Oakley Inc.

[The Ryan]

One of my other non-Adam's addictions is Oakley gear. Born and raised here in So. Cal how can you not love the Oakley style? When I was 13 I saved money from mowing neighbors lawns to get my first pair of Oakley M-Frames. Since then I have acquired a large collection of Oakley sunglasses / shirts / shoes / watches, you name it - I pretty much own it.

 

That first pair of Oakley's cost me a gut wrenching $95 15 years ago, now I own a pair or Oakley Half X Carbon black with Polarized Black Irridium that were $400. Someday (when I hit the lotto) I'll own the Elite collection.

 

Just wanted to add another great American company to our growing list. Here's a couple of shots of my prized Half X's:

 

[GTO Guy]

i too have an oakley addiction. well i did. since the baby that one has been curbed. I do rock 2 pair of juliets. one ice iridium and the other is the Ducati edition!

[Nordgrey]

How did I forget about the big O?

 

 

Been meaning to sign up for the forces page they have. Some smoking deals there.

[THE Mook]

Yeah, thankfully I got married. I had an Oakley problem before that. At one point, I had like 9 or 10 pair of them.

 

Now, I stick to my Juliets with the VR28 lens, my polarized Half Jackets, or for work, my polarized full metal jackets.

 

They have great clothing too. rockbottomgolf.com sometimes has deals on their polos. I got two or three from there last year for like $24 a pop.

 

Mook

[11chevz71]

I like them to but i have a really hard time spending the money(Figure that). The only pair i have is gascans.

[XQIZT]

I love my M-Frames...have 4 lenses for them as well.

[1anonly]

Ryan, I'm an Oakley freak too. Not into the gear like you, just the glasses. Over 20 years ago I got my first pair of Razor Blades (yes, it was a long time ago). I had two pairs of them and the different colored arms. Then I bought a pair of cystal red with positive red lensed original Mumbos. After that it was 2 more pairs of Mumbos, a pair Sub-Zeros, a pair of original Square wires, 2 pairs of the 2nd edition M frames, and finally 2 pairs of Half Jackets with a bunch of different lenses. I think that it, yikes that's a lot of Oakleys and I still have 6 pairs of them. My wife thought it was a waste of money until she got her first pair two years ago. She couldn't believe how clear everything was.

[lawson4450]

i destroy sun glasses hence forth my glasses cost like 2 for 25 bucks lol

[Chris@Adams]

I did not know this, thats great!

[The Ryan]

My favorite Oakley peice I own is the Judge II watch in black chrome.. My wife gave it to me as a wedding gift when we got married, and it still my favorite watch; even over my Movados!

[JPEGXP]

Wow, this brings me back a little. I used to collect them, I worked in a sunglass store in high school. I still have all my old ones, some with custom lenses. I have pairs of the 5's and Minutes. I had a few wire frames as well, but many pairs I sold or traded along the way. I still love the original sub-zeros though.

[Nordgrey]

i destroy sun glasses hence forth my glasses cost like 2 for 25 bucks lol

 

 

I used to be the same way. Then about 15 years ago I dished out over $300 for a pair of RayBan driving glasses. It tends to make you keep a better eye on your investment....

 

Still have those, nothing better for cloudy day driving.

[Team Adam's]

I used to have many more pairs of Oakleys when I still ran distance competitively. They are the only sunglasses that took the issues runners face into consideration like venting to prevent lens fog, designing channels in the brow to prevent sweat drips, and keeping the frames balanced/light so they wouldn't slip off your face.

 

Since I run now more to simply stay in shape and get aggression out I only have a single pair, but I did recently get a pair of their Shifter2.0 glasses for my perscription. I was sick of paying $200 for designer frames that would break. These are great and didn't cost me anymore than my D&G frames, plus they look cool.

 

 

Also, if you haven't been to their corporate hq before its worth a trip... one of the coolest buildings ever!

 

 

[MrVette83]

I've always had a soft spot for Oakley eye wear. The problem is I've worn prescription glasses since I was 5(25 now) and have never had the opportunity to purchase a pair to actually wear. 2 years ago I pulled the trigger on LASIK and my first purchase post LASIK was going to be a pair of Oakleys. But in my initial consult they noticed that my right eye has a thinning cornea and they're not sure if that is simply how my eye is "built" or if there is a deeper problem. Since they had no base line tests for my eye I'm going on 6 month intervals to monitor the suspect area. My last exam is in April 2011. At that time we either decide to pull the trigger on LASIK or keep me in glasses. If I stay in glasses I will then get a pair of prescription Oakley glasses and sunglasses. Ironically enough I was actually looking at prescription glasses on the Oakley site yesterday afternoon.

[JPEGXP]

I wear eye glasses as well, and I collect them. I have a very nice collection of Cartier eye glasses. I do also have a few pairs of prescription sunglasses. My Oakley Minutes that are prescription and polarized I probably see the best out of. It was expensive to have that done to the Oakley's, but well worth it.

[Lunchbox]

I've always had a soft spot for Oakley eye wear. The problem is I've worn prescription glasses since I was 5(25 now) and have never had the opportunity to purchase a pair to actually wear. 2 years ago I pulled the trigger on LASIK and my first purchase post LASIK was going to be a pair of Oakleys.

 

I wore glasses for 16 years from the time I was 8 till 24. I always wanted a pair of Oakleys but couldn't because I was about blind without my glasses. (20/200 and 20/400 now 20/15 in both) After I had my laser eye surgery in 2004 I went and picked up a pair. (I had PRK not LASIK.) Don't remember the model, but I was pretty excited. I am now on my 3rd pair in 6 years. My most recent pair I got from their usstandardissue.com site. They have pretty hefty discounts for military, police, and such. Oakley

[XQIZT]

Dylan: WOW...their HQ looks like a scene out of Men In Black!

[Team Adam's]

Yea, its really a cool place. Its kind of tucked up off the freeway a ways, and when you start driving up to it the scale of the thing becomes evident... doesn't look real. Used to know a guy who had a very cool job working for them -basically he got paid to go to sporting events with super primo tickets and get pro athletes to wear their gear- literally... that was his job. Hes the one directly responsible for so many MLB players/teams wearing the team colored Oakly Flak Jackets.

 

Meet up with high profile people and pro athletes and GIVE them product... where do I sign up?

[XQIZT]

Yea, its really a cool place. Its kind of tucked up off the freeway a ways, and when you start driving up to it the scale of the thing becomes evident... doesn't look real. Used to know a guy who had a very cool job working for them -basically he got paid to go to sporting events with super primo tickets and get pro athletes to wear their gear- literally... that was his job. Hes the one directly responsible for so many MLB players/teams wearing the team colored Oakly Flak Jackets.

 

Meet up with high profile people and pro athletes and GIVE them product... where do I sign up?

 

Sweet gig, no doubt...my dad had a friend who's job it was to wine and dine IBM customers at ANY sporting event they wanted...ALL the Championships of all sports, Olympics, etc.

 

Hey...how about you pretend I am high-profile...then you can give me product?

[The Ryan]

Oakley customer service is great as well. About a 2 years ago I had 3 pairs of sunglasses that needed some love, so I took all three down to HQ in foothill ranch. They replaced 2 no charge and the third was over 8 years old, they upgraded me to the newer model (straight jackets) for $40 (polarized). Three brand new sets of Oakley's for $40, way to stand behind your product Oakley!

[XQIZT]

Oakley customer service is great as well. About a 2 years ago I had 3 pairs of sunglasses that needed some love, so I took all three down to HQ in foothill ranch. They replaced 2 no charge and the third was over 8 years old, they upgraded me to the newer model (straight jackets) for $40 (polarized). Three brand new sets of Oakley's for $40, way to stand behind your product Oakley!

 

Ditto on my OLD M-Frames...snapped in half after like 3 years...called 'em up...they shipped the new beefier frame for only the cost of shipping

[Captain Slow]

Oakley is a great American success story. I have a pair sitting on my office desk at this moment. Oakley however is now and has been since 2007 an Italian owned company.

Oakley was purchased by Luxottica S.p.A. in 2007. Luxottica is based in Milan, Italy.

Check out Oakley on Wikipedia to confirm this, but I've been in the wholesale optical business 27 years and remember the day I heard this news. The american optical industry used to have some of the global giants, but no longer. Most of our industry is controlled by 1 French, 1 German, 1 Italian and 1 Japanese company: Essilor, Carl Zeiss, Luxottica & Hoya.

I'd rather spend my money on Oakleys though since they're still made here :patriot:and not in communist China.

 

I'm now getting off the soapbox and going back to work....gotta pay for that next Adam's order:patriot:

[Z71_Denali]

my oakley's have a scratch on the lens; you think they will replace those at no charge except shipping too?

[XQIZT]

my oakley's have a scratch on the lens; you think they will replace those at no charge except shipping too?

 

You could try....they might give you a discount maybe.

[Team Adam's]

I'd rather spend my money on Oakleys though since they're still made here :patriot:and not in communist China.

 

Thats where I stand on it as well... afterall we're talking American jobs, these are our neighbors, friends, and families. Sure, it'd be nice if the profits from the sales of these glasses went to a corporation still in the US, but as long as theres a factory employing Americans making them its fine by me.