Oakley

Oakley is a sports eyewear manufacturer based in California, USA. The company produces high-performance sunglasses and other accessories for a number of sports, including cycling.

History

The company was founded in 1975 in the garage of Jim Jannard with just $300 of funds.

Jannard initially made motorcycle grips, dubbed ‘The Oakley Grip’, to sell at motocross events and it wasn’t until 1980 that the company launched an eyewear product: The O-Frame.

A few years later, Oakley launched its first sunglasses, the Eyeshades. Whilst much of the professional peloton continued to use aviator-style sunglasses, an American rider by the name of Greg LeMond quickly got on board, purchasing the sunglasses himself initially. By 1985, LeMond and Australian Phil Anderson were the first Oakley-sponsored riders in the pro peloton.

The company went public in 1995, raising $230 million, and, despite new brands entering the cycling eyewear market, Oakley’s dominance continued to hold firm.

Jannard took his personal stake in the company to 63% between 2004 and 2006 by purchasing over $20 million worth of Oakley stock. Just a year later though, the company merged with the Luxottica Group, an Italian eyewear conglomerate, which owned other eyewear brands such as Ray-Ban. The move saw much of Oakley’s manufacturing moved out of the US, with many products being produced in China instead.

Despite its logistical changes, Oakley continued to innovate its cycling eyewear, thanks to athlete input and in-field testing, with UV protection, strengthened lenses, improved lens technology and custom-fitted frames.

The company has sponsored countless top-tier riders through the years, from Lance Armstrong - until his demise in 2012 - to Geraint Thomas and Mark Cavendish.

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Pro cycling

Current sponsorships: Jumbo-Visma, Soudal-QuickStep, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan

Highlights:

• Arguably the most successful Oakley athlete across all sports, let alone just cycling, Mark Cavendish has worn Oakley glasses for his entire career - often to his team’s displeasure. Cavendish holds the joint-record for Tour de France stage wins (34) alongside Eddy Merckx. The Manxman also has 17 Giro d’Italia stage wins on his palmarès, three Vuelta a España stages, one World Road Championship title and the 2009 edition of Milan-Sanremo.
• Greg LeMond, the rider to put the Oakley brand in front of the eyeballs of the world in the 1980s, won the Tour de France in 1986, 1989 and 1990. LeMond claimed the maillot jaune in 1989 by a margin of just eight seconds - the smallest in the history of the Tour.
• Peter Sagan wore Oakley sunglasses on his way to three consecutive World Road Championship titles between 2015 and 2017.
• Geraint Thomas had a longstanding love affair with Oakley’s Racing Jackets, becoming famous for his white frames, until his Ineos Grenadiers team switched eyewear sponsor in 2023. Thomas won the Tour de France in 2018 and continued to sport the Racing Jackets model long after it was discontinued.
• Oakley partnered with the Ineos Grenadiers, formerly Team Sky, from their inception in 2010 until 2023. Over 12 seasons, the team won seven editions of the Tour de France (4x Chris Froome, 1x Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal) two of the Giro d’Italia (Chris Froome & Egan Bernal) and two of the Vuelta a España (2x Chris Froome).