Mark Zuckerberg Seeks to Become Part Owner of Supreme

Meta is getting real about its apparel aspirations.

Staying Fresh

Some of you may have noticed that this year Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who for ages exclusively wore the same combination of a gray T-shirt and blue jeans, suddenly took a keen interest in dressing in swanky, hip outfits.

Well, we now have another big Zuckerberg fashion development, and this time it expands beyond his personal taste in wardrobe. The Financial Times reports that Meta is in talks with the European eyewear corporation EssilorLuxottica, in a deal that could see the tech giant own a small but significant stake in the company that owns huge fashion brands like Ray-Ban — and, after closing a deal to acquire it this week, the streetwear staple Supreme.

As it stands, Meta is seeking a five percent stake in EssilorLuxottica worth around $5 billion, with the Italian-French group being valued at a total $95 billion.

Cool Factor

Meta and EssilorLuxottica have already been bedfellows. The two corporations collabed to launch a line of "Ray-Ban Meta" smart glasses last year, as part of Meta's big push into the wearable tech market.

The Ray-Ban Meta glasses are a followup to a previous version of smart shades that resoundingly flopped. This time around, Meta seriously upped its game by adding a camera capable of livestreaming video in 1080p and by boosting the quality of calls and all-around audio. Its other big selling point was integration with Meta AI, the company's conversational chatbot, though reviewers at the time felt underwhelmed by its capabilities.

The glasses haven't taken the world by storm — and neither company is in this arrangement anticipating immediate big profits — but according to EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri, they've already exceeded expectations, selling more in a few months than the last generation did in its entire two-year run.

By latching on to the fashion cred of EssilorLuexottica's brands, Meta could continue to carve out a real market for wearable smart tech — and maybe shake off the dorkiness of other AR and VR gadgets offered by competitors like Apple.

Glasses Houses

According to The Verge, it's looking likely that Meta will go through with the acquisition. There could be a last-minute upset in the cards, however, as Google has reportedly also approached EssilorLuxottica about a collaboration involving its Gemini AI.

This wouldn't directly interfere with Meta's plans, but it could put pressure on the company and take away from some of the visibility around its acquisition.

Still, Meta won't be letting Google's meddling take the wind out of its sails. Per The Wall Steet Journal's coverage of the deal, Zuckerberg's company expects to release a third-generation of smart Ray-Ban glasses by the 2025 holiday season. And by then — and with all the fashion brands Meta might gobble up — who knows what kind of wacky items Zuckerberg might be flaunting.

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