Oakley Sunglass company produces some of the most sought after eyewear in the world. They are worn by the most premier athletes in the world and are the eyewear supplier to the United States Military and police forces around the country. On more days than not, you can walk into the Oakley headquarters and a member of the police force or military will be there getting outfitted in the most advanced and the safest optics available.
The in-house R&D team tests and abuses all products in the Oakley line to make sure they surpass every regulation and requirement. Through their testing and prototyping, that is done right in Foothill Ranch, California, Oakley has been able to patent over 600 features on their eyewear. Their high-end X-Metal frames (featured in the video above) are manufactured at another company-owned US facility, and are proof of the power that in-house manufacturing can have. They are a culmination of a state-of-the-art process that has yielded a truly revolutionary material. It would not have been possible, nor would the confidentiality of the process be promised had they relied on outsourcing.
Oakley still manufactures most of their plastic frames at the Foothill Ranch facility, but recently have sent wire-frames and prescription frames overseas. Hopefully situations can change and Oakley will be able to bring those products back to made domestically.
As soon as you walk into the Foothill Ranch headquarters you will take notice that it’s no ordinary facility. It’s on lock-down with many security check-points. There used to be tours of the headquarters available that would talk about the process and technologies, as well as a spin through R&D, but most all of the production areas were off-limits.
