Oakley, Inc.

Oakley, Inc.
Information
Industry	Eyewear, sports equipment
Founded	1975
Founder	Jim Jannard
Headquarters	Foothill Ranch, California, United States
Notable Personnel	Jim Jannard (founder), Colin Baden (chief executive in 2012)
Products	Sunglasses, goggles, prescription eyewear, Thump, RAZRWire, Airwave, Radar Pace, Oakley Meta HSTN, Oakley Meta Vanguard
Parent	EssilorLuxottica
Website	https://www.oakley.com

Oakley, Inc. is an American maker of sport sunglasses, goggles and prescription eyewear, headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California. Jim Jannard started the business in 1975 with 300 US dollars and named it after his English Setter, Oakley Anne. Luxottica Group bought the company in November 2007 for a total purchase price of about 2.1 billion US dollars, and Oakley became a wholly owned subsidiary. Luxottica is now part of EssilorLuxottica.

Oakley has sold electronic eyewear since the mid-2000s. Its products include the Thump MP3 sunglasses (2004), the RAZRWire Bluetooth sunglasses made with Motorola (2005), the Airwave snow goggle with a head-up display from Recon Instruments (2012), and the Radar Pace voice-coaching glasses developed with Intel (2016). Since 2025 the brand has been part of the Meta Platforms and EssilorLuxottica smart glasses partnership, which produced the Oakley Meta HSTN and the Oakley Meta Vanguard, camera glasses with the Meta AI assistant.

Reviewed 13 October 2026. Corporate history, acquisition terms, quotes and electronic eyewear dates, prices and specs checked against the cited SEC filings, press releases and press reports. About review dates.

History

Founding and public company

According to the Orange County Business Journal, Jannard first sold motocross accessories from the trunk of his car. His first successful product was a motorcycle grip meant to hold better in wet conditions, followed by racing goggles and then sunglasses; the Oakley Eyeshades of 1984 marked the move into eyewear. The company's own annual report gives a slightly different corporate history: the current Oakley, Inc., a Washington corporation, was formed in March 1994 to take over the assets and liabilities of an earlier California corporation of the same name, which "commenced operations in 1977 and began to sell sunglasses in 1984."

Oakley went public in 1995. In 1997 it opened a 550,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing building at One Icon in Foothill Ranch, which Jannard helped design and which the company still uses. In its report for 2006 the company described itself as a maker of "performance optics products including premium sunglasses, prescription eyewear, goggles, and electronically enabled eyewear." It also owned or licensed other eyewear brands, including Oliver Peoples, Fox, Dragon and Eye Safety Systems, and ran its own retail chains. Net sales for 2006 were 761.9 million US dollars, and Jannard, then chairman, owned a majority of the stock. He had stepped down as chief executive in 2005.

Luxottica and EssilorLuxottica

On 20 June 2007 Oakley and Luxottica Group announced that Luxottica would acquire all Oakley shares for 29.30 US dollars each in cash, about 2.1 billion US dollars in total. In the announcement Jannard, described as "Founder, Chairman and Chief Mad Scientist", said that "Oakley will continue to be Oakley but with much greater resources." The merger closed on 14 November 2007, and Oakley's shares stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Luxottica Group is now part of EssilorLuxottica, which owns Oakley today.

Luxottica's ownership tied Oakley to several smart eyewear projects. In March 2014 Google said it would work with Luxottica on frames for Google Glass, initially focusing on the Oakley and Ray-Ban brands; Google's post added that "You're not going to see Glass on your favorite Oakleys or Ray-Bans tomorrow." In December 2014 Intel and Luxottica announced a multiyear research collaboration on smart eyewear; the release named Ray-Ban and Oakley among Luxottica's house brands. That alliance produced the Oakley Radar Pace in 2016. The later partnership between EssilorLuxottica and Meta brought the Oakley brand into Meta's AI glasses line in 2025.

Products

Optics products made up 72.6 percent of Oakley's net sales in 2006, and the company also sold apparel, footwear, watches and accessories. The table lists only its electronic and connected eyewear.

Product	Year	Partner	Description
Thump	2004	None	Sunglasses with a built-in MP3 player (128 or 256 MB) and speakers on pivoting booms; 395 and 495 US dollars at launch
RAZRWire	2005	Motorola	Bluetooth sunglasses for phone calls; 294.99 US dollars through Cingular Wireless
Airwave	2012	Recon Instruments	Snow goggle with a head-up display, GPS and Bluetooth; 599 US dollars
Airwave 1.5	2013	Recon Instruments	Updated Airwave with a faster processor, more memory and Wi-Fi
Radar Pace	2016	Intel	Voice-coaching sunglasses for runners and cyclists, without a display; 449 US dollars
Oakley Meta HSTN	2025	Meta Platforms	AI camera glasses with 3K video; from 399 US dollars
Oakley Meta Vanguard	2025	Meta Platforms	Wraparound sport AI glasses with a 12 MP, 122-degree camera and IP67 rating; 499 US dollars

Thump and RAZRWire

New Atlas reported in November 2004 that the Thump would reach the United States for the December holiday season, with a wider launch planned for 2005. The electronics sat in an O Matter frame, with five buttons on the earstem, and the speakers were mounted on booms that could swing away from the ears. It played MP3, WMA and WAV files, connected to a computer over USB 2.0, and its battery was rated for about six hours of playback. Phys.org reported that Lance Armstrong had the Thump at the Tour de France.

New Atlas reported in July 2005 that the RAZRWire would go on sale in early August 2005 at select Cingular Wireless stores and online through Cingular, Motorola and Oakley. Oakley supplied the frame and optics, and Motorola supplied a Bluetooth module with a range of up to 30 feet from the phone and more than five hours of talk time. Oakley's 2006 annual report said its Bluetooth eyewear "was developed in collaboration with Motorola, Inc." and that its electronic eyewear was made by third-party manufacturers.

Airwave

The Airwave snow goggle combined Oakley's goggle with a head-up display developed by Recon Instruments, which also included GPS, Bluetooth and onboard sensors. It went on sale on 31 October 2012 for 599 US dollars, and it was the first time Oakley's performance optics were sold in select Apple stores and on Apple.com. The display sat in front of the right eye and used a prism so that its image appeared as a 14-inch screen about five feet away. It showed jump statistics, speed, altitude, distance and vertical descent, located the wearer and friends on a resort map, displayed incoming calls and texts from a paired phone, and controlled music through a glove-friendly wireless remote. Oakley chief executive Colin Baden said the goggle "utilizes cutting-edge electronics to give skiers and riders instant access to a world of information." Engadget identified the display as Recon's MOD Live module and noted that left-eye-dominant users might not get the clearest picture.

The Airwave 1.5 was announced in October 2013. Lowyat.NET reported that it moved from a 600 MHz ARM Cortex-A8 to a 1.0 GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4 processor, from 256 MB to 1 GB of RAM and from 512 MB to 2 GB of storage, and added Wi-Fi and Facebook message viewing. Battery life stayed at about five to six hours, and the price was about 650 US dollars.

Radar Pace

The Radar Pace, built on Oakley's existing Radar frame, was announced in September 2016 at 449 US dollars and was due to ship on 1 October in the United States and other countries. PCWorld reported that it came out of a two-year alliance between Luxottica and Intel, with Intel developing the core technology. The glasses have no screen. A coaching system that Intel and Oakley developed together talks to the wearer through earphones, and the wearer can ask questions through a three-microphone array. It took distance from the phone's GPS and paired with Bluetooth heart rate monitors, weighed 56 grams, was rated IPX5 for water resistance, and had a companion app for iOS and Android. Engadget gave its battery life as about four hours with music or six hours without.

Oakley Meta

Meta announced the Oakley Meta line on 20 June 2025, describing it as an expansion of its partnership with EssilorLuxottica "to build upon another iconic, global brand." The first model, the Oakley Meta HSTN, is based on Oakley's HSTN frame. It records 3K video and is rated for up to eight hours of typical use, with a charging case that adds up to 48 hours. A 499 US dollar limited edition opened for preorder on 11 July 2025 and went on sale on 22 July. The standard models, from 399 US dollars, opened for preorder on 19 August and reached stores on 26 August 2025, with Oakley PRIZM and Transitions lens options.

The Oakley Meta Vanguard was announced at Meta Connect on 17 September 2025 and went on sale on 21 October 2025 at 499 US dollars. It has a wraparound design with PRIZM lenses, Oakley's Three-Point Fit nose pads, a 12 MP camera with a 122-degree lens, IP67 dust and water resistance and integration with Garmin devices and Strava. In April 2026 Vision Monday reported that the Vanguard was available with Transitions lenses for the first time. Like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, neither Oakley Meta model has a display.

XR work

Most of Oakley's electronic eyewear has been audio or camera glasses rather than display devices. The exception is the Airwave goggle, a consumer head-up display for skiers and snowboarders that showed location, speed and jump data on a small display in front of the right eye. The Radar Pace used voice instead of a display, and the Oakley Meta glasses rely on a camera, open-ear speakers and a voice assistant. Through its parent company, Oakley was named as one of the first brands for Google Glass frames in 2014 and is now one of the brands in Meta's AI glasses lineup alongside Ray-Ban.

See also

• EssilorLuxottica
• Recon Instruments
• Smart glasses
• Ray-Ban Meta