History of Oakley

This past year, I got the chance to go down to the Oakley headquarters in California to check out the re-issue of the infamous B-1B grip that Oakley was working on. While I was down there, I took the opportunity to put together a video giving a little history and background to the brand. Oakley is a company that does a billion dollars a year in sales, has stores all over the world, and has created some of the most iconic eyewear of my generation... and I'm pretty sure not many people know that Oakley started out by making BMX grips.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Mike Bell, a former AMA Supercross champion and employee of Oakley who started in 1985, to tell the story of how Oakley went from a small grip company to one of the biggest eyewear brands in the world.

Thanks to Brian Takumi, Mike Bell, Dylan Raldoff, and Mark Scurto for making this happen.

Filmed & Edited by Harrison Boyce

www.defgrip.net
blog.defgrip.net/2011/01/the-history-of-oakley

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• oakley
• bmx
• documentary

[BMXRacingScotland]

Didn't realise that Jim Jannard, the founder of Oakley, financially backed the high end RED video cameras. They are highly regarded in the film industry.

He shot all the Oakley adverts for twenty years using top of the range Canons. Many of the lenses were limited editions.

The man is a legend.

[charlieisamonster]

Awesome film. Very interesting.

Some great old photos of Oakley products and ads.

I have a few clips of old cycling photos from the 80s on YouTube if you search for "Oakley factory pilot tour de France" you'll find it, you maybe interested in seeing?

Thanks for posting the history of Oakley.