• Take 30 seconds to register your free account to access deals, post topics, and view exclusive content!

    Register Today

    Join the largest Oakley Forum on the web!

How many are leaving and staying on Oakley Forum?

@OakleyBoss Thank you for stopping in this thread, now we can get it straight from the horses mouth, as it were. ;)

Do you also think that the culture wasn't expanded upon and grown because no one at Lux cared to do so? If there was anyone there who noticed the possibilities they either didn't say or didn't want to veer off the corporate path.

I'd love to see some of our regulars go premium for a year at least!
 
Wow.
Thanks @OakleyBoss for responding.

In my hometown in Adelaide, Australia, I bought several pairs from an ex sales manager of Oakley who ran stuff in Australia for a decade or so. He had some beaut pairs of hard to get items and I developed a friendship with him.

He too was very passionate about Oakley and once Luxottica took over, sat it out for a couple of years, but then moved on. His sentiments were pretty much the same as what you, yourself have reflected and has been the lament of numerous hardcore members in many forum posts to date.

I suppose, that's the challenge of all businesses that go from being sole founder/proprietor to become a corporate share holder accountable entity. Passion, R & D, low yield crazy designs give way to dollar value and increasing financial returns. It's inevitable, because the stuff that we measure and attract us collectors to the brand is really quite intangible and has an intrinsic value to just the individual. You can't sustain a company just on that.

Certainly the pendulum has swung, but I still believe that there are enough of us to keep prices from just going through the hoop, particularly of x-metals. I'd find it impossible to believe that a pair of juliets will be selling for $50 unless the owner really doesn't know what they are. If anything, they become vintage/antique, and the age alone sets them apart, let alone their ageless style.

In anycase, although I'm open to the fact that it's possible that I may not be a full-on collector in the future as my financial situation changes.

Even if Oakley drops out of sight as a sunglasses heavyweight, that's ok with me because I certainly believe that most of my collection has personal intrinsic (and actual) value at the very least. Certainly the Oakley of old will always be considered works of art and have great history.
 
Yeah. That's true. Coming here feels like going into a seemingly full of people, but when you get closer, you just see cardboard cutouts of people and dotted around the stadium are people like @OakleyFrankFMJ @cyclerdoug @QLR1 @dingo ate my baby @Fernando @kronin323

I think there are seasons in life, and at the moment, I'm in my Oakley season. I thought about taking on lifetime membership, but I just wanted to see how I went for a couple of years. Who knows, I might grow out of it....or my collection might get stolen, and I get super jaded and never collect again....or something might happen and I have to sell everything....or I could just die in the next 10 years!

That was deep man...

so-deep_o_1158810.jpg
 
@OakleyBoss Thank you for stopping in this thread, now we can get it straight from the horses mouth, as it were. ;)

Do you also think that the culture wasn't expanded upon and grown because no one at Lux cared to do so? If there was anyone there who noticed the possibilities they either didn't say or didn't want to veer off the corporate path.

I'd love to see some of our regulars go premium for a year at least!

Think the post below from cacatman sums it up well. Always tough to go from a sole proprietorship where you can get ideas straight from the horses mouth to a corporate heirachy that must be navigated, office politics etc. I'd also gander that the financial models at lux struggle to understand the long term value of "community" - i.e Mass produced generic pairs generate far more revenue and profit than small run limited editions (as most of the profit is in the secondary market) - However, those limited edition pairs crate the buzz and community that then fuels the buying and demand for the generic pairs.

Wow.
Thanks @OakleyBoss for responding.

In my hometown in Adelaide, Australia, I bought several pairs from an ex sales manager of Oakley who ran stuff in Australia for a decade or so. He had some beaut pairs of hard to get items and I developed a friendship with him.

He too was very passionate about Oakley and once Luxottica took over, sat it out for a couple of years, but then moved on. His sentiments were pretty much the same as what you, yourself have reflected and has been the lament of numerous hardcore members in many forum posts to date.

I suppose, that's the challenge of all businesses that go from being sole founder/proprietor to become a corporate share holder accountable entity. Passion, R & D, low yield crazy designs give way to dollar value and increasing financial returns. It's inevitable, because the stuff that we measure and attract us collectors to the brand is really quite intangible and has an intrinsic value to just the individual. You can't sustain a company just on that.

Certainly the pendulum has swung, but I still believe that there are enough of us to keep prices from just going through the hoop, particularly of x-metals. I'd find it impossible to believe that a pair of juliets will be selling for $50 unless the owner really doesn't know what they are. If anything, they become vintage/antique, and the age alone sets them apart, let alone their ageless style.

In anycase, although I'm open to the fact that it's possible that I may not be a full-on collector in the future as my financial situation changes.

Even if Oakley drops out of sight as a sunglasses heavyweight, that's ok with me because I certainly believe that most of my collection has personal intrinsic (and actual) value at the very least. Certainly the Oakley of old will always be considered works of art and have great history.
 
Think the post below from cacatman sums it up well. Always tough to go from a sole proprietorship where you can get ideas straight from the horses mouth to a corporate heirachy that must be navigated, office politics etc. I'd also gander that the financial models at lux struggle to understand the long term value of "community" - i.e Mass produced generic pairs generate far more revenue and profit than small run limited editions (as most of the profit is in the secondary market) - However, those limited edition pairs crate the buzz and community that then fuels the buying and demand for the generic pairs.

Good points, both. I think @cacatman hit it dead on with the shareholders. That share price is probably displayed digitally at Lux in real time, so every decision can be measured against it's potential impact. Too big a ship to steer, let alone send some scout boats into the rivers to see what's going on with us little people.
 
Good points, both. I think @cacatman hit it dead on with the shareholders. That share price is probably displayed digitally at Lux in real time, so every decision can be measured against it's potential impact. Too big a ship to steer, let alone send some scout boats into the rivers to see what's going on with us little people.
Gotta remember.

Every decision over a certain dollar amount is not approved unless that one single person approves it. I know what the dollar amount is too. Surprising.
 
Gotta remember.

Every decision over a certain dollar amount is not approved unless that one single person approves it. I know what the dollar amount is too. Surprising.

Of course. The dragons at the top of their little pile of treasure...the department heads and such. Nothing wrong with corporate procedures and policies. I am, after all, a fair-market Capitalist. But that big, especially now with their recent merger, is unwieldy.
 
Back
Top