By 2005, the 30th anniversary was underway. Bold colors were returning, and the Stretchline collection was posed to become even bigger. Several new models were added, but some of the existing options were tweaked. The first glimpses of the expansion appeared in a small Stretchline catalog that was available at the Ski and Surf shops. Printed on rough card stock, this catalog displayed the new models and updates, and curiously showed a new Fatcat colorway going by the name of Rasta. It was a simple Polished Black frame, but the Heavystretch logo was designed to mimic the colors on the Jamaican flag. Eventually this colorway was listed online, but without any mention of the word Rasta, making this catalog the only place where such a designation was used.
The catalog also showed a drastic change for the Warden. There had been rumors of another Aviator frame coming out due to the success of the Warden, and additionally that it was going to have trigger ear stems similar to the early Blade and Razor Blades. This frame ended up being the Crosshair, but had no triggers, instead having hammer stems like the Warden. Triggers did show up however, and were now on the Warden frames, with generally the same colorways. SKU's remained the same for identical frame colors, but there were also a few new additions. There was a Polished Black frame, but also a Brown Camo with Gold Clear lenses; a lens that generally only appeared on Asian Fit models. The Brown Camo was actually made up of many colors, but when viewed from a distance, they would blend together.
With the appearance of Trigger, the retro throwback wasn't constrained to just that frame. In fact an entire model was resurrected from Oakley's history with the New Razor Blade. This release was reconstructed from the ground up with Oakley's latest technology, from the current O Matter formula to High Definition Optics on a variant of the M Frame Strike lens. In homage to the original, the Heavystretch logo was replaced with true metal icons forming the Classic logo. Five options were created and remained consistent throughout its short lifespan. There was a traditional Polished Black as well as a Polished White with Grey, but the other colorways were bold and reference some of the classic combinations. A Neon Yellow with Fire was a throwback to the Yellow with Orange Mirror colorway, and could be considered an early entry into the Retina Burn category that several other models would use. A Matte Clear replaced what once would have been a Crystal Clear frame, but brought back Blue Iridium in the same tint as early frames. Typically Blue Iridium at the time was more akin to a lighter Ice Iridium, but the classic Blue had an Amber base similar to Fire, providing increased contrast. The last release mimicked the original Razor Blade's ability to swap ear stems. With the original, kits were readily available to allow mismatching brow and stem combinations, but since the New Razor Blade had a fixed pin hinge system and couldn't be customized, a Pink frame was combined with Black earstems to artificially recreate this look. The New Razor Blade was a poor seller, and was soon discontinued, threatening the re-release of further classic models.
Moving beyond just glasses, some Goggles were also included in the general Stretchline collection. Some appeared in the catalog, but most were designated as Stretchline on Oakley's official website. The first releases had the Heavystretch logo on the strap, and often with the Splatter Stretch design in the background. Later on, the Classic Logo was brought back for some retro colorways. Boxes for these goggles still came in the Red design with the same style Stretchline microbags.
Later that summer, Shaun White tried his hand as designing a model. His first attempt resulted in one that was originally going to be named 'Splat', but eventually settled on Montefrio, the name of the street where he grew up. This was a chunky lifestyle frame, with a C5 alloy temple accent providing contrasting color. Initial colors were conservative with two variants of Tortoise, a Black, a White, and a Brown option. Lenses were equally standard, with the exception of the Brown frame, which featured Oakley's experimentation with gradient lenses.
The final Stretchline offerings for 2005 were actually not Stretchline models at all. Two colorways from the general releases were chosen to appear exclusively in the Ski and Surf shops alongside the official models. These releases both came from recent models, and included the Acetate Riddle, and new Square O branded Gascan. The Gascan appeared in early 2005 and was originally going to be a frame called Crystal Merlot, but eventually was renamed to just Grape and paired with a Grey lens. The Riddle release coincided with the Montefrio and came in a Polished Black frame. Its large lens came in Violet Iridium, which at the time was the only way to get this lens since its disappearance years prior when it was called Violet Mirror on Frogskins, Blades and Eyeshades. Both appeared in the Stretchline catalog, making their classification as Stretchline releases official.
Awesome stuff. While many of the old hardcore fans may despise Stretchline for what it is, the Warden and Fatcat really are iconic products in Oakley history given how far the Square O line has progressed. Looking forward to seeing the video.
I love the heck out of Stretchline. Next to vintage and Splice, they have a huge representation in my collection. Like you said, Square O gobbled them up, but it was such a sweet spot in Oakley's history, and sort of the final era before people got a bit fed up.
As for the Warden, I have a Pink Camo one which was a prototype. This one has Black Iridium lenses, which never officially appeared on the Warden actually. Maybe you can do something with it...
Oh, and if someone stumbles across some Grape Juice Twitches, let me know. I need a pair of those :)
I've often wondered if the two camo monster dogs felt under the stretchline category. At the time they were released, my OPD tried to get them for me for weeks, not to say months, but Oakley rep kept telling him they were reserved for "hardcore shops" like ski and surf shops. So I they were treated like Stretchline models, but not part of the line I presume.
By the way, I can remind that the whole Stretch line was grouped on a side part of the main website. While the main website was all black design, the "stretchline" category could be found by adding /surf to the URL and the design was more "surf" with blue white template colors.
Here's another cool one. It's a factory polished clear Fatcat (not a Whiskey frame that was cleared). There also exists one that's matte clear...that one's super cool.
Two athlete exclusives were created in contrasting color schemes in order to accent the HeavyStretch logo. The first was all White with Black accents, and the second was Black with Pink accents.
There were actually three. The third one was a black frame with neon green script logos and green earsocks. Black Iridium lenses like the others.
I remember Nick Salazar (Airborne) was big into the one-off Crosshairs/Wardens and had some great photos of them, but his collection page is blank now. Maybe the photos still lie in the threads somewhere. Oak, beam up your super search powers!
Another year went by, and two more models were released into the Stretchline collection. These models were essentially the same, with only height being the main difference. The Twitch and Eye Patch had jagged ear stems, and boxy flat orbitals, firmly placing them in the lifestyle category.
I think based curve was a big difference as well. I think EP was 8.75 while Twitch was 6-base. Someone can verify for me (momma Oak commandeered my Twitch, so don't have it on hand to compare).
So the Oakley text that’s on the old school riveted aluminum cabinets. That’s called stretchline ? That text and the Factory Pilot text are my favourite.