Solid Oakley
We spoke to Nick Garfias, Oakley Vice President of Design on the legacy of innovation that goes into sunglasses designed for Superheroes: the Kato Collection
BORN FROM 45 YEARS of disruptive innovation and engineered to shatter the boundaries of sport performance, the Oakley Kato is ground-breaking eyewear set to revolutionise the face of sport. Kato’s radical aesthetic is made possible by game-changing advancements in optical design, featuring an innovative, frameless lens, crafted with an extended wrap and built-in retention to mimic the structural properties of a typical frame.
What results is eyewear presenting unparalleled fit close to the contours of the face, creating a mask-like feel. Paired with Oakley’s unparalleled optics, this product removes visual limitations, provides the wearer with the confidence to be at their best, unlocking their inner superpower: peerless vision.
In this exclusive interview with Nick Garfias, Oakley Vice President of Design, Augustman got to understand just what it takes to design eyewear for super-humans, both metaphorical and literal.
You’ve held senior design positions in the automotive industry, it’s quite a pivot to sunglasses! It reminds me of how Oakley started out manufacturing motorcycle grips, not exactly a lot of commonality in either industry, I’m wondering what men like you and founder Jim Jannard have in common and whether motoring design language and eyewear design are actually not as distant as a consumer might imagine.
Absolutely. I have a background in design and like you say, the similarities between automotive and sport performance are definitely there, but the root of automotive design language and automotive design philosophy is where the rubber meets the road so to speak, when compared to Oakley design DNA. There is an understanding that all automotive designers have when executing and it’s the ability to sketch and convey ideas in 2 dimensions at such a high level that one can imagine these sketches in 3 dimensions. It’s the understanding of form and volume. At the end of the day, we’re all about pushing the boundaries of what is possible. That’s been key to my work here at Oakley and in my past roles as well. The subjects have changed but the mission is similar.
When one looks at military equipment, design doesn’t immediately come to mind, yet “form fits function” is a term often thrown about, in your hands, how does a purely functional accessory become a designer accessory?
The two definitely go hand-in-hand and Oakley Kato is a perfect example. While our main focus is always on sport performance, look and feel are always top of mind as well. Oakley Kato’s unique aesthetic makes it a great frame to wear during any and every occasion, from the playing field to the beach to the red carpet. Like the saying goes, ‘look good, feel good, play good.’.
Tech companies have been experimenting with augmented glasses for a while now but they’ve always looked dorky; how would you do one for Oakley?
Augmented reality is a really interesting field and one we were excited to incorporate into the reveal of Oakley Kato. It allowed us to create an immersive, hybrid experience that merged physical, digital, and social technology in a beyond-human event, to capture imagination and inspire athletes to push boundaries with ultimate confidence. In terms of incorporating it into a piece of eyewear, that’d be a different conversation. We’re always experimenting with new technology and looking for ways to help advance the field.
Did your experience with BMX biking shape how you eventually designed the Kato? What was your design genesis?
We took inspiration from anything and everything, be it nature, athletics, art, cars, you name it. For Kato, we started with a very abstract idea: if you covered your entire head with fabric, what would it look like? That led to the mask-like features in the final product, with months spent on engineering and design in between. If I can get in the mindset of the athlete who needs a frame like Kato to perform better, that will help in the design journey.
You have the 1960s, which is this great moment of space age fashion; you have futurism in 1980s fashion, a lot of strong geometry going on in clothes, the sort of Back to the Future styling that was the 1980s version of the future, do you feel there’s a danger of Oakley being trapped in this retro-futurist aesthetic?
The simple fact is what’s old will always become new again. Now, in terms of product design, we’re always looking forward and trying to innovate beyond what’s been available or is currently on the market. At the same time, Oakley boasts an incredible heritage within sport performance that we constantly want to pay homage to, whether that be through something like the recent reissue of the X Metal Romeo and Juliet frames or Oakley Kato, where we took learnings from past products to create something totally unique.
Real life Oakley glasses have been popular in reel life (X-men, Xander Cage, Chappie), have you seen the one on Doc Brown in Back to the Future? Are those mega wraparound visors in Oakley’s future plans or are they impractical?
That’s a great idea! I’ll have to bring that to the team in our next meeting. We’re always humbled to see Oakley products in popular culture and as mentioned, we take inspiration from all places, including movies and TV shows. We always try to keep an open mind
when it comes to design and that kind of mindset is what leads to the creation of a frame like Kato.
As a designer, what do you think of the conundrum when it comes to Oakley. Due to their high popularity, there came some negative associations when unsavoury characters were caught on film doing unsavoury things and the commonality was Oakley glasses - is this something design can solve?
Consumers around the world choose Oakley eyewear to offer protection and aid vision. As a brand, we stand firmly against racism and discrimination of any kind, which is vital to the work we do each and every day, from the design studio and the boardroom all the way to our stores.
On a personal note, I have on occasion, swapped tinted powered lenses into my sunglasses since I’m not a fan of contact lenses. I understand from my optometrist that this is not possible for wrap-arounds – is there some secret R&D at Oakley to solve this “obscure” problem?
It depends on the prescription. We have digital surfaced lenses for high wrap frames, 6 and 8 base frames with wrap angles above 18 degrees. Our prescription range for wrapped frames is +4.00 to -6.00 diopters in most models. We created an algorithm that takes your prescription and the frame geometries/measurements into account to adjust the prescription based on the wearers position.
The main focus is to provide you with the exact prescription your doctor measured on the refractor. Since the refractor is a flat instrument, when you place that prescription in any frame (high-wrapped and not) you’ve compromised the prescription. Our algorithm is purpose built to remove that compromise and give you clarity in the optical centre as well as in the periphery zone to help detect objects.