Robert, you seem to really know your BMX.

Travis-
Make no mistake Fred @american image is the Motocross expert on this site, I just and fill in a tidbit of info here and there.

And yes from 76-82 I was a huge fan...

R

Before O Custom and OCE/OCP, there was BTO. The first three models were Racing Jacket, M Frame, and Half Jacket.

Did you know Romeo was first called Oscar?

"...There, Jannard gave them a privileged glimpse of "Oscar," the first incarnation of the X Metal line, which has since been renamed Romeo..."


R

Mention that in the upcoming Xmetal video. Do you have the source for that quote. I need to start building a proper reference list.

It was in the LA Times article on the previous page. It is also mentioned here in the official press release:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Oakley+Holds+Successful+Preview+of+X+Metal+Sunglass+Line-a018943114

Ding, ding ding....can't get one past Oak!

Cool! And it's worth an Oscar too...

Some interesting little tidbits about the JB, some we know some and some we don't:


http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/07/tour-de-france/oakleys-legacy-runs-deep-tour-de-france_333895


Was the timing reasonable? No. Neither was the expense. We’re not talking hundreds of dollars — think thousands of dollars. Each sunglass cost approximately $10,000 plus hundreds of man-hours.

“The Jawbone protoypes were CNC’d from molded billets of O-matter [Oakley's proprietary frame material] in Austin Texas. We also had to CNC all the hardware, the bolts from aluminum, pins from stainless. We had someone get on a plane, drive to the CNC house, drive back, get back on the plane,” Calilung said.

At least Oakley could control that step of the process. Once his team created the Jawbones, Calilung had to find a way to ship them to Europe. France wouldn’t do. The entire country is on holiday during the Tour.

So, he sent them overseas to Oakley Europe, which passed them off to a courier, who drove Calilung’s two “children” to Brittany and into the hands of Oakley sports marketing guys Steve Blick and Kiko Garcia. Ultimately, Hushovd and George Hincapie had fresh shades to wear at the start of the Tour.

Back in America, Calilung was sure that the “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”-style delivery had failed. UPS had given him the wrong tracking number. He couldn’t reach Blick to confirm, and there was no sign of the $10,000 Jawbones, despite waking up at “dark thirty” to watch the race coverage.

Interesting read.

Known this for a few years when a good friend/coworker passed it along to me, makes telling clients about the jawbone/racing jackets so much more fun!

Awesome read ^^

I don't know if they're referring to the Eyeshades, Blades, Razor Blades or a combination of the three, but interesting numbers they're quoting:


http://www.bikemag.com/news/matter-shades-change/

The cycling-specific glasses were snatched up by the mainstream. Oakley sold between 50,000 and 300,000 pairs per year during the original products’ eight-year production run.

Several people have access to R&D, but Colin isn't one of them. He can only go in with a designer so the half-finished projects can be explained in context.

C-blocking the CEO. Now that's real power.

The Fall Out Collection is a prequel to Max Fearlight. I wonder if the upcoming Toxic Blast will be a prequel to Fall Out.

That's interesting. What places them on a timeline like that? Was there any marketing or commercials done with a Fall Out-like pair?

Via one of the Spanish documents. Page 3 of this:

http://capacitacion.inversionesioca.net/file.php/1/R2_2014_ENG/R2_2014_ENG.pdf

The female Green Tree Frog is named Jade. Could be in reference to the Lens color or Jamin's company J'd (pronounced the same)

Some of Oakley's 2012 Apparel artwork was commissioned to Triggerlab Studios

http://triggerlabstudio.com/oakley-apparel/

Fantastic info!

The logos for the Heaven & Hell collection a few years ago was designed by PHYX CO aka: Masaki Koike.

http://www.phyxco.com/Oakley-Heaven-Hell

Grabbed the full image of the Jade T-Shirt. Only on one site, and it was chopped into several light box parts, but got them all back together.

Nice work Dann.

Interesting Agassi/Oakley info:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/52411/12-things-i-recently-learned-about-andre-agassi-andre-agassi

"During a Davis Cup match in 1992, Agassi wore Oakley sunglasses to cover up his bloodshot eyes and protect his reputation. He cruised past his opponent (who was also hungover in the meaningless match), and neither thought much of it. But when Agassi got home, and a deliveryman asked him to sign for a package, he got a bit of a shock. The founder of Oakley, Jim Jannard, had sent him a red Dodge Viper to thank him for his endorsement. Apparently, the photo of Agassi in Oakleys was picked up in Tennis magazine, and in just a week he’d moved enough product that Jannard wanted to buy him a car."



Colin Baden on why no deal with NFL/NBA:

http://www.nysportsjournalism.com/qa-oakley-markets-in-your-face/

"NYSJ: Among the sports with which Oakley is aligned, why aren't there NBA or NFL spokesmen?

CB: It's hard to have a connection to the NBA when it's not legitimate. We are not a 'team' company. We are an individual athlete company. And we probably always will be. You won't see our logo with the NFL. That's not going to be our deal. With the MLB alliance, it's very specific to the players. It's an intimate relationship with specific individuals. If you look at the PGA, sure 70% of the field wears our eyewear, but there are specific people we talk about. So with the NBA, yes, we had great relationships with notable personalities, like Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan. But Michael came to us through baseball. That's how he got his connection with the brand. Dennis was a great personality, but he fueled controversy, so we said, Why not!? Let's put it on his face! Do we have that today? Would it happen? Probably. We just don't know when. It has to be the right thing that shows it it would succeed."

Good stuff Oak. Thanks.