Although my feelings haven't settled in and I'm not sure where I stand on all this just yet, I thought this would be relevant to the discussion. A while back I got to emailing with a guy who used to be a dealer, and this is a quote from one of his emails.

Yes I was a dealer back when O had soul, before Sunglasshut, Champs, and Finishline. They are nothing like they were. I had a bike shop and 2 apparel stores. Started in 1989 to 2007. I went out because the internet and the Sunglasshuts were flooding the market and of course my name was not as well known as the big box stores.

well, i think for me the thing that may stop me collecting is if funds dont allow, or if i manage to find everything i am looking for.
i only collect vintage and specific pieces at that so if they dry up or prices go crazy then that may influence things coming to a stop, wont mean i dont have loyalty to the brand though, just means i wont buy anything for the sake of collecting.

When Oakley axed the overthetop line (not including Monster Dog or Pup), and also switched their frame commodities from strictly o-matter, wire, x-metal to 'lifestyle' 'active' 'sport', thats when their transformation to what it is now began in my opinion. I used to get excited about when a frame suddenly appeared on their site, but now there is such an over-saturation with meaningless frames and slightly updated frames with newer names. It used to be a frame was released when it was ready to be released, but now it seems like the frame is released after its pictures are 'accidently' leaked, hyped-up, and then announced as scheduled.

Part of it could be that their stuff used to be so futuristic looking and ahead of its time, whereas now I'm desensitized to their stuff the way I am desensitized to something like shockvalue gore in horror movies. I don't see brains and blood exiting the wound after getting shot in the head on the big screen, but rather a person who is wearing a hidden cornsyrup/goop mortar tube on their back that expels the contents in sync with a squib initiation.

Another part of it is that Oakley used to be niche brand. But when your niche there isn't that much money to be made. The benefit of a niche brand is to the consumer willing to spend the extra on the product which has an apparent attention to detail and quality. In an effort to grow the company which is measurably working for them, they stopped being the niche brand that most of us came to know.