Oakley has been the most successful sunglasses company in the last 30 years, creating technological breakthroughs, spawning hundreds of imitators and basically re-inventing the concept of sunglasses. So who's behind this global phenomenon, and how is Oakley staying on and over the top?

In 1975, a motorcycle parts salesman named Jim Jannard languished at his dead-end job in California. Along the way, he developed a space-age material he called Unobtanium. This material, synthetic and soft, is slightly sticky and grips to the skin well, and even better when wet. He sold it for motorcycle grips, and it is still used today as ear socks on glasses. He touted the handgrip to his bosses, who weren't interested and told him to continue selling the regular, familiar grips to riders. Frustrated, he quit his job, and with $300 he started Oakley, named after his pet English Setter.

He took a grassroots approach, marketing his grips to local riders at motorcross events. The material was an immediate hit, and in the late 70's, with the BMX scene taking off, he modified the design for them as well.

Oakley was a major success, but it wasn't enough for Jannard. The problem he saw was that the grips were covered by the rider's hands. So, while everybody knew the name Oakley, nobody knew what they were. With massive design ideas in his head, he created a pair of motorcross goggles with his logo prominently displayed. They, too, were a huge hit, but by then the young genius was thinking of sports sunglasses, a market which until then did not exist.

The Birth of a New Kind of Eyewear

At the time, sunglasses were your familiar two lens aviator shades. Jannard developed a goggles-like one lens wrap-around frame that curved around the head. They were called the Eyeshade, and not only were they revolutionary in design and technology, nobody in the world had ever seen anything so strange looking and futuristic. In retrospect they fit right in, along with the mullets, big shoulder pads and hair bands of the 80's!

Orders began trickling in, contrary to what most critics thought of as a weird but dead-end fashion statement. This is because nobody but fans knew what Oakley was actually doing. Through exhaustive research and testing to blend high technology with performance, pro sports stars quickly began to realize how much these sunglasses helped in their game. Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan and David Duval realized in the 1990's the advantage of wearing Oakleys to dramatically increase their performance. Oakley's only limitation is being so far ahead of the game that many people do not understand the massive technological effort behind every pair of shades. But this is changing as more and more sports stars are adopting them, from golfers to cyclists to surfers to mountain climbers.

Extreme Technology

Oakley has not only used technology to build their products they have redefined what sunglasses are. Where sunglasses were once seen exclusively as a cool fashion accessory (though sports glasses did exist with Ray Ban's polarization filters since the 1930's), Oakley has made sports eyewear into a technological marvel. Lightweight, durable and impact resistant, the lens, coatings and frames are all designed with advanced materials, blocking all UV light while creating extensive visual clarity and the contrast needed for athletes. Each pair of Oakley's today can have over a hundred patents built into the frames and lens.

Looking Into the Future

Due to the extreme competition of the sunglass market, Oakley's designers invent new techniques and materials in ultra-secret bunkers. The last few years has introduced not only more advanced sports eyewear, but wearable technology such as MP3 players and cellphone technology. Branching out into shoes, watches and sports clothing with the same technological philosophy, the future is bright for Oakley. What will come onto the market next will be as exciting and astonishing as what they've been inventing for the last few decades!