oneonz
I should Work at Oakley
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It's answer from Scott Bowers himself in o-review
(I paste word here and link down)
" To answer the Romeo questions.
The launch party for X Metal was bad ass. We had it in the unfinished lobby of 1 Icon. The building was far from completion and the lobby was still exposed to the elements. It was raining the night of the party so the ambience was really cool. For your question if someone offered $1500 for the Romeo, it could have happened but I don't recall it being a highlight. We were constantly offered $$$ for early (and numbered) versions.
Beginning with Mumbo Jim would take, I'm guessing here, about the first 100 pairs directly off the production line and number each one in sequence. He would then give the early employees a numbered pair based on what number hired you were. He would also take several numbered pairs and archive them. Again, I can't recall how many were numbered, gifted and archived. I'm sure the number increased as we grew. However, Jim did not do that forever and I'm trying to remember when he stopped. I want to think Romeo might have been the last style that was numbered and gifted to employees.
For Romeo, I can't recall the sequenced numbered or the amount of Vaults were given to employees and friends of the company. I'm going to guess around 100-150. As you mention those pairs were placed in the large Vault and had a 4 digit serial number engraved in a plate. They were sequenced exact to being manufactured and not randomly pulled. 0001, 0002, etc.
All of the numbered and vaulted pairs came with Red socks, nose bombs and hinge bumpers. I can say that the red rubber color had nothing to do with Michael Jordan. I have had read for several years the reference to a Michael Jordan edition, but unless Jim had an inside story with MJ there wasn't any correlation.
As well with the red rubber socks, nose bombs and bumpers the only ones I recall having them were the numbered and vaulted pairs. My memory may be failing me, but I do not recall actively selling any with red rubber. Can anyone validate that they were actually sold to retail?
To note, Romeo did not sell fast in the beginning. It took a year or two and the compliments of Juliet before they really moved. I remember Jim nailing the sales guys for being wimps to not be selling more. X Metal was also a big departure both from what was expected from Oakley and also the optical industry. X Metal was crazy different and common with Oakley's most innovative and longest selling styles it took a year or two before they really got traction. So when you are talking early "limited" quantities of 5000 and another 9000 that seems very high to me and tells me the story isn't true.
For naming, Romeo was always the name that I recall and Jim's cigars had the influence. At the development stage I recall X Metal 1 as the internal name. I don't recall Oscar or Tiffany at all, so I would love to hear of the origin story you know. Those names do seem to have my recall for watches, but not X Metal. That's not to say they weren't' on Jim's radar. In those days Jim did the naming and the names were held closely up until we started getting close to production.
Scott "
Bazooka
(I paste word here and link down)
" To answer the Romeo questions.
The launch party for X Metal was bad ass. We had it in the unfinished lobby of 1 Icon. The building was far from completion and the lobby was still exposed to the elements. It was raining the night of the party so the ambience was really cool. For your question if someone offered $1500 for the Romeo, it could have happened but I don't recall it being a highlight. We were constantly offered $$$ for early (and numbered) versions.
Beginning with Mumbo Jim would take, I'm guessing here, about the first 100 pairs directly off the production line and number each one in sequence. He would then give the early employees a numbered pair based on what number hired you were. He would also take several numbered pairs and archive them. Again, I can't recall how many were numbered, gifted and archived. I'm sure the number increased as we grew. However, Jim did not do that forever and I'm trying to remember when he stopped. I want to think Romeo might have been the last style that was numbered and gifted to employees.
For Romeo, I can't recall the sequenced numbered or the amount of Vaults were given to employees and friends of the company. I'm going to guess around 100-150. As you mention those pairs were placed in the large Vault and had a 4 digit serial number engraved in a plate. They were sequenced exact to being manufactured and not randomly pulled. 0001, 0002, etc.
All of the numbered and vaulted pairs came with Red socks, nose bombs and hinge bumpers. I can say that the red rubber color had nothing to do with Michael Jordan. I have had read for several years the reference to a Michael Jordan edition, but unless Jim had an inside story with MJ there wasn't any correlation.
As well with the red rubber socks, nose bombs and bumpers the only ones I recall having them were the numbered and vaulted pairs. My memory may be failing me, but I do not recall actively selling any with red rubber. Can anyone validate that they were actually sold to retail?
To note, Romeo did not sell fast in the beginning. It took a year or two and the compliments of Juliet before they really moved. I remember Jim nailing the sales guys for being wimps to not be selling more. X Metal was also a big departure both from what was expected from Oakley and also the optical industry. X Metal was crazy different and common with Oakley's most innovative and longest selling styles it took a year or two before they really got traction. So when you are talking early "limited" quantities of 5000 and another 9000 that seems very high to me and tells me the story isn't true.
For naming, Romeo was always the name that I recall and Jim's cigars had the influence. At the development stage I recall X Metal 1 as the internal name. I don't recall Oscar or Tiffany at all, so I would love to hear of the origin story you know. Those names do seem to have my recall for watches, but not X Metal. That's not to say they weren't' on Jim's radar. In those days Jim did the naming and the names were held closely up until we started getting close to production.
Scott "
Bazooka
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