clothing sports equipment founded 1975 founder jim jannard headquarters foothill ranch california united states key people jim jannard chairman 1 andrea dorigo president parent luxottica group s.p.a. website www.oakley.com the oakley headquarters in august 2010 . oakley in west edmonton mall . oakley inc. based in lake forest california and a subsidiary of italian company luxottica designs develops and manufactures sports performance equipment and lifestyle pieces including sunglasses sports visors ski snowboard goggles watches apparel backpacks shoes optical frames and other accessories . most items are designed in house at their head office but some countries hold exclusive designs relevant to their market . oakley currently holds more than 600 patents for eyewear materials and performance gear . 2 contents 1 history 2 technical innovation 3 references 4 external links history edit oakley was started by james jannard in 1975 out of his garage with an initial investment of 300 . the name oakley came from jim s english setter oakley anne . jannard began by selling what he called the oakley grip out of the back of his car at motocross events . his motorcycle grips were unlike other grips available at the time using a patented material known as unobtainium unobtanium a unique creation by jannard . the material is still used to make the earsocks on oakley glasses and many of the nose pieces and now the bands of their watches . oakley went on to produce number plates gloves grips elbow guards chin guards and goggles for the bmx and motocross communities . 3 in 1980 jannard released a pair of goggles called the o frame . with the oakley logo present on the strap the brand garnered increasing recognition and prominence throughout the sports industry . 4 in 1983 oakley began selling ski goggles . 5 the first oakley sunglasses ; factory pilot eyeshades were sport oriented resembling goggles and were released in 1984 . these were followed in 1985 by the oakley frogskin a casual sunglass style that was made in japan . 3 the company went public in 1995 raising 230 million . 6 in early 1996 oakley had a pricing dispute with italian company luxottica the world s largest eyewear manufacturers and retailers . luxottica stopped carrying oakley s products in their stores including sunglass hut and oakley s stock market value declined 33 % . 7 8 in 2001 oakley bought iacon inc. operator of mall based sunglasses stores sunglass designs sporting eyes and occhiali da sole . 9 oakley signed a four year agreement to manufacture eyewear designed by themselves and fox racing in september 2004 . 10 starting in 2004 jannard bought large quantities of oakley stock 2 million in 2004 16 million in 2005 and 4.6 million in early 2006 bringing his personal stake in the company to 63 % . 11 in 2006 oakley acquired the oliver peoples group a manufacturer of high end fashion branded eyewear under the oliver peoples mosley tribes and paul smith brands for 55.7 m 12 and optical shop of aspen a luxury eyewear retailer with fourteen stores . 13 on june 21 2007 luxottica announced a plan to purchase oakley in a cash deal worth 2.1 billion paying a 16 % premium over the extant share price . 14 the deal was completed on november 15 2007 making oakley part of a portfolio that includes brands such as ray ban persol and vogue . 15 16 during the preparations for the ultimately successful rescue of thirty three miners trapped for ten weeks in a chilean mine in october 2010 a journalist covering the story contacted oakley about donating sunglasses to the rescue effort aware that the miners would need eye protection after having spent weeks in darkness . oakley donated 35 pairs of its radar sports glasses fitted with specially selected tints . 17 oakley sponsored members of the us olympic team in 2012 . 18 in august 2013 oakley sold its revo brand to sequential brands for 20m . 19 20 21 technical innovation edit most of oakley s technological designs fashion pieces gear etc. were developed with extensive athlete input and testing in the field including extreme conditions . oakley also maintains us standard issue which provides u.s. military and law enforcement eye protection . oakley m frame sunglasses are included as part of the u.s. army s authorized protective eyewear list apel and have been assigned a nsn number for ordering through military supply channels . 22 the company has also built at least one golf hovercraft intended as an all terrain replacement for conventional golf carts in partnership with the professional golfer bubba watson . references edit oakley profile . investor.oakley.com . retrieved april 19 2012 . oakley company profile . retrieved july 31 2016 . a b caldwell michael 11 july 2014 . the unknown billionaires the life stories of 50 self made men and women . ebookpartnership.com . pp. 84 89 . isbn 978 0 9784620 8 6 . oakley history . oakley.com . retrieved april 19 2012 . oakley inc. . retrieved june 9 2010 . leibowitz ed . la times a trip to planet oakley . la times . retrieved november 4 2012 . sticker shock why are glasses so expensive . 60 minutes . cbs news . october 7 2012 . retrieved october 19 2012 . history of oakley inc. fundinguniverse . fundinguniverse.com . retrieved 2013 08 13 . oakley to buy iacon a sunglasses retail chain . deseret news . 2001 09 24 . retrieved 2013 08 13 . fox racing signs sunglasses deal with oakley . bicycle retailer . september 7 2004 april 2012 summers graham june 27 2007 . why the oakley buyout was no surprise . s & a digest . oakley acquires oliver peoples a leading fashion eyewear brand nyse oo . globenewswire.com . retrieved 2013 08 13 . oakley buys us luxury chain optical shop of aspen . optician online . 2006 03 15 . retrieved 2013 08 13 . luxottica s shade less deal with oakley . forbes . retrieved 2013 08 13 . luxottica acquires rival oakley in us 2.1 billion deal ; creates global eyewear superforce . themoodiereport.com . retrieved 2013 08 13 . schweikart larry ; pierson doti lynne 2009 . american entrepreneur the fascinating stories of the people who defined business in the united states . amacom div american mgmt assn. pp. 15 16 . isbn 978 0 8144 1412 5 . sports sunglasses can aid chilean miners transition . fox news channel . associated press . october 13 2010 . retrieved october 14 2010 . oakley and olympic gold medalist kerri walsh reveal beyond reason installation . marketing weekly news via highbeam research subscription required . july 7 2012 . kari hamanaka . oakley sells revo brand for 20m orange county business journal . ocbj.com . retrieved 2013 08 13 . young vicki m. 5 august 2013 . sequential buys revo brand from oakley inc. . wwd . retrieved 5 august 2013 . sequential brands group announces acquisition of the revo brand . sequentialbrandsgroup.com . sequential brands group . retrieved 28 may 2015 . transforming the defense industrial base a roadmap . diane publishing . 2003 . pp. 27 30 . isbn 978 1 4289 8277 2 . external links edit official website oakley inc. at the wayback machine archived december 24 1996 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title oakley inc. & oldid 743895652 categories sunglasseseyewear brandscompanies established in 1975companies based in lake forest californiasurfwear brandsluxotticahidden categories subscription required using viapages containing links to subscription only contentarticles with wayback machine links navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages deutschespa olfran ais italiano portugu s suomi edit links this page was last modified on 11 october 2016 at 22 02 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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