FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., Jan. 7, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Oakley, Inc. (NYSE:OO) today announced the introduction of the world's first truly interchangeable prescription lens. The first product to carry the new technology is Oakley's best selling eyewear model, the high-performance sunglass Half Jacket(tm). Using custom-engineered digital sculpturing equipment the company now makes removable corrective lenses that require no plastic or metal carriers, drill mounts or nylon filaments. Oakley's invention gives eye care professionals a lightweight, high-performance sunglass or clear lens to serve customers who require visual correction but also demand the freedom to change their look or adapt instantly to any light condition.
"Inventions like our new interchangeable prescription lenses are an example of how we're able to push the envelope of science beyond the limits of conventional ideas," said Oakley President Colin Baden. "No other manufacturer has accomplished this breakthrough in corrective lens processing."
Oakley developed stepped bevel technology, an application of digital sculpturing that achieves truly interchangeable ophthalmic lenses. The company's lens design requires a triple blocking process to grind each lens, shape it for the frame, and sculpt the rim for mounting. Also unique to Oakley's proprietary process is the beveled lens edging, an advance that maintains secure mounting. The lens edge is shaped with a hooked radius configuration that demands precise 3-D geometry. Custom-built Computer Numeric Control (CNC) machinery was engineered to maintain accuracy down to five thousands of an inch. This level of tolerance is ten times more precise than any equipment currently available for ophthalmic lens processing could achieve.
Oakley's interchangeable prescription lenses give the wearer total freedom to adapt to any light condition. Ambient light can change rapidly in competition, and athletes equipped with the company's innovation will be able to maintain optimal performance. Corrective lenses can be selected for precise filtering and glare reduction to serve highly specific requirements. Rather than limiting the wearer to a single band of filtering, the optics can be modified instantly with a full pallet of hue options for filtering specific bands of the visual spectrum.
In addition to offering performance benefits for athletes, Oakley's product will serve fashion-oriented consumers who seek to personalize their look - and change it instantly. The product also gives the wearer freedom to switch between corrective sunglass lenses and plano (non-prescription) sunglass lenses, benefiting those who wear contact lenses on an intermittent basis.
Interchangeable prescription lenses for Oakley's Half Jacket(tm) eyewear are available in two distinct lens shapes and 18 different lens hues including many polarized options. Orders requiring visual correction of +2.00 through -3.00 sphere, up to -3.00 cylinder, are currently being accepted. Comfort is optimized by soft Unobtainium(r) that actually increases grip with perspiration. Engineered with ultra-lightweight, stress resistant O Matter(r), the frame is matched with Plutonite(r) prescription lens material that blocks 100% of all UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light.
About Oakley, Inc.
Oakley: a world brand, driven to ignite the imagination through the fusion of art and science. Building on its legacy of innovative, market-leading premium sunglasses, the company also offers an expanding line of premium performance prescription eyewear, footwear, apparel, accessories and watches to consumers in more than 100 countries. Trailing-12-month revenues through September 30, 2003 totaled $502.9 million and generated net income of $37.3 million. Oakley, Inc. press releases, SEC filings and the company's Annual Report are available at no charge through the company's Web site at www.oakley.com.
Safe Harbor Disclaimer
This press release contains certain statements of a forward-looking nature. Such statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The accuracy of such statements may be impacted by a number of business risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated, including: risks related to the company's ability to manage rapid growth; the ability to identify qualified manufacturing partners; the ability to coordinate product development and production processes with those partners; the ability of manufacturing partners and the company's internal production operations to increase production volumes on raw materials and finished goods in a timely fashion in response to increasing demand, and enable the company to achieve timely delivery of finished goods to its retail customers; the ability to provide adequate fixturing to existing and future retail customers to meet anticipated needs and schedules; the dependence on eyewear sales to Sunglass Hut which is owned by a major competitor and, accordingly, could materially alter or terminate its relationship with the company; the company's ability to expand distribution channels and its own retail operations in a timely manner; unanticipated changes in general market conditions or other factors which may result in cancellations of advance orders or a reduction in the rate of reorders placed by retailers; continued weakness of economic conditions that could continue to reduce or further reduce demand for products sold by the company and could adversely affect profitability, especially of the company's retail operations; further terrorist acts, or the threat thereof, that could continue to adversely affect consumer confidence and spending, could interrupt production and distribution of product and raw materials and could, as a result, adversely affect the company's operations and financial performance; the ability of the company to integrate acquisitions without adversely affecting operations; the ability to continue to develop and produce innovative new products and introduce them in a timely manner; changes in consumer preferences, and the acceptance in the marketplace of the company's new products; reductions in sales of products, either as the result of economic or other conditions, or reduced consumer acceptance of a product, that could result in a buildup of inventory; the ability to source raw materials and finished products at favorable prices to the company; the potential effect of periodic power crises on the company's operations, including temporary blackouts at the company's facilities; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; earthquakes or other natural disasters concentrated in Southern California where substantially all of the companies operations are based; the company's ability to identify and successfully execute cost control initiatives; and other risks outlined in the company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 and other filings made periodically by the company. The company undertakes no obligation to update this forward-looking information.