Gentle Monster

, Seoul Gentle Monster employs 6 people to design its eyewear products and 60 people to design the store visuals. Its products are exhibited like museum pieces in "an immersive and experiential offline shopping experience." Each store's goal is to mimic a contemporary gallery containing life-sized objects and sculptures. One of the London stores is Kung Fu-themed, with robots that perform martial arts movements. Gentle Monster's first store in Korea features a lifesize ship. ==History==

Serial entrepreneur Jae Wook Oh invested about $100,000 in 2012 and Gentle Monster began producing frames in Daegu, which had been a manufacturing hub for Luxottica, and China, since acetate frames are illegal to produce in South Korea. The brand's designs favor oversized frames that are much larger than those by Western brands because its Asian clientele prefer frames that create the image of a smaller face. In 2013 and 2014, Korean actress Jun Ji-hyun wore Gentle Monster lenses on My Love From the Star, which increased the brand's exposure to a mainstream audience. French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH invested $60 million for a 7% stake in the company in September 2017. == Pricing ==

On average, a pair of sunglasses or glasses ranges from $200 to $300 depending on frames, lenses, and prescription. Prices do fluctuate and can be as high as $500. == Marketing and collaborations ==

wearing Gentle Monster sunglasses Items are all limited edition. Once sold out, restocks or repeat items are not guaranteed. Gentle Monster has collaborated with a variety of designers and celebrities over the years to produce special collections. In 2016, the brand partnered with Danish designer Henrik Vibskov, Hood by Air, and Opening Ceremony. That year also saw a collaboration with Dutch furniture designer Marcel Wanders, the founder of Moooi, In 2018, the brand collaborated on the Burning Planet exhibition with South Korean rapper Song Mino of Winner. The following year, Gentle Monster released smartglasses in collaboration with Chinese technology company Huawei. and the Canadian former rapper Kris Wu for the release of the Gentle Wu collection. The brand has since released two more collections with Kim, in 2022 (Jentle Garden) In 2023, the brand collaborated with Chinese singer Cai Xukun to release his Crystal Clear collection. An event app was developed for the collaboration which was available in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Dubai, Singapore, Japan, and the United States, with pop-ups organised in Shanghai and Beijing. In 2024, Gentle Monster collaborated with French luxury fashion house Maison Margiela on the "2024 Maison Margiela x Gentle Monster" collection. The same year, Gentle Monster collaborated with the video game Tekken 8, launching the "Gentle Monster x Tekken 8" collection inspired by characters from the game. In 2025, the brand collaborated with Bratz featuring Aespa's Karina. The pocket collection included 21 designs with one collaborative eyepiece accompanied by a custom Bratz doll. To celebrate the collection, the brand opened up pop-up stores in 4 cities: Los Angeles, Seoul, Shanghai, and Bangkok, from May to October. In 2026, the Circuit collection was released, formed through a collaboration between the brand with Disney and Formula One. 8 frames were designed incorporating characters such as Mickey Mouse with the aesthetic of race cars. Two pop-ups were organised in the Haus Nowhere spaces of Seoul and Shanghai from March to May to promote the collection. Additional collaborations include, but are not limited to the video games Overwatch 2 and World of Warcraft, the fashion brands D'heygere, Moncler, and Fendi, and designer Alexander Wang. ==Notes==