New Generation Oakleys

[swordfishtrombones]

It's the same with almost any other industry or brand—clothing, cars, watches, food—regardless of whether Luxottica exists or not.

 

[Cactuar]

Kinda funny reading the comments here about how the post-Luxottica Oakleys are 'cheesy' when I feel like a lot of people back in 2005-2006 when I bought my first pair of Oakleys were saying the same thing. I guess with how fashion trends are these days, that 90s' style that Oakleys were apart of are cool again and everyone's getting back on the Oakley's bandwagon.

FWIW, I love the new releases. First and foremost, Oakleys to me are performance eyewear so I wear these when I'm out running or doing paddle sports. They look great, and they definitely perform better than some of the older stuff. I love the old Eye Jackets, but if I had to choose between that and the Radar Plate/Encoders for what I do, I'll take the new stuff just because I think they fit and feel better, and perform better when under stress. The Eye Jackets are what I would wear if I'm just out on the streets.

 

[kepler22b]

Kinda funny reading the comments here about how the post-Luxottica Oakleys are 'cheesy' when I feel like a lot of people back in 2005-2006 when I bought my first pair of Oakleys were saying the same thing. I guess with how fashion trends are these days, that 90s' style that Oakleys were apart of are cool again and everyone's getting back on the Oakley's bandwagon.

FWIW, I love the new releases. First and foremost, Oakleys to me are performance eyewear so I wear these when I'm out running or doing paddle sports. They look great, and they definitely perform better than some of the older stuff. I love the old Eye Jackets, but if I had to choose between that and the Radar Plate/Encoders for what I do, I'll take the new stuff just because I think they fit and feel better, and perform better when under stress. The Eye Jackets are what I would wear if I'm just out on the streets.

I'm not sure that it's so much that the new designs are "cheesy" (in my opinion anyway), I think it's more that there has been a general drop in the quality of the frames post acquisition. I actually agree with you that some of the new designs are actually really cool (Clifden, Plazma, etc) and they are great for their purpose. However they are definitely playing everything a lot safer in terms of the new designs they come out with, kind of losing what made Oakley great to begin with.

 

[Cactuar]

I'm not sure that it's so much that the new designs are "cheesy" (in my opinion anyway), I think it's more that there has been a general drop in the quality of the frames post acquisition. I actually agree with you that some of the new designs are actually really cool (Clifden, Plazma, etc) and they are great for their purpose. However they are definitely playing everything a lot safer in terms of the new designs they come out with, kind of losing what made Oakley great to begin with.

100% on the quality part. My Juliets are so different compared to what's coming out these days. I think for the most part they aren't trying to be too wild with their designs, though I was happy that they were at least trying to break that trend with the Plantaris, which I think look and feel great when I'm out on the water.

 

[1le]

I can see why people mention their new lens sometimes comes with finger prints. Mine had smudges where the arms connect to the lens on my encoder. Not a lot, but enough for me to questions if these were returned/used…and sent to me by Oakley.

 

[CatchaWave]

I wanna talk about a little polemic topic because I didn’t see anyone talking about it. For old Oakley collector (anyone who own Oakleys made before Luxxotica Oakley acquisition), what do y’all think about the new generation Oakleys (after Luxxotica purchased Oakley)?
I personally think Oakleys were better before Luxxotica in my opinion, let me stress this, IN MY OPINION.
There was not so much new or technological sunglasses after a big business purchased a well known brand to be honest, kinda the opposite, they just started doing mostly plastic sunglasses.
I wanna know your opinion about it!
What do you think about newer sunglasses like plantaris and are the old sunglasses that still in production like Holbrook and Frogskin still have good quality or Oakley “lowered” their standards?
New to Oakley so I wanna hear from more experienced Oakley collectors.
Just curious to hear from y’all!

Neoteric Nick here, peace, out!

I agree with your opinion 100%. I used to be an absolute Oakley Fanboy but since around 2007 -2010 my excitement for all things Oakley has definitely waned. The quality, to me, has gone downhill and the Warranty is garbage compared to what it used to be. I have around 40 pairs of Oakleys and of the ones from the last century, only 1 or 2 pairs have had delamination or other issues with the lenses. A good percentage of my "newer" Oakleys have had lens issues. IMO the designs are less exciting but that is a different thing and not exactly something that would keep me from purchasing, especially as I grow older and don't necessarily dress as "crazy" as I used to. The quality, or lack of it is very disappointing and also frustrating as now I find myself putting Revant & Fuse Lenses into my Oakleys. That should NEVER happen.

 

[corusa]

Don't think anything in their current line up is very exciting. The Plantaris comes close to hitting the same mark as what the design team was doing in the 90s, but feels... forced?

 

[Zeach]

Don't think anything in their current line up is very exciting. The Plantaris comes close to hitting the same mark as what the design team was doing in the 90s, but feels... forced?

I wish I didn't agree with you, but I do. The Plantaris did feel forced like it was just put out so they could say 'see we are still the same Oakley'. You can see that now they just force styles that are easy to manufacture and can be pumped out at a small cost. I really like a lot of the 'fast' shades they used to make and still wear them daily. The hydra and the eye jacket redux are the only newer models I even will wear (plantaris as well) But they are far from my favorites..

 

[SingleservingJoe]

I wanna talk about a little polemic topic because I didn’t see anyone talking about it. For old Oakley collector (anyone who own Oakleys made before Luxxotica Oakley acquisition), what do y’all think about the new generation Oakleys (after Luxxotica purchased Oakley)?
I personally think Oakleys were better before Luxxotica in my opinion, let me stress this, IN MY OPINION.
There was not so much new or technological sunglasses after a big business purchased a well known brand to be honest, kinda the opposite, they just started doing mostly plastic sunglasses.
I wanna know your opinion about it!
What do you think about newer sunglasses like plantaris and are the old sunglasses that still in production like Holbrook and Frogskin still have good quality or Oakley “lowered” their standards?
New to Oakley so I wanna hear from more experienced Oakley collectors.
Just curious to hear from y’all!

Neoteric Nick here, peace, out!

Not only did Sux inherit Oakley Loyalists and businesses like the NFL and MLB but they got the collectors, the built in fanbase, that when their other **** is tanking on the bottom line, they can reproduce a “muzm” and level it off, it was a smart move, In my opinion it breaks every Fair Market and Anti-trust law made to combat the making of a monopoly, but, it makes money and pays taxes so, there’s that.

 

[corusa]

The old designs all had a sense of elegance to them. All the curves and lines flowed intentionally around the frames. In comparison, the Plantaris feels cobbled together. It has a lot of elements that harken back to old designs, but they're smashed together and aren't unified.

Tldr Peter Yee needs to make a return.