Oakley Sunglasses, the Best (Disposable) Sunglasses
By admin | January 14, 2008
For the past 10 years, I have been a sucker for Oakley sunglasses. The obsession started with the first (and probably best) pair, my Oakley Zeros, circa 1995. They were great glasses, and one of only two pairs that I have not broken.
After that, I started the cycle of product failures that I find myself currently in. It started with my great pearl Jackets, which I used (like all of my sunglasses), while riding my road bike. The jackets snapped at the earpiece in the middle of a ride one day. No problem, that is what warranties are for. Sent in my $15 and broken glasses and they replaced them. Not bad. Except that this process of breaking and replacing became an annual affair.
Eventually I went through 3 pairs of jackets and felt the need for a change. As always, I figure that a new model would be more durable. I switched to the hingeless Pro-M with a Hybrid lens. They lasted a bit more than a year, but eventually broke as well. Starting to get old . . .
Oakley then started to come out with some metal framed glasses and I though that this would be a good solution. I splurged on a set of Magnesium M-Frames. It seemed like the perfect solution to their problem of durability with plastic frames. They had spring hinges and were three pieces, with the whole assembly being screwed together with two screws to secure the lens. Sure enough, this solved the problem of broken frames. However, the design was flawed – the stress of screwing and sandwiching the lens in this assembly put too much force and cracked the lenses right down the middle! These glasses lasted about two years, with me breaking first a Fire Iridium lens and then my Black Iridium lens. I have no doubt that this is a poor design, as the Mag-M frames lasted only a few years in production. I called Oakley to see about getting a lens under warranty, but they could only offer a small about of credit towards older designs.
With all of the poor performance, you would think I would learn. Nope! Functionally, when they are in one piece, Oakley sunglasses work great. I am giving them one last chance as I ordered a custom set of Radar glasses yesterday. Still a plastic frame, which makes me very nervous. I hope that the revised design of the nose-piece will take some stress off of the lens.
Time will tell if Oakley has taken durability seriously in their new design; I have my doubts . . .
Topics: Cycling | 3 Comments »
April 14th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Great Post, Thanks for sharing it. It is always good to read someone’s else point of view.
I Have bookmarked it for future use.
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:55 pm
OAKLEY were bought by an italian optical company called LUXOTTICA a couple of years ago for 2.1 billion. Luxottica now owns Oakley, Ray Ban, Arnette, Prada, Killer Loop, Prada, Versace, Dolce Gabbana, Mui Mui, Vogue brands to name a few. They also own the Sunglass Hut retail outlets worldwide. Here in Australia they now own the Bright Eyes chain (formerly the biggest Australian chain) and optometrist chains OPSM, Laubman and Pank and Budget Eyewear, effectively a monopoly. I have worked in the sunglass industry for 20 years and have many friends who have worked for Oakley, so a few truths hey? Oakley are manufactured in China and assembled (snap lock arms, cheap & easy) in Southern California, using cheap Mexican labour. Thats how they get the MADE IN THE USA tag! On average OAKLEY sunglasses cost about 18c to produce. Thats average, some cost less, some cost more…..not much more but. Oakley use the cheapest materials possible and design the style to suit. The reason they look different, examples: the arms on some are thick and round that when broken have an inner core. If they used a quality plastic (oxymoron I know, but there are differences) they wouldn’t have to design it like this. XMetals, these are the worst, same principle as the arms, because the metal is such a low grade they have to make the arm extra thick to sustain it. A lot of the new styles are using a cheap polypropolene for the frames. The same cheap polypropolene used in ALL the Gas station and drug store $5 sunglasses everywhere. Basically the cheapest material available, but finished to a high standard so they look like quality. That is why copied Oakleys are so hard to spot. All seconds or faulty stock is shredded because it is not worth anything. In Australia, as I am sure it is worldwide, when a sportsperson gets on TV with their Oakleys on, they get a cash incentive (used to be $200). Have a look next time to see how they make sure they have them on. A basic sponsorship package consists of 12 pairs of sunglasses, and $2000 worth of merchandising. Where does all the funding for this come from…? Why you, the clueless consumer. Now for the new info, as of 2009 Oakley (and all Luxottica products) no longer repair ANYTHING! If it is a warranty they will replace it with a brand new pair, but after the warranty expires (12 months, always been 12 months too. The lifetime thing came from the original EYEJACKET style which had a faulty arm, and stores were supplied with kits of arms to replace when customers came in. But they redesigned after they had sold all the faulty ones and halted the replacement procedure) No more repairs. Basically buy a new pair and thats it.
Oakley are Marketing first, Legal department second( to chase any copyright infringements, no matter how small, worldwide) Design third and quality of product last. Oakley people are hardcore, so hardcore that they will not hear anyone speak badly of them. I get them in my store ALL the time. They ONLY wear Oakley, have NEVER had any problems with them. Yet these are the same people who look after them like they are gold. Most people don’t treat their sunglasses too well, and if they pay a fair amount for them expect them to be able to handle the abuse. Basically in the industry OAKLEY are considered the biggest joke, yet only the Italian optical owners are laughing
May 1st, 2011 at 10:35 am
I too love Oakleys – a little bit obsessed I admit. Once on holiday coming back from a night out a few of us slipped down a cliff face a little way, no damage – apart from losing my precious Oakley Squares. After getting all 5 fellow holiday makers looking the next day, I just had to go buy some more. I can’t do without them and optically they are wonderful. I recommend the VR28 Black Iridium; makes everything look like it’s through an 81c warm up filter!