The eyewear industry is still stuck in analog methods. Coptiq applied AI to digitize the entire process, from product design to production and sales.
Park Hyung-jin, head of Coptiq, which operates the custom eyewear brand "Breezm," sees the future of the eyewear industry in "personalization" and "digital transformation." Breezm is a corporations that combines AI face scans and 3D printing technology to make glasses optimized for each customer's face.
In a written interview with ChosunBiz, Park said, "What matters most to customers is glasses that fit their face exactly," adding, "We analyze faces with 3D scans, then AI recommends the designs that suit them best based on accumulated data, and we produce them with 3D printing."
Breezm's differentiating edge lies in personalized design. When customers visit a store, they go through face scanning, an eye exam, lens selection, and other steps over about an hour. Afterward, an avatar and a topographic map of the face are created, and AI analyzes the facial data to propose optimal eyewear design candidates.
Each person has a different face size, nose height, and even ear height on both sides. Conventional glasses struggle to fully reflect these aspects, but Breezm can design the bridge distance, nose pads, and frame structure for each individual. Comfort improves significantly, as does visual balance.
Production takes place at Breezm Foundry Seongsu, the company's in-house 3D-printing smart factory in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. It takes about a week from order to delivery. Prices range from the low 100,000 won to the mid-200,000 won.
Park picked SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won as a memorable customer. In 2019, early in the business, Chey visited the Yeoksam store in Seoul with his daughter to have her custom glasses made.
Coptiq now operates 16 stores nationwide, including in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Busan, and Daegu, and in Apr. 2024 opened its first overseas store in Manhattan, New York.
Park cited the U.S. market as the key stage for the company's future growth. "The U.S. eyewear market is about 100 trillion won, roughly 30 times Korea's. With diverse races coexisting, demand for custom glasses is higher than for standardized ones. That's why Breezm is getting a good response in the U.S."
Since opening, the New York store has steadily recorded average monthly sales of about 70 million won. A mobile application was also launched for U.S. consumers. In the U.S., online eyewear sales are allowed, so customers can scan their faces with an iPhone and complete an order.
Park said, "Korea has traditionally had outstanding eyewear manufacturing capabilities, and it also has the strength of combining them with IT," adding, "We are targeting global markets by combining Korea's manufacturing competitiveness with digital technology."
The business is growing rapidly. Coptiq posted 12 billion won in sales last year and is aiming for 20 billion won this year. The cumulative amount raised so far totals about 20 billion won.
Park's challenge in the eyewear industry goes back 20 years. After graduating from Yonsei University School of Business, Park worked as a brand marketer at P&G Korea and in 2006 founded the fashion eyewear brand "ALO." In 2017, Park reentered the eyewear market by founding Coptiq with co-CEO Sung Woo-seok, a former accountant who handled investment bank M&A.
Breezm has recently drawn attention in global management circles. Last year, it was featured as a case of digital transformation in the eyewear industry in course materials for the executive program at Harvard Business School (HBS).
Park also outlined plans to enter the smart glasses market. Park said, "The smart glasses market is growing quickly," adding, "We already have a platform for making custom glasses, so we can collaborate with various smart glasses corporations."
Park went on, "We are working with a golf rangefinder corporations to release in the second half a smart glasses product that incorporates the Voice Caddie application's features," adding, "Going forward, glasses will evolve from simple vision aids into personalized digital devices."