its weird normally all the fake stuff is made in Thailand when the real stuff is made in America or UK or something.
I wonder where all the fake eyewear is made?

Alexis Watkins (LEX7 - 11/4/2004 8:29:06 PM)
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Yes, most of the Oakley bags have the "Made in Thailand, Indonesia, Korea" tag on them. But you can generally tell the fake ones with the real ones, and Oakley would probably have safeguards to prevent any of the workers from leaking any of the designs, materials, etc to the outside world.

Counterfeit eyewear can be most likely sourced from Asia, Oakley has had several busts there, however it's a neverending battle.

James Lenz (JL - 11/5/2004 12:00:48 AM)
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When i first looked at the Torpedo/Metal Vaults when they came out, I thought they were going to be made in the USA like the X-Metal Vaults. Turns out there's a "Made in China" on the bottom of these. Don't get me wrong these are still good vaults.

James Lenz (JL - 11/5/2004 3:33:43 AM)
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I had a friend that recently went to Thailand, he told me that there are just loads and loads of counterfeit Oakley goods, from bags to sunglasses they are all readily available. The truth is tourists buy these things and bring them back claiming to be real, and i just cringe when they end up on ebay and some person is paying the price for a real item when it's really fake.

James Lenz (JL - 11/5/2004 7:18:19 AM)
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ALL of the eyewear should be from the US apart from maybe a couple of the early titanium frames. ALL wires and o-matter frames are made at HQ and x-metal at the x-metal factory in Nevada.

Roger Byrne (SCOOBY - 11/5/2004 7:43:48 AM)
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Thats one of the reasons why I have refrained from buying any O-matter glasses and stuck with Wires and X-metals.

Leo Wong (DarkGrieverX - 11/5/2004 8:10:30 PM)
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What's your reason for staying away from O-Matter? I don't get it.

E C (EastCoast - 11/5/2004 8:36:21 PM)
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Oops forgot to elaborate. Meant to say that at least I can be sure (I hope) that X-metals are made in the US. Some of the plastics like the Twenties, its very hard to tell if they are real or a fake made in like Thailand.

Leo Wong (DarkGrieverX - 11/5/2004 11:38:13 PM)
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I think it's "easy" to tell the fake twenties, safest thing to do is buy them from the store.

James Lenz (JL - 11/6/2004 3:30:45 AM)
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Did anyone notice that the Thump is assembled in Singapore? So where is it made?

Cal Fong (o-xide - 11/24/2004 12:23:58 PM)
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Hi Cal, I haven't been out to see Thum yet, but is there like most Oakley sunnies, a Made in USA, etc on the arm? I'm guessing that the assebled in Singapore part is printed in the book.

My guess is the glass is made in USA and the components have been sorced from Asia.

James Lenz (JL - 11/24/2004 6:49:11 PM)
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They say assembled in Singapore on the inside of the left earstem.

Ed Chiu (eddyc - 11/24/2004 7:24:27 PM)
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The lenses may still be cut here in the states. As well as molding some of the parts. Knida like Gap jeans - made of US material, assembled in Mexico.

Phil Barket (kingphilbert - 11/25/2004 10:35:10 AM)
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I was just having a look closely at this, I haven't seen the real thing yet, but can some one fill me in on what is printed below the "Oakley Thump"? Ed says the "assembled in" is on the Left earstem, but this is a picture of the Right.




James Lenz (JL - 11/27/2004 9:51:56 AM)
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It says "Oakley Design USA" on the right earstem.

Thomas S (Thomas64 - 11/27/2004 1:34:07 PM)
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Aha, an explanation for the mysterious price increase at last! So do you mean they were produced elsewhere initially and are now produced in the US resulting in a price hike?

Also, regarding Half Wires, do you know why the nose pads were changed from Unobtainium to clear? I have an older pair, and I prefer the larger, softer Unobtainium to the new style.

Ed Chiu (eddyc - 12/3/2004 8:05:19 AM)
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Well from what I understand, several of the components for the Half-Wire are made in Italy, and I guess there were some overseas production issues that forced Oakley to up the price 20 dollars to make up for the extra cost in producing the glasses and importing those components.

And I believe the reason why they nixed the old unobtainium nosepads in favor of the traditional clear silicone pads was just to make a glass growing in popularity a little more universal for earsock/nosepad replacement jobs. I know it made my job easier when someone came in looking for nosepads for their Half-Wire and I could actually say "Why yes, we have some right here" rather than, "No, but I think you can call our corporate headquarters and have them send you some..."

People are all about the here and now. I'd say that the "Maybe you can call corporate and have them send you 2 little hard-to-find pieces of rubber" line lost them a lot of $9 earsock/nosepad replacement kit sales and they decided to simplify the process. Smart move on their part.

Mad Science (LetsGoO - 12/5/2004 3:53:45 AM)
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i was surprised to see 'made in indonesia' label on the split crater sandal i saw in a local surf shop which's having a sale on everthing inside.

i bought it in the end anyways, for a quite bargain at $30, since they seem proper authentic and i trust oakley's quality control. :D

They tried to manufacture the footwear in the US at first, but it's cost prohibitive, so they had to move it overseas where the labor's cheaper.

I ordered my first pair of black SI boots the day they came out from O.com and they had a "made in America" tag on them but my night camo SI boots were made in China....

I'm sure the first few batches matched what they produced for the military in the states before they moved the consumer versions overseas.

I got a case included with one of my ebay buys called an Accucase. It's made just like the Ballistic Case but is shaped differently & has a built-in belt clip & it was made in the USA. I just checked my Torpedo case & sure enough, it's China time! Just a smidgen of irony for your Friday afternoon.

Timebomb's and Torpedo's made in China.....uh-oh....

Beware of something called the Oakley ICBM manufactured in N. Korea