Breezm lands in US with plan to open 100 stores in 5 years

Breezm, a South Korean startup making customized eyeglasses with artificial intelligence and 3D technologies, has opened its first offshore store in New York, with a grand plan to operate 100 stores across the US in five years, its chief said on Tuesday.

“The US eyewear market is estimated at 100 trillion won ($74 billion) but it is hard for many people with diverse ethnic backgrounds in the country to find the right glasses with a perfect fit,” Park Hyung-jin, Breezm’s chief executive officer, said after the opening of its first US branch in New York.

“We will repeat the glory days of Korea as the world’s second-largest exporter of eyeglasses with our distinctive customized glasses crafted by 3D printing and AI technologies.”

To meet the goals, the Korean eyewear company plans to open a total of 100 stores across the US in five years following its advance into the market and officially launch a mobile app for the market to enable its US customers to order customized glasses in the latter half of this year.

PERFECT FIT CRAFTED WITH AI AND 3D TECHNOLOGIES

Visitors to Breezm’s first offshore store located near Bryant Park and Times Square in the New York City borough of Manhattan will be able to buy custom-fit eyeglass frames crafted by 3D modeling and printing technologies at $298 per basic pair, similar to the average price of frames in the country.  

The Korean eyeglass company quickly penetrated the Korean eyewear market since the opening of its first brick-and-mortar lab in 2018 thanks to its bespoke designs and services tailored to different users.

Breezm operates 10 stores in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.

To get custom-fit frames, its patron should make an appointment to visit a specific Breezm store such as the New York branch, and then have 3D scans at the shop to customize the frames with finetuned bridge and ear level settings, as well as end pieces and nose pads.

The company uses AI technology to analyze facial and optical measurements and 3D technologies to scan, model and produce frames to ensure a perfect fit.

Thanks to customized 3D printing, it also significantly reduces the waste of raw materials used to produce eyewear frames, according to the company.

Breezm has so far raised 9.9 billion won in total funding from investors, including Smilegate Investment and Korea Development Bank, since its founding in 2016, according to Seoul-based startup investment data platform The VC.

Write to Kang-Ho Jang at callme@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.