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STPL Collection
Over the years, Oakley has celebrated anniversaries with special releases. These have ranged from logos revivals to entire unique models. I wasn’t collecting in 2000, so I missed the 25th anniversary, but for the 30 year in 2005, there were many new additions. Primarily, the classic thermonuclear logo made a return, giving us apparel items such as the History T, and puffy snow pants. Neon made a return, giving us a brief hope that those vibrant hues would revive the early 90’s, but that soon faded away once the celebrations passed. The main offering of 2005 was the stretchline collection, offered exclusively to ski and surf shops, releasing entirely new models and a variant of the stretch logo on the stems. We will take a deeper look into those later
That said, in 2010 for the 35th anniversary, the offerings were not as grand of a scale. There was a very limited run of 2010 edition grips, which were based off the B1-B’s and were labeled as such, but with a few small alterations. Aside from that, we did get a special line of modifications to certain cutting edge glasses, merged with reimaginings of iconic models from Oakley’s long history. To bring these designs to life, Oakley worked with New York based Jeff Staple of Staple Design to provide color and print alterations to the new line. Jeff Staple, commonly abbreviated ‘STPL’, was majoring in journalism at NYU, but dropped out when he found a passion for design as an intern and instead enrolled at a School of Design. Much like Jim Jannard’s early endeavors, Jeff initially started off creating hand-made items, which were noticed and picked up by local shops. This slowly evolved into a full business while collaborating with many high profile brands.
A total of 6 models were the result of this collaboration and two were initially released on July 13, 2010. The STPL kickoff event was held at Staple’s own Reed Space location in New York City. The first two models were available at that time, with the rest on display. Two more were released on the first of August, and another two on the first of September. The poster proudly announced 1975 as a fine year, displaying a grip that never was produced, and the Eyeshade which didn’t come out until almost a decade later, but what can you do… There was another nice logo, which foreshadowed the retro rerelease to come, as well as the sport specific designs that would provide the inspiration for the line.
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The Jawbone came in a Matte White with Grey lens and striping on the lower orbital and icon area. The design was found in cycling due to the Jawbone’s association with Lance Armstrong’s use of it in the Tour de France. The Holbrook was the least flashy with Polished White, Chrome Iridium lenses and red bolts near the hinges. A slight halftone pattern faded into clear towards the tip of the earstems while combined with the STPL logo, a cue based on snowboarding and fresh powder, inspired by Shaun White’s hand in designing this frame originally. The Jawbone and Holbrook had a wider release and were priced at $225 and $150 respectively. /imgimg-rightimages/Wiki/Dann_STPL_holbrook_sm.jpg" border="0">
Starting with the sports inspire frame options, the Radar was outfitted with a Golf ball pattern print. This came with Green ear socks, two green nose pads, and a green icon. It was paired with a High Intensity Yellow lens, which is usually referred to as just Yellow now, in the Path lens shape. The Radar was a wider release than the rest and retailed for $200.
The final STPL design combined both a unique frame creation and a retro design, that many thought would never return. The Eyeshade was recast and returned with a fuzzy tennis ball orbital. The original stems were kept intact, but the foam brow pads were omitted. The lens accompanying the Eyeshade was rather unique. The primary lens was Emerald, and in addition to the STPL logo in the corner, a giant ‘X’ takes up most of the eyesight area, representing tennis court lines. For usability purposes, a Bronze lens was included in its own box; however the makeup of the frame material would make daily use almost impossible, due to the loose fibers in the tennis motif.
So while not as grand or ambitious as the Stretchline releases, the STPL line gives us a few excellent collectors pieces, as well as a few that would make good lifestyle pairs.
