Italian eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica knows that the not-so-secret secret to making money in the fashion industry is to have direct relationships with customers. That's why it's beefing up with tech — and is buying a high-profile streetwear brand.

Driving the news: EssilorLuxottica said last week it would spend $1.5 billion to buy Supreme; it seems likely to accept a $5 billion investment from Meta; and is buying a controlling interest in Heidelberg Engineering, a company specializing in eye-test technology.

The big picture: Attracting and retaining the loyalty of new consumers, especially in highly fashion-conscious markets like Japan and Korea, has never been more difficult.

• Supreme presents one attractive model. Its wares are available only on its website or in its stores, and most of its customers are signed up to receive notifications of its Thursday drops.
• The value of its iconic logo is huge, especially if it can be used in a range of collaborations across EssilorLuxottica's many brands. (The company owns Ray-Ban and Oakley outright — and partners on eyewear with the likes of Chanel and Ferrari.)
• The value of Supreme's customer list is almost as large. It isn't just a fashion brand; it's also a repository of data on exactly who is willing and able to pay a large premium for a certain logo.

Between the lines: There's another model, which EssilorLuxottica also seems to be pursuing — one that has been perfected by Apple. Under this model, once consumers are locked into your software, they'll pay almost anything for your hardware.

• EssilorLuxottica has embedded Meta's technology into its Ray-Ban Meta line of smart glasses, which have been well received.
• The promise of Heidelberg Engineering is that it might develop technology that allows people to get an eye prescription at home.
• That technology could be built into a LensCrafters app (EssilorLuxottica owns them, too) to instantly generate a pair of smart prescription glasses with massive profit margins.

Zoom out: Fashion brands are doing a very good job disintermediating third-party retailers like department stores.

• EssilorLuxottica's vision is to create "a laboratory for med-tech, innovation and growth" covering "the entire spectrum of the value chain."
• The natural destination of such a strategy is one where getting a prescription, finding frames, and buying lenses can not only be done seamlessly in a single transaction in a single app but can also carry all the cachet associated with a high-fashion brand.

The bottom line: "Only perfume and cosmetics beat the margins on eyewear," fashion attorney Douglas Hand told Vogue Business.

• Instead of using technology and data to disrupt an existing business and bring down prices, EssilorLuxottica is seeking to use it to build a moat that makes it immune to disruption.

Supreme is being sold by VF Corp, which bought the brand for $2.1 billion in 2020.

Why it matters: VF CEO Bracken Darrell told investors that the sale of the brand "gives us increased balance sheet flexibility" and "more normalised debt levels."

In other words: VF was looking alarmingly over-leveraged, and the $1.5 billion the company will receive for Supreme can be used to help pay down its debt.

Cold fusion is hot right now.

Why it matters: Nuclear fusion has the potential to be a game-changer in generating electricity.

And although steep technical hurdles remain before this technology can deliver energy at scale, the pace of funding has accelerated.

• Of the $7.1 billion invested in nuclear fusion over the last 32 years, 13% arrived just in the past year, a new report finds.

Catch up fast: There have been scientific advancements in fusion during the past year that made many in the industry optimistic that their work will pay off, though many experts remain skeptical that fusion power lies around the corner. (Fusion has a reputation of always being five years away.)

By the numbers: About 4,000 people are employed in private fusion companies. That's a 34% increase over 2023 and a nearly 300% increase since 2021.

• 89% of the companies responding to the survey said they foresee that fusion will provide electricity to the grid by the end of 2030s. Most see that happening by 2035.

Yes, but: Most of the 45 companies surveyed said they have concerns over their funding in the next five years.

• The report warns that investing at the current pace of around $1 billion a year is not enough for the industry to reach a goal of commercializing this technology from 2030 to 2035.

Where it stands: The U.S. still leads in commercial fusion, with 25 companies included in the survey. The U.K., Germany, Japan and China have three companies each.

• Fusion firms are also located in Australia, Canada, France, Israel, New Zealand and Sweden.
• The increasingly obvious and significant impacts of climate change and lack of global carbon emissions cuts are also spurring investments in deep technology ventures.

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