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Wolf is in...

Wolf

Oakley Beginner
1
83
What's up everybody...my name is Wolf, and my quest to get another pair of Oakley Mars Leathers (mine were stolen a few years ago) has brought me to the forum.

Does anyone remember the great Oakley sunglasses of the 90s? My love affair with Oakleys goes back to when I was a little kid in Philadelphia, and seeing the cool big kids wearing them.

It's funny the things one remembers...

It was ninth grade--the year 1999. I was in my first and only year at Flint Hill--a pretty snazzy school, and one of several where I probably didn't really belong. We were all having dinner at a restaurant in the Reston Town Center, and I remember excusing myself to go to the bathroom, and then sneaking out to run to the Oakley store to buy a pair of Oakley minutes...gunmetal with fire iridium lenses. They seemed so awesome, and I had wanted a pair for years. A few days later, my father found the receipt I had dropped on the stairs to the basement. Well, I wanted them for years, and had been scrolling away cash for a while to afford those $80(?) glasses, but I knew nobody else would understand, so paying cash and keeping the purchase off the radar seemed like the only way I'd actually get them. Anyway, once that receipt was found, the gig was up. Not only did I have to return the glasses, but I had to donate the money to church. As an adult looking back, I'm still not completely sure I understand the lesson, but I know it had to do with hiding the purchase and sneaking out during a dinner under false pretenses.

A few years later, I found myself in Montreal. I want to say it was 2001, and I was at McGill University for Model UN (Yeah, I know--pretty big deal...) Well, by then I had bought myself another pair of the same glasses. I wasn't hiding them, but I wasn't advertising that I was wearing them. I met a pretty girl named Amy Nguyen from Mississauga. Well, I let her wear my sunglasses, and I ended up having to leave before I got them back. I kept in touch with Amy for about two months....then I never saw or heard from her (or my sunglasses)

I wouldn't score the cash, and I wouldn't really seek out another pair of Oakleys until my first year at West Point. I knew I had to have black sunglasses, and I made the mistake of buying the glasses at the West Point cadet store. They were black Oakley minutes, but they had sparkles--almost like glitter--that I didn't notice in the store. Back then, we used a lot of edge dressing. So, I had the bright idea to edge dress my glasses black. I wore them. They looked terrible.

The Army has caused me to cross paths with Oakley many times over--from being issued ballistic M-frames to private purchases from US Standard Issue. Soldiers love Oakleys because the ballistic eyewear is comfortable...and because they are Oakleys...maybe some of that 90s nostalgia.

My personal affair with Oakley sunglasses has continued to this day, except that now, as an adult, I can't imagine shelling out the kind of money guys want for glasses from the 90s. The Mars and the Over the Tops are about $1000. Absolutely insane. For now, I'll just keep wondering why everyone knows I'm in the Army as I wear my M-frames with civilian clothes (...don't worry, I have a pair of civilian M-frames too....they look just as...what's the word?...******, but I will probably rock them for life

and don't get me wrong...I was far from a model kid. I dreaded parent teacher conferences, didn't do a lot of my homework, and had a lot of trouble making friends. But for a kid displaced from Philadelphia to Northern Virginia, desperately trying to be cool while having to wear dorky rainbow striped polo shirts and shorts that I thought were too short to be the in-style, Oakleys seemed like one way I could make it as a cool kid. Scrolling away cash from odd jobs to get some sunglasses, well, it doesn't seem so crazy.

Ironically, now it's my wife telling me my shorts are too short.
 
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Welcome to the community, thanks for signing up. Seems you've had a long-standing relationship with Oakley...you'll find many more to love in here!

Thanks for serving, make yourself at home and contribute too!
 
Thanks for your service Wolf! And welcome to the forum. My wife served in the army back in the 80's. Didn't see any action but her father did in Vietnam. Good luck finding the shades your looking for.
 

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