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Oakley has been rolling out some new entries in it’s Elite Collection, all of which have been designed to immediately catch the eye of the viewer and potential buyer, and all of which succeed at leaving an impression at first glance.  The latest in their small but growing collection, are the CSix sunglasses.

Oakley CSix Sunglasses

The CSix sunglasses represent the most technically impressive sunglasses Oakley has ever made, made completely of carbon fibre and titanium.  What makes the process so extensive and expensive (this particular version retails for $4000, however a version which uses Aluminum retails for a meager $1500) is that the carbon fibre must be CNC’ed for somewhere between 20 and 30 hours in order to ahcieve the desired frame, and that doesn’t even count the rest of the processes that go into making the final product.

While the sunglasses may be out of my particular price range (and I would imagine most peoples’), it does appear to be a smart business decision.  They are produced in limited quantities, garner lots of mainstream attention which trickles down to the rest of their products, and are upheld as the standard by which all others are measured, and they still manage to sell out of them, despite the high price tag.  Many of the sales should be attributed to the manner in which they are able to present and market them.  The videos that are shown on their website show the glasses in an alluring manner that creates a desire for them regardless of their engineering and based solely on the presentation.  That ability to drum up desire and create products that people intrinsicly just want to have, is what makes a company like Oakley so successful.

Carbon Fibre Frame and Titanium Spine of the Oakley CSix

The entire Elite Collection Oakley has carved out represents how to properly create a niche product and market it.  They create products that are almost attainable enough that no one is turned off completely, yet are still not achievable by everyone, maintaining their ‘elite’ status.  If you have a piece of this collection, you can rest assured that you will not be seeing 5 of the same on your daily walk down the street.  Everything about the pieces are subtly broadcasting the quality and oozing the style of an ‘elite’ product.  Even small details like switching the Oakley Logo from the classic ‘O’ to a faceted ‘O’ that resembles that of a cut diamond helps differentiate and indicate the level of product that it is.

I can’t always agree with the number of different models that Oakley puts out, or the styles they choose to put into production, but this feels like a step in a very solid direction.  It once again is emphasizing the style as well as the exceptional production and manufacturing that Oakley has always had.