I think you answered your own question, or at least started to. Oakley does not have to make a lot of money on these new "X Metal Collection" pairs to remain profitable with respect to said pairs. Also consider that there is no long term plan to support these, no tune ups of nose bridges and such, which cuts profits on the surface, but if you look closer at the business plan it really just pushes folks to new pairs. This will likely be more profitable than the tune-up revenue approach.Well, this was achieved without resorting to plastic before, why now?
In regards to manufacturing, yes those days are gone. However the release of the new "X Metal Collection" pairs is also breathing new life into the original X-Metal ecosystem. Not just from a valuation perspective, but in that folks are beginning to recognize more value in the original product compared to the newer knock-offs riding the coattails of the X-Metal family name.I admit that probably the days of the X-metal, that gave the original sunglasses their name, are over.