Made in China?

[Deleted member 13416]

Wire frames, prescription frames, goggles are in China,
lots of Omatter parts are made in China, then assembled in USA.

 

[WavecloudCustoms]

I reckon that's where the quality issues are arising - bits n pieces winging there way around the globe

 

[kronin323]

Lenses are still made in USA.

 

[Deleted member 13416]

Not entirely true Kronin. There are Chinese made lenses as well.

 

[digi7alph0enix]

I reckon that's where the quality issues are arising - bits n pieces winging there way around the globe

Quality issues are nothing new.We have members with Romeos that were double stamped with different serial numbers and collectors brush it off like it isn't a big deal and it adds character. Let that same member get a Madman/Badman that happens to have the SKU double printed on it and I bet they lose their mind. IMO the collector market has turned into a peanut gallery of cynics with a rallying of "Lux Sux" driving nearly every opinion. Oakley seems to have grown substantially under Lux and with higher production comes higher numbers of defects regardless of where that production takes place.

Lenses are still made in USA.

Not entirely true Kronin. There are Chinese made lenses as well.

With regard to the 2 quotes above-
If you have proof of either claim I'd be impressed. With all the changes happening at Oakley I doubt there are more than a handful of people who really know what's made where these days.

It makes little difference where the pieces are made as the parent company still has final say over what level of quality is acceptable. If quality declines the fault is with the ownership and not with the manufacturer just because it happens to be in China. The stereotype that everything made in China is junk is ridiculous. Companies like Apple have shown that if you are dedicated to quality manufacturing you can do it anywhere. It's the companies that take a hands off approach to manufacturing that have problems no matter where they are located. Does that mean that's how Lux (Oakley) approaches it? I don't know and I wouldn't speculate.

 

[Deleted member 13416]

Pertaining to Kronins quote, yes...the majority of Oakley lenses are still made in USA, however there are also lens made in China as well. If I wasn't 100% certain of what I said, then I wouldn't have said it. No offense but if I felt any need to impress you Digi7al I would offer plenty of proof.

My posts are meant to be informative and helpful to the community, not speculative.

 

[kronin323]

however there are also lens made in China as well.

Which ones?

 

[69RainbowTIwarrior71]

I recently noticed that a pair of C Wires that I bought from Amazon say "China" on the earstem. I've seen others that do not. Does that mean I have a fake?

same here mate
my pair I bought them from the vault
so coming from HQ means they are legit
not cool at all , but legit

 

[digi7alph0enix]

Pertaining to Kronins quote, yes...the majority of Oakley lenses are still made in USA, however there are also lens made in China as well. If I wasn't 100% certain of what I said, then I wouldn't have said it. No offense but if I felt any need to impress you Digi7al I would offer plenty of proof.

My posts are meant to be informative and helpful to the community, not speculative.

I'm not looking to be impressed. I'm looking for factual statements that can be verified. It was never meant to be personal. The internet is the internet and things are said that are passed along as fact again and again (similar to aftermarket lens claims) with no real proof to support the claims. I have no doubt there are members here with close ties to the brand who probably know for certain exactly what goes on behind the scenes. That isn't me.

Having said that, you've made a claim that has been widely disputed on this forum even by alleged insiders. To accept that at face value with no supporting evidence would be naive. Again, it isn't meant to be personal. I don't know you or your level of connection to the brand and to me that's all the more reason to be cautious when contradictory statements are made.

 

[kronin323]

So, I did some digging around about the lenses-in-China thing, got some info from a reputable HQ contact who recently moved on to another company.

Apparently the Lux-owned factory in China will cut lenses for the wire and acetate frames that are assembled over there. But the blanks being used to cut the lenses were made at the Foothill Ranch factory in California.

For example, The USA factory will make a blank of BIP, which will have its own internal part number. This gets shipped to China. In China let's say they do a batch of the new Crosshair Ti Pewter / BIP. The Chinese factory will cut that BIP blank into BIP Crosshair lenses, which will have a different internal part number. And then the frame and lenses are assembled and get an external SKU.

So, if you just looked at the internal part number for Crosshair BIP lenses used for assembly, they would appear to originate in China. But China is just cutting them to that shape; the actual lens blank is still made in the USA.

Why do it like this? Efficiency / flexibility - production is fluid, with which frames / colorways / quantities produced being driven by demand. If they cut them here and then shipped them to China, either you'd need to maintain a much larger and varied stock over there to accommodate changes in demand, or you'd have longer lead times / turnaround if China had to order specific frame lenses as the production schedule is planned.

This way, though, by having a stock of blanks that can be used for a variety of frames, they can more easily and quickly accommodate changes in production by just cutting for what they're producing as needed.

Hopefully I explained that clearly.