. Five sensors — placed on the nose bridge and behind the ears — are embedded in the frame.
The spectacles, which weigh about 37 grams, will be sold online next summer in the U.S. The product will debut in sunglass form before being available in prescription eyewear.
Safilo — which ranks third in the eyewear industry, behind Luxottica and Essilor — is looking to technology to help perk up sales. Delgado, a veteran of Procter & Gamble Co., has been working to turn around the company since joining in 2013.
“This is just the start,” she said. “Technology has to play a totally different role.”