When is Jim going to post on here?

I am as skeptical as the rest of you, but if you are familiar with Salomon shoes, there was concern when they "merged" with their competitior, Adidas. However, the shoes are better now than ever... just trying to be optimistic.

i don't think he will.
maybe ..

maybe to tell us good bye. ?

Hey Marcel pass me another beer

Good idea!!!!
I REALLY hope that this merger does not kill everything we love about OAKLEY. Does this mean that we will start seeing OAKLEY ideas/technology in R**B** and other glasses???

maybe, hope not

I know its never going to happen, but if JJ started a little sunglass business I would be beating a path to his door. Ooooh yeah, Oakley is JJ. Where will we be without him.

We all thought things were getting a little too mainstream before, sheesh. Suppose we should have seen this coming. Trying to be optimistic, they may try to develop oakley as their hard core brand and we will all reap the benefits. Time will tell.

PS, before I even knew any of this had happened I logged in and saw the new banner and it almost brought a tear to my eye, thinking back to the good old days.

Ho hum, maybe I will start collecting toby jugs.

I am going out to the gun range later today. I think my buddy has an old pair of R**B** in his basement. I will get them and take them to the range.........where I will shoot the S*** out of them. I will post pics of the bullet riddled enemy after.LOL.
But seriously.....I will do it and post pics.

Ok,lets try to keep this on topic please.

I hope that LUX wont interfere with Oakley that much...

I'm incredibly saddened by this, but we should all try and think positively.

What if Suxottica was like "Crap, Oakley owns us in quality/style, etc, Maybe we should pump our resources into them and let them do what they've always wanted to"

I mean, they definately have the money to let Oakley run wild, and I think if they supplied it to the research team as soon as possible, they might even be able to retain the loyal following that Oakley has.

Here's hoping....

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Oakley just flatlined.

I dont know if any of you remember when Volkswagen bought Skoda but it just occurred to me that this deal is the optical equivelant of Skoda buying Volkswagen (in quality terms that is)

I completely agree, that webcast gave me shivers... it sounded so evil, and doom-impending. So now they want to make some Wires and acetates in China?

Does anyone know when this will be in effect? Because I want to finish up and get all of the wires I was planning on getting before they start being made there.

And do you guys think they will shut out the X-Metal line, that practically defines Oakley?

Is Suxottica not a company, thats product is actually other companies? Am i getting it wrong?

Camo > I don't understand your question.

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So now they want to make some Wires and acetates in China now?

Hopefully not a big surprise, but some metals (Rx) and I thought a few Acetate frames were already made overseas.

i think that the question is are they not just a parent company that has now real production capabilitys.

Suxottica is a group right? A group made up of many companies?

If so, i would think, they would purchase companies dealing in similar products. Exploit the best of all those companies to greater benifit the group and not the indvidual companies? In this, incorporating O's superior technologies in Crap-Ban etc. By doing this, again i would think, Oakley Technologies in Crap-Ban, Arnette ann D&G etc styles?

I cant see this being a good thing, not in anyway. In all aspects of the product, from employee to consumer, this will be bad.

So now they want to make some Wires and acetates in China now?

What they admitted to was that 100% of O's lens are made "in house" BUT 30% of O's all frames are now manufactured in China via a third party. Nearly all the metals, and most of the womens line and some Block frames like Montefrio were stated to be made in China.

Lux has major manufacturing plants in China which can result in additional cost savings by manufacturing the frames "In House""In China".

To be honest, Lux's Chinese frames have recently had excellent quality, and less defects than their Italian plants I have heard. O's Chinese frames have also been well made.

Suxottica is a group right? A group made up of many companies?

Luxottica is the Parent Group. They manufacture frames and lenses for companies they own > RayBan, Arnette, Revo and so on, and they manufacture glasses for companies they hold lisences with > Prada, Versace, Burberry and other fashion monikers.

To this date I am not sure what technologies are shared. As in are RayBan Polarized lenses the same as Revo Polarized lenses. I can rem Arnettes with G15 Glass lenses when they were first acquired. And that would be the same time RayBan started to use Plastic. There are quite a few fashion brands that have similar RayBan counterparts.

I hate to say it, but the people who run Lux are not dumb. the fact that they made 5x what Oakley did last year proves it.

I don't see things changing much for Oakley as far as products go. Some production may be outsourced to China, but that's not much different than when some of the older wires were made in Japan. Yeah, Oakley could use an expanded presence in retail (which open-access to SGH will provide). It's hard to find an IACON store with a full line, much less an SGH.

Lux would be insane to meddle with the R&D @ 1 Icon, if only because it puts their own internal efforts to shame. The Oakley tech like Iridium lenses and XYZ optics will increase quality for middling brands like Arnette (which will still be the low-end brand) and over-priced products like the designers. I'd personally love a pair of the beautiful Prada aviators, but not without HDO lenses.

RUMOR: I heard that Maui Jim and Costa del Mar will each file an appeal with the government on anti-trust grounds. I think that their combined market-share is too small to merit an injunction, but it might hold up the works...

What sunglass line other than Ray-ban are in the Lux group?

Ray-Ban, Revo, Arnette, Killer Loop, Persol, Vogue, Luxottica, and Sferoflex; and designer lines, such as Chanel, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, D&G, Versace, Bvlgari, Miu Miu, Salvatore Ferragamo, Donna Karan, DKNY, Genny, Byblos, Brooks Brothers, Sergio Tacchini, Anne Klein, Moschino, Versus, Ralph Lauren, Polo, Chaps, Ralph,and Adrienne Vittadini.

and now: Oakley, Dragon, FOX Racing, ESS, Mosley Tribes, Paul Smith, and Oliver Peoples

I hope with the constant use of the word MERGER that it may become the Luxottica/Oakley Group or a new entity altogether. That Diagram in teh presentation shows they have the same back offices but the next level operating as two seperate companies, Oakley and Luxottica, then sharing all front end retail and distribution.

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Lux also has Burberry and they are getting Tiffany.

I think Maui and Costa are right. As i look at it. Not only does Lux already own about 35% of the sunglass market before this buyout, they also hold the majority of the sales. Sunglass Huts are everywhere in the world and most people would go to a sunglass hut before they go to an independant sunglass store. Then add on top of all the Oakley Stores/Vaults, Aspen Casuals, and Iacon stores. That to me is a stranglehold on the retail market. Not to mention that add in Oakley to the Lux line they may have over 50% of the actual sunglass market. To me the more i see it the more of an anti-trust suit this may become.