I'm starting to think...

[Razerwire]

Exactly, in order for Oakley to stay in business they need to focus on what sells, Lifestyle (Batwolf, Holbrook etc) and Sport Performance (Flak, Radar etc) are the only two categories that sell. When Oakley tries to throw old Oakley fans a bone (Tenty 2012, tightrope, X ten) they do not sell.

and I'd rather wear somthing called Big Taco than Juliet..

Oakley can and will stay in business just fine even with a less cost effective department such as X-Metals. That was a risk Jannard took and it was very appreciated. It wasn't all about money with him. Sure he certainly made a lot of it but he wanted innovation as well.

Once Luxottica took over the company became profit driven and slowly got rid of the cutting edge stuff in favor of stuff that's easily made. In that aspect they're just like any other sunglass company. The risky, innovative, pushing the envelope stuff was what set them apart from the competition and now that's gone.

To this day, there still isn't much out there that can match the ingenuity of the X-Metal line and it's just sad that it has comes to an end.

 

[washi me sensie]

Oakley can and will stay in business just fine even with a less cost effective department such as X-Metals. That was a risk Jannard took and it was very appreciated. It wasn't all about money with him. Sure he certainly made a lot of it but he wanted innovation as well.

Once Luxottica took over the company became profit driven and slowly got rid of the cutting edge stuff in favor of stuff that's easily made. In that aspect they're just like any other sunglass company. The risky, innovative, pushing the envelope stuff was what set them apart from the competition and now that's gone.

To this day, there still isn't much out there that can match the ingenuity of the X-Metal line and it's just sad that it has comes to an end.

exactly man... once a company becomes profit driven then they will lose a lot of customers. the exclusivity of oakley is what makes it special, people would really want those "risky, innovative, pushing the envelope stuff". and it made me sad to see a video of the last set of metals made on their factory when it closed.

 

[BADNESS]

I got to check out the Big Taco and the Garage Rock last week. The quality of the BT was qustionable at best. They just felt cheap to me. As for the Garage Rock...let's just call it what it is...Oakley's attempt at the new hipster version of the Ray Ban Wayfarer. I hate it, but I give Oakley kudos for attempting squash that ray ban! 70% of the population own a pair of them, or some sort of version of them. Getting back to BW's original post...I think people are being hard on Oakley because they crave something that brought them to the brand in the first place...owning something that was different. Unfortunately, that was then. And I would have to agree with Del (fear) that it's got a lot to do with the design team. They need to fire the bunch of them and get some new blood...or fire the new ones and bring back the ones from 15 years ago!

 

[Max Fearlight]

so so right there! as i have said before, they need to listen to their customers. but not just any customer. they need to listen to US!

 

[HDOakley]

I don't have any beef with the big taco, yes the name could be different. Im not liking the GR the more I look at it the more goofy they look to me. I am thinking of getting a big taco...i just wish they had a different name for it...big taco does not sound like its coming from Oakley to be honest. And I like the Holbrook.