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Gentle Monster
South Korean eyewear brand From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Gentle Monster (Korean: 젠틀몬스터, stylized in all caps) is a South Korean brand of luxury sunglasses and eyeglasses founded in 2011. Gentle Monster is owned by parent company II Combined, which also operates fragrance brand Tamburins and dessert brand NUDAKE.[1][2][3]
 | This article contains promotional content. (July 2025) |
As of 2025, Gentle Monster operates 81 stores (72 excluding duty-free) across 14 countries and 49 cities, and its products are available through over 450 retailers in 30 countries. [4]
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Retail spaces
Gentle Monster employs 6 people to design its eyewear products and 60 people to design the store visuals.[5] Its products are exhibited like museum pieces in "an immersive and experiential offline shopping experience."[5] For example, from May to August 2016, its New York City flagship was turned into an underwater experience, by aquarium designer Justin Muir and glass sculptor Ivan Lee Mora, influenced by the French film Le Grand Bleu.[6]
In February 2021, Gentle Monster opened a new space, Haus Dosan, with cosmetics brand Tamburins and an on-site dessert cafe Nudake.[7]
Each store's goal is to mimic a contemporary gallery containing life-sized objects and sculptures. For example, one of Gentle Monster's London stores has a Kung Fu theme with robots performing martial arts movements. Gentle Monster's first store in Korea features a lifesize ship.[4][8]
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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.[9] The brand's designs favor oversize frames much larger than Western brands' because its Asian clientele prefer to have frames that create an image of a smaller face.[9][10]
In 2013 and 2014, Korean actress Jun Ji-hyun wore Gentle Monster lenses on My Love From the Star, and this greatly broadened the brand's exposure to a mainstream audience.[9]
In February 2016, the company's first US store opened on Grand Street in SoHo, New York City.[9] Its second US store opened in downtown Los Angeles in October 2017.[11][12] French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH invested $60 million for a 7% stake in the company in September 2017.[2]
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Pricing
On average, a pair of sunglasses or glasses range from $200-$300 depending on frames, lenses, and prescription. However, prices fluctuate and may be as high as $500.[13]
Marketing
Tilda Swinton collaborated with Gentle Monster in February 2017 in designing three sunglasses and appeared in an ad campaign video.[14] The brand shows at New York Fashion Week.[15]
Items are all limited edition, once an item sells out, the next return is not promised.[4][16][17][18]
Collaborations
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In 2016, the brand collaborated with Danish designer Henrik Vibskov, Hood by Air, and Opening Ceremony.[2] In 2017, the brand collaborated with Dutch furniture designer Marcel Wanders, the founder of Moooi.[2] In 2018, the brand collaborated on an exhibition called Burning Planet with South Korean rapper, Song Mino of Winner.[19]
In 2019, the brand collaborated with Chinese technology company Huawei and released smartglasses.[20]
In 2020, the brand collaborated with singer Jennie Kim of Blackpink to release the Jentle Home collection,[21] and Chinese-Canadian singer and rapper Kris Wu for the release of the Gentle Wu collection.[22]
In 2022, the brand released a second collection with Kim, called the Jentle Garden collection. A mobile game was developed in promotion of the collaboration, while pop-up stores were opened in five cities: Seoul, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai.[23]
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.[24][25][26]
In 2024, Gentle Monster collaborated with French luxury fashion house Maison Margiela on the "2024 Maison Margiela x Gentle Monster" collection.[27] Additionally, the brand released a third collaboration with Jennie Kim titled "Jentle Salon".[28] 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.[29]
Additional collaborations include, but are not limited to Overwatch 2, World of Warcraft, D’heygere, Moncler, Fendi, Alexander Wang.[8]
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See also
References
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