My first pair of Oakleys were the Straight Jackets in Pearl/Black Iridium. I've also had Electric Mustard SJs. I've been trying to locate a pair of each over the past few years, and have only found very few EM SJs. I find it hard to believe that there are 200+ members on this site, and none of us have a pair of Pearl SJs, but we have all manner of esoteric Oakley kitsch lying around. If I wanted an Over the Top (which I do...), one of Oakley's least popular styles with the general public, there are about 50 different people that I could talk to on this site alone. If I wanted Leather SJs (which I really, really do...), there are a handful of people as well. The problem arises when I want to get my hands on a style and color that was pretty common. I used to see my Oakleys for sale everywhere I went. Now, they pretty much don't exist. This leads me to two conclusions; We, as a collective fan group, tend to focus on "rare" pieces, so as time goes on, the common styles disappear through use or destruction, while the rarer pieces become easier to acquire through our brotherhood of interest. The other conclusion is that I'm pretty much screwed, and should probably give up my search. With that said, I believe we need to diversify our collections to include more common styles and colors, and that will make them much more unique as time goes on. One of my now favorite pairs is my New Straight Jackets in Dark Blue/Black Iridium. They were everywhere, and now, as far as I know, I'm the only person here that has them. By that rationale, they're worth more than an OTT any day of the week. Along with my suggestion, I'd also like to offer a plea: If you or anyone you know has a pair of First Generation Straight Jackets in Pearl, please let me know. I need to get another pair. I'd be happy to pay just about any price to regain the pair that started my love.

I agree with at least one point you make - that as a collective group, we do lean towards the more loud/extreme/flashy colors and designs.

I don't have the pearl/black SJ, but it's hard to imagine that the opportunity to snag one won't present itself in due time.

They're out there; people just can't be bothered to put it up on the block for a little bit of cash. A key to collecting is being patient. Pretty much almost anything comes up on the block eventually. When you find your prized item after a long search, it'll be more than worth the wait. Good luck!

As for collecting common pieces vs. rare pieces, I say just collect what interests you. I personally like the rarer pieces because of it's charm and uniqueness. I'd take that over a common black frame and grey lenses any day. That's just my preference. If someone prefers Black/Grey, I say go for it. You're the one who's gotta be proud of your collection in the end.

They were everywhere, and now, as far as I know, I'm the only person here that has them. By that rationale, they're worth more than an OTT any day of the week.

An item is worth only what someone else will pay for it. You can have a true one-of-a-kind item but if no one wants it and are not willing to pay for it, it'll be worth less than something that may have a million pieces made but may have a million-and-one collectors going after it.

i do, and they are my first pair too

I see what you're saying but I'm going to have to disagree with you a bit. Yes, we do collect the rare and unique pieces around here. The key word being around here. We, as a whole, are a VERY small portion of the collectors out there. And, we are a grain of sand compared to the entire Oakley-buying community. So yes, we may not always want the typical pieces, but to say that the not-so-rare pieces are gone because we don't collect them is off-base.

I have bid on them on E-bay within the last year. Beyond the typical Froggies, my first pair was a pair of Cobalt/+Red Eye Jackets. I searched long and hard for them so that I had my first pair, again. Just keep an eye out. And, now that I know...I will as well.

As far as what we concentrate on, I've noticed a good amount of diverse collections on here. Some have the bright blues, EM's, and FMJ variations. Others, like me, rarely go beyond the black and brown variations! You'll find your pair...they'll pop up where and when you least expect them.

I didnt know you were looking for those Bully. I just found a pair recently for a good price but didn't want to pull the trigger. (I just picked up two OTT's in about a week so the wallet was getting thin). Hmmmmm. I wonder if a "What I'm after" thread would be good. But, then again, it would cause some conflict with the classified....and there's always the "wish list" feature.

Another good point he made, was that the common pairs aren't usually 'collected' but rather worn, and over time wear out and are no more. It would make sense that we would see them less and less. Hope you are able to find them, just keep checking.

It's funny this topic came up. I used to be a huge fan of the original straight jackets when they came out and owned almost every color at one point, from pearl, EM, rare bright yellow, cinder, FMJ 7.62, FMJ 45mm, matte clear, metallic sand, bengal, you name it. It's funny that out of all of those, the leather wrapped ones (which I remember seeing at an SGH when they first came out) are seen more on ebay, etc way more than the common colors. I've actually seen a few original straight jackets for sale in brand new condition at a some dirt bike shops, etc that sell Oakley but have very little foot traffic. Maybe you could check some out locally? Hope you find them, the Pearl/black irid. where one of my favs as well!

1st generation Straight Jackets are hard to find period, let alone in a specific colorway.

Personally, I really like the Canteen. It's definitely one of the lesser favored pairs here at the OR, and I assume in the public (as indicated by the rotating stock on eBay). They're a simple design without flashy options, but for me, a very wearable pair. I plan on wearing some of them and keeping some over time, so I'm trying to scoop them up now.

But, I agree with what all have stated here. In the end, this searching that we debate is the essence of collecting.

Haha, just goes to show that collecting is definitely "to each his own", I personally regard the canteen as the bastard step child of oakley, lol...but then again I like several models that others have openly detested! lol...

To a certain extend, I agree with that. It doesn't define Oakley, or really even exemplify Oakley's characteristics, but I like it.

I think it's funny that we're classifying Oakleys based on their defining characteristics. I think the problem that arises is that we all define Oakley as something different based on when we each fell in love. I enjoy SJs and Trenchcoats, and it took me a full year after they were introduced to get my first pair of Gascans. Why? Because they didn't have Unobtanium earsocks. They just weren't Oakleys. We should all define Oakley by the originals, Eyeshades, Blades, and Frogskins. By Late Nineties standards, they are very plain or somewhat disgusting. By today's standards, Eyeshades and Frogskins are extremely retro and in vogue. I tend to agree that some pairs are more unique than others, and some pairs are a little more "inspired" than others, but there are none that aren't entirely superior to any other sunglass out there. Regarding Canteens, I really wanted a white pair, but when I went to go buy a pair, I realized that they look silly on me due to my enormous noggin. My entire point was that there were entire lines of Oakleys that have or are in danger of fading out of existence due to lack of interest. For example, I have never seen Eye Jackets 3.0 for sale. The two pairs I have seen in person, I thought were fake. I wasn't aware of their existence until I was on this site. Topcoats were in stores for a total of a few months, Dartboards were discontinued months before I happened to find one in a store. Anyway, thus endeth my rant. I love you guys!

I read someone say that all our purchases are just a grain of sand in oakley sales and I have heard that Oakley's biggest buyer is actually the army. I don't remember the exact percentage, but I know it's over fifty percent. Pretty crazy if it's true aye.

Sweet! A fellow Utah Oakley lover! Glad to finally see a local on here! I live in Draper and work in SLC, BTW.

I would believe the comment about the military. Oakley wear is one of the few outside pieces that meet U.S. Military standards...and we all know they make a line just to conform to military way.

Beyond that...I sent a PM to the original poster about finding a pair. It's interesting, reading all of these responses. While styles change, I find Oakley values in most things I own. Those I don't...they usually don't stay around all too long.

Just spotted a pair of matte clear / persimmon Straight Jacket gen1 in "best offer" on a french bidding site. I'm going to see how much the seller think they are worth

I have two more things to say: Yes, the military is issued Oakleys. Not everyone gets them, though. It works like this: Go play in a big sand box, get rewarded with sunglasses. The catch is that they have to be within uniform regulations, which are pretty stringent. They have to be black, non-reflective, and conservative in appearance. That precludes most styles. For example, when I wore my A Wires in black/black back in the day, I got chewed out. I tried a pair of DSOs (Another brand. I know, I'm going to hell) which were matte black with black lenses. They lenses were similar to Eye Jackets, but with a wire-y frame. They were still too non-conservative. The only viable color option is matte black with gray lenses. For all of you that want to check out what the military gets, cruise usstandardissue.com. You don't have to have an account to look, just click on the buttons on the left side of the screen. The other thing I wanted to say was that I'm looking for 5 pairs of 1st Gen SJs: Pearl/Black, Matte Clear/Black, EM/Black, and the two Leather pairs. I'm not trying to collect the set, just trying to reacquire for the sake of nostalgia, and to get the clear ones due to their badassery. Please PM me with viable leads. Thanks!

I also have the SI pairs tagged in the database.

Some of us own SI pairs!

I assume it still holds true today, but by far and away the biggest sellers are just the basic/plain colors. I did a short stint at SGH back in 1997, and would sell black/black iridium eye jackets all day long.

I'm sure we are just a tiny speck in the overall gross sales of Oakley - but I don't doubt that our impact is far greater than that.

not every unit gets issued SI oakley in the sandbox, now most of them do but not all of them. The only thing the Army issues is the M-Frame Strike array and maybe the ballistic m-frames. For the most part they conform to AR 670-1 (wear and appearance of army uniforms and insignia). Uniform standards have gotten very lax'd the last few years because of all the deployments and depending on what unit your in and where your at in the sandbox, you can wear just about anything. I knew people that would wear juliets out of patrol but that all depended on the unit.

When you get back to the US its a different story though. Most units will not let you wear the army issued M-Frame arrays because they don't like the logo, because in order to wear them in uniform you cannot have any logos.

And I agree with the posts above, we mostly focus on rare oakleys because like most people, we all like what money cannot buy so we resort to ebay and the one with the biggest bank roll and best sniping skills gets to add them to their display cabinet. Most of the newer oakley styles are (i think) are marketed to the younger crowed and more and more women have oakleys. I remember when I had some romeos back in 2000, I was the only one I knew that had them let alone any oakleys. Even if I went to a big city like Boston, you didn't see very many oakleys. Now it is the complete opposite, it is easier to count the ones that are not wearing oakleys in big crowds than the ones who are.

a lot of oakleys now are modeled after more luxurious brands like versace, prada, DG. with the big lenses and flashy frames. With the styles oakley has now, they can connect with more of the luxury styles and you will see guys wearing a versace suit and a pair of ANTIX or something that will go with the wardrobe.

-end of line

It's because Luxottica decided in their "merging" with Oakley that there had to be a larger target market. So, all the designs of D&G, DKNY, Ray-Ban, Prada, and so forth have been merged with "traditional" Oakley styles within the past 8 months or so. That's why we've seen so many new styles recently, very few of which many of us have considered "Oakley", or even "Manly". Notice that the Antix is to the Hijinx what the Oil Rig is to the Oil Drum. The Liv and the Enduring Pace are the same lens with different frames. There are very small changes between models to appeal to different crowd. Apparently, a shield lens is more effeminate. Also notice the revival of the Frogskins and the rise of Frogskin lookalikes like the Jupiter. Oakley also has Acetate frames. WTF? Since when does Oakley do what everyone else has done? Since Oakley is being forced to be fashionable rather functional or unique. This strikes me as a parallel to Fender being bought by CBS. Read just the first paragraph of this and see if you agree...

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html

Anyway, get what you can while you can get it. Oakley may just be doomed to mediocrity.

Why is R-a-y-B-a-n bleeped out in my previous post?

HEY!!! Stop SWEARING like that man, we have young people on this site who don't like it when you curse like that! HAHAHA