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Oakley History

The history of Oakley is not as long as some would imagine. Oakley are known worldwide for designing cutting edge sports sunglasses, as well as unique urban designs that double up for light sports use too. But Oakley did not start life as a company that designed and manufactured eyewear. In fact, Oakley started life due to one man's passion for Motorcross biking. That man was Jim Jannard. He wanted to invent a motorbike grip that would increase grip with perspiration rather than becoming slippery like conventional grips at the time. The year was 1975, and Jim was a very smart man, he was clearly onto something that was destined to set the sporting world alight, not just participants in Motorcross. The company behind Oakley sunglasses was borne.

Oakley's Unobtanium Sleeves

Well, Jim Jannard was a clever man. His motorcycle grip was made from a material he invented which he called Unobtanium. He took a patent out on his invention, and the very same material is used today in the earsocks of many Oakley Sunglasses. So his invention lead to the creation of sunglasses that did not need to have curly bits behind the ears. Oakley sunglasses rely on the Unobtanium sleeves resting on the side of the head, and increasing grip with perspiration.

Oakley Goes Public

The penultimate step towards sunglasses, was when Oakley Inc. started manufacturing ski-goggles. This catapulted the Oakley brand into maintstream sports, and it was not long before Oakley started producing sports sunglasses, with the first pair being named the Eyeshade. However, not one to miss an opportunity, Jannard's Oakley company spotted a gap in the casual sunglasses market, so Oakley released their first casual sunglasses frame too, called the Oakley Frogskin.

The Oakley sunglasses business was on it's way to becoming the number one choice for sports sunglasses, as well as taking a sizeable chunk of the casual sunglasses market too.

The company quickly went from strength to strength and it was inevitable the company would go public, which they did in 1995, when Mr. Jannard paid himself a nice bonus of £14 million, whilst retaining nearly 65% of the company.
To this day, Oakley continue to push the limits of sunglass technology, not just with the lenses, but with the frames too, and whilst there are many pretenders to the sports sunglasses crown, there is only one true champion, and that is Oakley.