Oakley

Oakley is one of the world's leading suppliers of innovative eyewear design. Its best-known products are sunglasses, sports goggles, ski goggles and prescription eyewear. The target group are athletes who see the impossible as just one of many challenges. The attitude of these athletes inspires Oakley to tackle problems, solve them through innovation and elegantly combine ingenuity with art.

Oakley was founded in 1975 and has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible and beyond for over thirty years. Jim Jannard, founder of the company, firmly believed that all could be done better and created an innovative motorcycle grip made from Unobtainium. The ingenious grips were not more slippery in the wet, but grippier. This was a real innovation in the racing scene and is still relevant today. Jannard generated his first sales by selling the grips directly from the trunk of his car. The name Oakley comes from Jim's dog, an English Setter.

Despite the unique features of the grips, sales were slow, as the grips were not visible under the driver's hands and therefore had very little advertising impact. A new product was needed and Jim launched a pair of bicycle motocross goggles called 'O Frame' in 1980. Thanks to the classic Oakley logo on the strap, potential customers were finally able to recognize the Oakley brand. The logo on the elastic strap made Oakley famous in the sports world. In 1984, Oakley introduced the 'Factory Pilot'. Tour de France winner Greg LeMond and other professional (cyclists) made the glasses world-famous in 1986. A short time later, Oakley introduced further sunglasses models that offered a real interchangeable lens system for the first time. Oakley went public in 1995 and by the turn of the century, the brand was already one of the best known in the sports eyewear segment worldwide. In 2006, Oakley acquired Oliver Peoples and a year later, Italian eyewear giant Luxottica bought Oakley in a deal worth $2.1 billion.

Today, the Oakley team includes big names in competitive sports, including Shaun White, Ichiro Suzuki, Dorien Walker, Lance Armstrong, Ricky Carmichael, James 'Bubba' Steward and Gretchen Bleiler. Decades of innovation have brought Oakley new product technology and more than 600 patents. Today, Jannard's brand is excellent and the solution for anyone who doesn't want to compromise on power.