Breezm opens smart factory in Seongsu to craft custom-fit glasses
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Breezm opens smart factory in Seongsu to craft custom-fit glasses
Breezm expands global push with Seongsu smart factory and New York store ahead of US iPhone app launch
Seongsu has emerged as a battleground for “K-eyewear,” as a variety of brands and eyewear select shops, including Gentle Monster and Blue Elephant, have clustered there. We will use Breezm Foundry Seongsu as a base to accelerate our expansion into the global market.
Park Hyeong-jin, co-CEO of Coptik, which operates the personal eyewear brand “Breezm,” said this at a media briefing held on the 25th in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, to mark the opening of “breezm Foundry Seongsu.” Breezm, a 3D eyewear startup, is a glasses brand based on 3D face scanning, 3D printing technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) big data recommendations.
The exterior of Breezm Foundry Seongsu. /Courtesy of Jeong Jae-hwon, Reporter
Breezm began its business in Dec. 2018 by opening its first offline store in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Since then, it has continued to grow, reaching a cumulative 80,000 customers and 35 billion won in cumulative sales through Jul. this year. Park said, “Everyone’s face is different, but we are still forcing faces into standardized glasses made at factories. Starting from that question, we launched Breezm with the goal of creating the world’s first personalized glasses.”
Breezm operates one offline store in New York, United States, along with 13 locations in Korea including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Busan. Breezm Foundry Seongsu, which opened as the 14th domestic store that day, relocated in its entirety the polymer frame production facility previously in Indeokwon, Anyang, Gyeonggi, and built it into a two-story, urban smart factory. The first floor houses the frame manufacturing space, a store, and a showroom, and the second floor is set up as office space.
Customers who visit the site can not only purchase products in the store but also directly observe the process inside the building in which an industrial 3D printer outputs frames and, after post-processing, completes them as finished goods. In the showroom, even without purchasing a product, visitors can experience a personalized eyewear buying journey through face 3D scanning, AI-based style recommendations, and augmented reality (AR) try-on.
Seong U-seok, co-CEO of Coptic, introduces the 3D printing production facility inside the Breezm Seongsu Foundry store. /Courtesy of Jeong Jae-hwon, Reporter
Breezm operates its stores by reservation. Customers spend about one hour in-store consulting with an optician to create personalized data through face data scanning and a vision test. That data then goes through a 3D printing process to become a physical product, which is delivered to the customer within 10 days.
Breezm offers about 80 eyewear designs and 10 colors, providing a wide range of choices. Frame prices range from 148,000 won to 218,000 won depending on materials and design.
Seong Woo-seok, co-CEO of Coptik, said, “Breezm Foundry Seongsu is a highly efficient smart factory that can produce 150,000 frames a year with just four people,” adding, “Because we use a ‘pre-order, post-production’ model, unlike conventional eyewear manufacturers, we do not end up with dead inventory.”
Breezm sold 30,000 frames last year, recording 10.8 billion won in revenue. This year’s expected sales volume is 50,000 units, with estimated revenue of about 15 billion won.
Breezm's first U.S. store opened in Manhattan, New York in March last year. /Courtesy of Coptic
Breezm’s target is the U.S. market. Park said, “The United States is home to a diverse mix of races, but only frames optimized for white people are distributed, causing significant inconvenience for consumers.”
Breezm opened a 50-pyeong store in the heart of Manhattan, New York, in Mar. last year. In Nov., it plans to launch an iPhone-only application (app) in the United States to enable customers to order glasses from home.
Park said, “Breezm Foundry Seongsu is a laboratory and a stage where the future of eyewear is crafted,” adding, “We will use this place as a base to accelerate our expansion into the global market.”
Breezm opens smart factory in Seongsu to craft custom-fit glasses
๐News Link(Click)
Breezm opens smart factory in Seongsu to craft custom-fit glasses
Breezm expands global push with Seongsu smart factory and New York store ahead of US iPhone app launch
Seongsu has emerged as a battleground for “K-eyewear,” as a variety of brands and eyewear select shops, including Gentle Monster and Blue Elephant, have clustered there. We will use Breezm Foundry Seongsu as a base to accelerate our expansion into the global market.
Park Hyeong-jin, co-CEO of Coptik, which operates the personal eyewear brand “Breezm,” said this at a media briefing held on the 25th in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, to mark the opening of “breezm Foundry Seongsu.” Breezm, a 3D eyewear startup, is a glasses brand based on 3D face scanning, 3D printing technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) big data recommendations.
Breezm began its business in Dec. 2018 by opening its first offline store in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Since then, it has continued to grow, reaching a cumulative 80,000 customers and 35 billion won in cumulative sales through Jul. this year. Park said, “Everyone’s face is different, but we are still forcing faces into standardized glasses made at factories. Starting from that question, we launched Breezm with the goal of creating the world’s first personalized glasses.”
Breezm operates one offline store in New York, United States, along with 13 locations in Korea including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Busan. Breezm Foundry Seongsu, which opened as the 14th domestic store that day, relocated in its entirety the polymer frame production facility previously in Indeokwon, Anyang, Gyeonggi, and built it into a two-story, urban smart factory. The first floor houses the frame manufacturing space, a store, and a showroom, and the second floor is set up as office space.
Customers who visit the site can not only purchase products in the store but also directly observe the process inside the building in which an industrial 3D printer outputs frames and, after post-processing, completes them as finished goods. In the showroom, even without purchasing a product, visitors can experience a personalized eyewear buying journey through face 3D scanning, AI-based style recommendations, and augmented reality (AR) try-on.
Breezm operates its stores by reservation. Customers spend about one hour in-store consulting with an optician to create personalized data through face data scanning and a vision test. That data then goes through a 3D printing process to become a physical product, which is delivered to the customer within 10 days.
Breezm offers about 80 eyewear designs and 10 colors, providing a wide range of choices. Frame prices range from 148,000 won to 218,000 won depending on materials and design.
Seong Woo-seok, co-CEO of Coptik, said, “Breezm Foundry Seongsu is a highly efficient smart factory that can produce 150,000 frames a year with just four people,” adding, “Because we use a ‘pre-order, post-production’ model, unlike conventional eyewear manufacturers, we do not end up with dead inventory.”
Breezm sold 30,000 frames last year, recording 10.8 billion won in revenue. This year’s expected sales volume is 50,000 units, with estimated revenue of about 15 billion won.
Breezm’s target is the U.S. market. Park said, “The United States is home to a diverse mix of races, but only frames optimized for white people are distributed, causing significant inconvenience for consumers.”
Breezm opened a 50-pyeong store in the heart of Manhattan, New York, in Mar. last year. In Nov., it plans to launch an iPhone-only application (app) in the United States to enable customers to order glasses from home.
Park said, “Breezm Foundry Seongsu is a laboratory and a stage where the future of eyewear is crafted,” adding, “We will use this place as a base to accelerate our expansion into the global market.”