Meta Considers Buying 5% Stake in Sunglass Maker EssilorLuxottica

Could Meta be moving into the world of fashion?

I mean, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has certainly made an effort to become more fashionable of late, and with its Ray Ban Stories glasses becoming a more in-demand accessory, it’s not so hard to imagine a future where Meta could also be a fashion brand in itself.

Well, maybe.

Late last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta is in talks to acquire a 5% stake in EssilorLuxottica, the company behind those very Ray Ban sunglasses.

EssilorLuxottica, whom Meta has been working with on Ray Ban Stories for the past few years, owns various fashion brands, in addition to Ray Ban, including Oakley and Sunglass Hut, and as such, the investment here is viewed as a means to fend off competition in the accelerating wearable spaces, by ensuring that Meta remains the only partner for EssilorLuxottica’s design IP and distribution.

According to WSJ, the deal would be worth around $US5 billion, adding to Meta’s bottom line for its metaverse development.

And that could be a smart move. Meta says that demand for Ray Ban Stories is exceeding production capacity, and with the company also looking to showcase its fully AR enabled sunglasses later this year, securing its partnership with the sunglass maker could help to solidify a key advantage, in making both functional and fashionable devices.

But there may also be another element to this proposed partnership which hasn’t been as widely discussed as yet.

Another fashion brand that EssilorLuxottica now owns is Supreme, the trend leading fashion brand that’s gained big traction via a range of high profile customers.

EssilorLuxxotica acquired Supreme earlier this month, flagging a move into other areas of fashion, which could also play a part in Meta’s move to take up a stake in the company.

Of course, the AR wearables angle is the most logical, and most immediate partnership between the two. But what if Meta also partnered with Supreme on limited edition fashion drops, facilitated exclusively on Facebook and IG?

Would that help to make Meta’s apps cool again? It would certainly bring a crowd, and what if Meta looked to release a Supreme version of its Quest headset?

There’s a range of ways in which this could lead to a broader fashion crossover between Meta and Supreme, in addition to its investment in the future of its AR glasses.

It’s all speculative right now, with no official confirmation of Meta buying a stake in the company. But you can see a potential roadmap for a future ramping towards making Meta’s apps cool again, with a longer-term view to building the metaverse into the destination to virtually hang out.

As such, there could be more at play here than AR glasses alone, as Meta considers how to ensure that its future projects remain the popular choice among younger audiences.