Oakley "Made In USA" Question

[dr.chop]

Oakley started being made in Japan
So you won't buy anything new from Oakley because they are made in China, there's not much more made in the US that's Quality now adays, everything is outsourced. Enjoy your I-Gogs!

no they didn't. Oakley started in So Cal, out of Jim Jannard's Honda Civic trunk...Products were all made here. Grips, Goggles, Plugs, etc...The only pair made in Japan was the original Gen 1 Metal Hinge Frogskins, and that's because Oakley DIDN'T make them. He said at the RED event, that was his biggest mistake. They were purely for profit, that's it. After those, everything again for eyewear was made here for the longest time. Acetate stuff was an exception, then certain wire frames were next. Now though, it's outsourced and it shows. Lenses peeling apart or coated with specs of debris in them (I have had both recently), hinges snapping left and right on the new Chi-Metals, I mean X Metals (if you could even call them that)...More like Faux-luminum honestly. I had to send back a Faux-Metal because the left lens didn't even fit in the frame, and when trying to make sure it wasn't a tweaked frame, it snapped!! Coatings peel right off, floppy o matter hinges, it's all showing now. Even the O Matter composition has changed. It's rubbery, extremely flexible and a lot less rigid. It may not be a bad thing for some, but when they need a certain degree of rigidity, they simply don't have it anymore. So they have a far greater potential of sitting weird on your face or shifting around. And @Chris A Hardaway is dead on accurate about the lenses. That's a major reason why I stopped messing with them. Had way more failures, which resulted in far more expense.

 

[Chris A Hardaway]

Ya, this new omatter is WAY different. Thanks @dr.chop fit seeing the record straight. I've been buying Oakley since 1997. I've been selling since 2001. Major changes, and exponentially in the last 2 years. Watch out. Keep the spirit alive. Let's all tell the retailers, who tell the Reps, who tell the regional managers, who tell?.... I hope luxottica listens. You know what though Jannard has to do what he did in the end. Who wouldn't take the money?

 

[dr.chop]

Ya, this new omatter is WAY different. Thanks @dr.chop fit seeing the record straight. I've been buying Oakley since 1997. I've been selling since 2001. Major changes, and exponentially in the last 2 years. Watch out. Keep the spirit alive. Let's all tell the retailers, who tell the Reps, who tell the regional managers, who tell?.... I hope luxottica listens. You know what though Jannard has to do what he did in the end. Who wouldn't take the money?

Oh for sure. I mean in the infancy of the eyewear, he needed cash without going public, which incidentally was the 2nd biggest mistake he said he made. So, the trend was Wayfarers for days in the 80's and early 90's, so he made cash, lots of it. I can't knock him 1 bit. But this crap today, I can knock it...And I will. Styles last 18 mos or less, no back end support for parts, generic offers of "We'll give you 40% off a new pair" is bs! It's exactly why I had NOTHING to do with Lux in early 2000's When Oakley started fitting like crap, I grabbed 4 pair of Arnette Swingers (still have 3)...Looked great, fit really well, nice colors...CRAPPY LENSES!! They were all hazed up with the spiderweb looking flaws. I called and they said "send them back to the New York address with a $20 processing fee each and we will replace them"....I about flipped!! They were all less than 60 days old! Receipts, the whole 9 yards, made no difference. It's their processing fee. And they cost a whopping $65 each...Ya, uh, that was the end of any Lux garbage for me...until they bought the O...

 

[Chris A Hardaway]

So funny. I sorta miss the old Catfish and Swingers. Those back painted, injection molded $60-75 pieces of junk! But honestly they were as good as some of the Ray Ban and Oakley put out now.

Well, I'm done knocking them for now. I'm just glad we can all continue to customize and refurbish many of the pieces we own now

 

[QLR1]

Thanks for enlightening me, @Chris A Hardaway and @dr.chop!

I haven't had too many issues with the frames I owned, but when the issues come up, they really come up.

 

[dr.chop]

So funny. I sorta miss the old Catfish and Swingers. Those back painted, injection molded $60-75 pieces of junk! But honestly they were as good as some of the Ray Ban and Oakley put out now.

Well, I'm done knocking them for now. I'm just glad we can all continue to customize and refurbish many of the pieces we own now

got that right...they had cool lenses back in the day too. the 4 pair I had/have were the color changing blue/black with a blue lens (lost that one), green to black shift with a killer green lens (precursor to what jade is like today), red to a black shift with a black lens, and a silver frame with orange (fire)...I have all but the blue/black. Might even whack out some O lenses to fit em and rock em.