We review how you can customize your Oakley sunglasses from do-it-yourself to expert level!
Table of Contents
1. How can I customize my Oakleys?
If you’re looking for custom Oakley sunglasses that stand out from the crowd you have a few options to make it happen.
We break down this guide into 3 distinct categories of customization ranging from minimal effort to professional level customs!
But don’t be overwhelmed just yet, most of the easiest customizations can be done in under 30 seconds.
Scroll down to read through how you can customize your Oakleys and make them your own.
2. Oakley Custom Program
Difficulty Level: Easy
The first and easiest stop for custom Oakley sunglasses is the Oakley Custom Program (OCP).
This is Oakley’s exclusive program to buy customized products direct. Through the convenient online configurator, the OCP allows several key customizations with no effort:
- Frame Color
- Icons
- Earsocks
- Lenses
- Lens Etching (Custom Name etc)
While the Oakley Custom Program offers the easiest path to customize products, it’s likely also a bit more expensive as you add on lenses and frame colors.
Typically icons and earsocks won’t increase your price. As an example, we customized a pair of Radar EV’s and were able to jump the price from $211 to $271 with an MLB frame and Prizm Polarized lenses.
3. Easy Do It Yourself Customizations
Difficulty Level: Easy/Medium
If you’ve graduated from the OCP or just already own Oakley’s you want to customize you’ll be looking at DIY options.
There are several quick and easy swaps you can make without much effort once you’ve sourced the parts.
If you’re customizing a current Oakley pair you can likely find original parts direct from Oakley.
But if you’re customizing a discontinued/sold-out pair of Oakleys or just looking to save you’ll want to check out some of the numerous aftermarket suppliers of parts.
We’ll break down each of these easier customizations below.
3.1 Replace your Lenses
Changing your Oakley lenses is a quick and easy DIY that can make a world of difference.
Many pairs of Oakleys such as the Radar Line or Flak Jackets feature technology that allows for quick and easy lens changes. However, even full-frame Oakleys like the Holbrook and Gascan can still have lenses swapped.
On full frames, simply apply gentle pressure on the lens outward while holding the frame firmly until the lens “pops out.
Check out the useful video below from Oakley that outlines this process very well across frames. And for more read our full guide to replacing lenses in every type of Oakley frame.
3.2 Change your Earsocks
Replacing the earsocks, or rubber pieces that sit on the temples of your glasses is an easy and cheap change. Plus you can find plenty of online retailers selling earsocks for under $10-20 per pair.
To change a pair of earsocks simply slide off the existing rubber pieces, then slide on the new pair.
If you experience difficulty sliding them on or off, don’t worry it’s normal. Try using some hand soap or baby oil to make it a bit easier, especially when putting the new ones on.
3.3 Change your Icons
Replacing the icons on your Oakleys is on the more difficult side of our “easy” DIY changes, but still should take under 10 minutes.
The trickiest part is typically removing the existing icons. And you’ll want to be careful not to scratch your frame.
We recommend using a piece of paper or thin cardboard wedged into the icon to protect your frame while you pry the icon out using a small flathead screwdriver.
The video below posted on YouTube outlines the process fairly well:
4. Modding / Complex DIY
Difficulty Level: Hard
Now if you’ve graduated from our DIY changes and are ready to take it up to a whole other level, we’ve got you covered.
We should warn you that these complex DIY changes go above and beyond and could easily result in damage to your Oakleys.
And we’ve got an entire section dedicated to DIY/Modding your Oakleys here on the forum so be sure to check it out for even more information!
4.1 Painting Frames
Brush off your art skills and get ready to paint your frame.
Tired of just Black, how about a design or theme? We’ve seen some amazing frames from members on the forum here who take sunglasses to another level.
Take for example member V2Oak who has produced countless amazing customs (full list of drool worth pictures here). The Fast and the Furious inspired Batwolf sunglasses below were 100% custom painted by him. Epic!
4.2 Cutting Lenses
So let’s say replacement lenses for the Oakleys you have just aren’t produced anymore. Or maybe you want a color that isn’t available for your lenses. What are you to do?
Well if you’re ingenious like our members here, the answer is to cut your own lenses to fit your frame.
At the simplest level, this is accomplished by using a “donor lens”, which is a lens larger than your desired cut, and with ideally a similar curvature.
There is plenty more complexity here and hundreds of pages of knowledge on the forum around lens cutting so we’d recommend checking out member Cacatman’s epic guide here to everything lens cutting.
Looking for more?
Still have a question about customizing your Oakleys? Or want to learn more? Join the largest online Oakley community and let us know in the thread below.
