Oakley Golf

Founded 1975 · Foothill Ranch, California, USA

Apparel & Footwear

#109

Global Rank

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Oakley began in 1975 with $300, a rubber compound Jim Jannard called Unobtainium, and motorcycle handgrips sold out of the back of a car at motocross events. The company was named after his English Setter. Fifty years and 575-plus patents later it is an autonomous subsidiary of EssilorLuxottica, acquired by Luxottica in 2007 for $2.1 billion, and golf is one of the categories it has pushed hardest in the current cycle. The eyewear remains the anchor, with the Plantaris, Lateralis and Masseter lines carrying the brand's sci-fi design language onto the course, but the apparel and footwear ranges have expanded alongside it. A 2025 collaboration with Hypegolf produced the C1 Bark Pullover and Driven Tee and landed in the Hypegolf Clubhouse in SoHo, which is a fair signal of where Oakley thinks the growth is. The brand's problem in golf has never been product or distribution. It is that a generation of golfers associate the logo with 2003, and reintroducing yourself to people who think they already know you is the hardest marketing job there is.