Oakleys and Foakleys

[megalomania]

Always the stylish and dapper young man, megalomania has a fondness for Oakley sunglasses. He bought his first pair, an M frame with silk bag, many years ago off his brother for a mere $40. Although used, they were well maintained.

Leap forward a few years later to a fascinating discovery at a flea market, Oakley sunglasses for only $5 each. Megalomania is no naive fool, at least when it comes to cheap sunglasses. He knows full well they are counterfeit knockoffs.

They may be fake, but they still look good. Megalomania has compared them with the real thing many times and it requires close scrutiny to tell them apart. Oakleys are recognizable as such when held, but Foakleys still look like the real thing if you are looking at them on someone’s face.

For $5 they fit mega’s budget while looking just as good as the real thing. A real pair would be lost in an instant, a real pair would be forgotten at home, or stuffed in the sofa. For $5 mega can buy several and have a few in the car, at home, and wherever the sun shines. And yes mega has lost a pair within 3 days of buying a new one, but for $5 it’s no big loss. If they were real mega would have been very pissed…

The flea market mega uses for his supply of Foakleys has for some reason been targeted by actual Oakley employees, and raided on several occasions. Now the raids are constant, hence no more Foakleys.

Mega goes every summer to get a new style, but this summer was bust. The counterfeit dealers have given up. There were plenty of imitation Oakleys, but no O. The imitations are legal, they have the same style, they are still $5, but not the Oakley branded letter O. It turns out mega is vain, that O is important to him. That O means something, and no O means mega is uncomfortable wearing the glasses.

Mega has searched the Internets tube for counterfeits. There are imitations, there is the real thing, at real prices, but no O for cheap :(

Won’t someone help mega out? He only has one pair left and it is slightly damaged. Someone must know of a source out there. Mega won’t spend $20 for Foakleys, $7-$10 is about as high as he will go. Spring is just around the corner. Mega only gets 50 sunny days a year. That big yellow thing hurts his eyes, he does not venture into the daylight for tanning, so he is happy in the knowledge that Foakleys offer dubious UV protection (even cheapos protect from UV though). Mega does not plan on stopping bullets with his sunglasses either, so the quality iridium coated composite lenses of Oakleys are rather unnecessary.

Surely somewhere on the Internet there must be an unscrupulous dealer (please contain your laughter at the sarcasm of this statement) who is upfront about his counterfeit product while still offering it for cheap?

[Tom Sawyer]

A couple of links, but you won't find them for $5 online, more like $20

http://www.unlimitedreplicas.com/oakley.htm

http://www.sunglassesbox.com/

http://www.great-shades.com/index.php?PRODUCT=1068339220&SECTION=REPLICA%20OAKLEYS

Lots more out there using search term "fake oakleys"

[iHME]

I'd be happy to just find sunglasses with the right specs, having glases is not always fun.
My current glases cost 550eur, I think that thats a hellish sum. The good thing is that I got sunglases with the right specs for free with the purchase (about 75eur savings!).

<Rant>
Why the fuck do coustom personal optics cost so fucking much? Also the anti-reflection ontop of the lences gets fuckd up from rapid temperature changes, for example beeing too close to fire. How do you play with fire if you can't be close to it? My last glases got so fuckd that the were needed to be replaced.

</Rant>

[monkeyboy]

<Rant>
Why the fuck do coustom personal optics cost so fucking much?

</Rant>

Ran across this about a month ago:
"Cheap glasses on the internet, as low as $8.00 a pair!

Read this first:
http://www.43folders.com/2007/11/29/adventures-40-eyeglasses

Then this:
http://glassyeyes.blogspot.com/

Make sure you've got this:
http://glassyeyes.blogspot.com/2007/09/illusive-pd-and-how-to-wrangle-yours.html

Then hit the stores:
http://zennioptical.com/cart/home.php
http://www.eyebuydirect.com/
http://www.optical4less.com/?SSAID=165366
http://www.goggles4u.com/?campaign=SAS
http://www.39dollarglasses.com/index.html?coupon_code=GE407

I think I'll buy several, like this guy says "I used to wear the same glasses for 3-4 years between changes so I?m finding it incredibly liberating to pick from five different sets of glasses each morning. I have a couple fashionable pairs for going out, a couple understated ones for working and I can even take a chance with a wacky retro frame if I'm in the mood."

Or maybe I can finally afford to get some of those nifty coatings they offer, or prescription safety glasses... with coatings!"

[megalomania]

I finally admitted I needed glasses 3 years ago and went to the optometrist. I didn't even bother looking at prices when I picked out my frames because I know how my mind works; I don't like wearing glasses, I don't like that I have to, so if I felt even slightly self conscious about how the frames looked, I would never wear them. I have several shirts in my closet, still with tags on, that I will never wear because I am uncomfortable with the way they look. I had reservations in the store, but I bought them anyway. It took me years to realize this about myself.

I ended up picking out a very stylish frame from the Harley Davidson collection. They were very expensive compared to other frames. I went back, after I found the ones I liked, and looked at prices to see if there was something cheaper. In the end I knew I would NEVER wear anything but the pair I liked, so there was no point trying to save a little money if that savings means I own a useless item never to be used. What's the point in buying the glasses if I will not use them?

I do not handle my glasses, I have never lost my glasses, I have only misplaced them once in the last 3 years. They are too expensive for me to let out of my sight, no pun intended. I only wear them to drive and see far away. I do not like people to see me in them even though I find glasses on other people to be quite distinguishing. I am very self conscious about wearing glasses to begin with, so it is a tremendous relief knowing I look good wearing these glasses. If I think I look good, I feel good, and when I feel good I can wear them. I don't think it takes Freud to tell you what aspect of human nature that is.

Those glasses make me nervous because they are expensive. I don't want to go through the same thing with an expensive pair of sun glasses. For the same reasons of my petty vanity I will not wear just any cheapo sunglasses, I want the style I want. I am fortunate that fake Oakleys can be obtained for cheap that look just like the real thing. I am not fortunate in that I can't obtain them like I once was able.

For glasses I would not get a cheap knockoff or counterfeit because quality construction is important for my accurate vision. I just use sunglasses as a style accessory, cutting out glare is an added bonus.

[iHME]

I have had my glasses since I was on the 5th grade. I'm grown pretty fond of them. Also I dare to say that I look better with my glasses then without. I'm not completely blind without them, I just can't see pretty far, Without glasses I can only read if I'm on a 10-20cm from the text.

The idea about having glasses for 40 dollars is pretty strange. I probably would get a bunch of them as a backup. Heck, I could get one for every day of the week with the price of my current glasses.
Even better I could pay 40eur for the optic for the measurements and then buy the glasses of the web. :)

Edit:Oh, I almost forgot, thank you monkeyboy for the links.

[Silentnite]

I just dropped $300 on my glasses, and thats with my insurance covering $400. It gets a little old sometimes, but I've had my old pair for over 4 years. They're scratched to shit and I've soldered the bridge once or twice, and the paint is cracking off, but damnit, they're expensive.

I've tried contacts but I just can't poke myself in the eye. I hate it. I can't wait to save enough for the surgery, but alas not covered by insurance. Regret, and woe is me.

[flippy]

It worries me when one refers to oneself in the third person. But cheap sunglasses make it OK.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

This has been pretty amusing; I can't seem to (at least continually) touch my eyeball either. However I had an experience with glasses that made me wonder about prescriptions. I broke mine also and didn't have the money to get the frames I wanted. I didn't "need" them in the sense that I could function without them so I did just that. That was about 10 years ago.

After a time I received some better insurance, went back to get a new prescription, and get some of the frames I had etc. I tested better than before: MUCH better. I got the glasses on order and all that but it got me thinking about the "agenda" many in the Health care industry acquire after a time. Many people don't want to "heal" the client.

Should not (especially) those in Health care be in the business of putting themselves OUT of business with their client? Many people in Health care want to perpetuate the illness or disability, etc. This is the height of unethical behaviour (IMO). This issue of getting better vision without wearing glasses is not unique, I've been told.

[tmp]

A couple of years ago I started using reading glasses because the font size in
books, magazines, newspapers, etc., is increasingly difficult to read without
them. I just bought my 1st pair of sunglasses a couple weeks ago. The glare
from that winter sun(so low in the sky) is annoying as hell.

[Silentnite]

Charles, stupid question but how old are you and what type of vision problem did you have? Farsightedness corrects itself in youth after a certain age in most cases. Not an entirely unique happenstance.

***
It worries me when one refers to oneself in the third person. But cheap sunglasses make it OK.
Is it any different then naming yourself something different then your real name and not capitalizing the first letter? Either one could be considered a psychosis of a sort, or it could be nothing at all. More then likely it's a unique way to tell a story.

[Bob The 1st]

As a former wearer of glasses, I can emphasize with you about that. I made the switch to contacts several years ago, and really couldn't be happier. I, like Mega, was very self conscious about how I looked wearing glasses.

As for Oakleys, I save one real pair for special occasions. Had them for years. But I've got a few pairs of fakes for everyday use :)

And as for surgery, I'll have the money for it within the year. Thank god. Contacts are good, but they still have their drawbacks.

[Match]

I have nearly 50 pairs of sunglasses, all of them cheapies, well, I do have a 400 dollar pair of Oliver Peoples and a few name brand 200 dollar sets, but I never wear them. I am not rich enough to not care if I lose or damage them.

Mega, a word of advice, stop trying to use consumer products to define who you are. :p

Also, laser eye surgery is cheap and quite effective, why buy prescription glasses when you can get the problem fixed for only a few hundred more.

[Barnacles]

Also, laser eye surgery is cheap and quite effective, why buy prescription glasses when you can get the problem fixed for only a few hundred more.

not everything is treatable by laser surgery. My grandfather has macular degeneration. he cannot get it, also my uncle has some thing called myopia or something along those lines, and laser eye surgery is also not an option. Both are slowly going blind.

[monkeyboy]

Just bought a pair of the $8 glasses for my teenager. She says they're perfect...


I had previously done a little further research about it, though. It seems that most optometrists purchase their glasses from a handful of places. Their mark-up is astronomical. These are not "knock-offs or counterfeits" they're just direct from the manufacturer.