Kering CEO Luca de Meo confirmed in April 2026 that Gucci will launch smart glasses with Google "probably 2027," running on Google's Android XR platform with Gemini handling the AI. Kering, the French parent of Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Bottega Veneta, first announced a deal with Google at Google I/O in May 2025 to develop AI-powered glasses across Kering Eyewear's brands. Gucci is the first brand they have committed to.

If it ships, Gucci would be the first true luxury house in a category that has spent two years proving consumers will buy smart glasses. EssilorLuxottica sold over 7 million Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses with Meta in 2025, more than tripling combined lifetime sales. Ray-Ban and Oakley are mainstream eyewear brands. Gucci is something else. The price almost certainly lands above the $379 to $499 Ray-Ban Meta range and probably above the $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display.

Gucci is not entering from a position of strength. Full-year 2025 revenue fell 22% to roughly €6 billion, down from over €10 billion in 2022. Creative director Sabato De Sarno was let go in February 2025, replaced by Demna from sister brand Balenciaga. Gucci's first collection under Demna only landed in late 2025, and the brand is still mid-turnaround. A 2027 smart glasses launch from a house this unstable is a real bet.

The smart glasses category has hit the point where mass-market eyewear brands are no longer enough. Meta and EssilorLuxottica solved the everyday-wearable problem with Ray-Ban. Samsung and Google solved the affordable-Android-alternative problem with Jinju. What is missing is the category for people who want technology hidden inside the kind of frames they would already pay $500 for as regular sunglasses. Gucci with Gemini is built to be that.

The 2027 smart glasses field is shaping up as a four-way fight. Ray-Ban Meta on its second generation. Samsung's Jinju from Android XR. Apple's first display-free glasses targeting late 2026 or early 2027. Gucci-Google entering that same window with luxury positioning none of the others can match.

If the product ships and Demna's redesigned Gucci is selling again, this could be the smart glass that breaks the category open beyond tech early adopters. If Gucci is still in turnaround mode in 2027, it will be a $1,000 fashion-tech experiment that nobody buys.