XYZ Optics

Oakley's patented XYZ Optics® maintains visual clarity at all angles of view, even at the edge of raked-back lens contours that maximize peripheral vision and protection. Conventional eyewear bends light rays and distorts vision at the lens periphery, but XYZ Optics® maps the full lens contour to the human eye, ensuring razor-sharp vision at all angles.

Shape Of Lens

• Lens Definitions
  • Lens Wrap: Wrap refers to the curve of the lens from left to right.
  • Lens Rake: Rake refers to the curve of the lens from top to bottom.
• ANSI Z87.1
  • A non-profit organization, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system for eyewear and face protection.

• Refractive Power: Non-prescription lenses shouldn't pretend to be prescription. But they do. Any lens can change the magnification of an image. It's like wearing corrective lenses when there's nothing to correct.
• Astigmatism: This occurs when a lens separates rays of light, causing some to focus in front or behind the part of the eye where the image forms. The result is distortion and reduced clarity.
• Prismatic Power: This test measures how much a lens bends light. With inferior lenses, light rays approach your eye at a false angle. That makes objects appear slightly shifted from their true positIon.
• Prismatic Imbalance: This measures the difference in "light bending" done by the right lens versus the left. If one lens bends light more than the other, your brain works harder to put the image together.

  Note:Prismatic Power and Prismatic Imbalance both affect depth perception and clarity.

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LEN TINTS

• Selecting The Ideal Lens : Whether you're changing your look or optimizing your vision for changing light conditions, Oakley offers a full spectrum of lens color options. More than 40 lens hues have been formulated to precisely balance transmission, absorption and reflection of light, depending on the targeted environment for usage. Oakley optics are made of lightweight Plutonite® lens material, an innovation that blocks 100% of UV while maintaining superior impact resistance. Optional Iridium® lens coatings are engineered to tune transmission for specific light conditions. Oakley technology also produces the best polarized lenses on the planet. Even prescription correction is available, achieved with custom-ground optical precision that exceeds industry standards.
• Lens Transmission: When light passes through a sunglass lens, some wavelengths are reflected by the surface and others are absorbed by the lens material. The light that actually reaches your eye is a measure of the lens transmission level. With Oakley's wide range of optional lens hues, you can choose to have as little as 9% of available light reach your eye, or as much as 93%.
• Transmission Based On Lens Color: Molecules in the lens absorb specific wavelengths of light, preventing them from reaching your eye. With the full array of Oakley lens color options, you can select a precisely tuned level of absorption that maximizes performance for any light condition.
• Iridium Coating: Optional Iridium® lens coatings allow you to tune transmission for specific light conditions. Superheated metal oxides are fused to the lens at the molecular level, permanently bonding to create an optically uniform layer.
• UV Protection: Protection against ultraviolet light has nothing to do with lens color. The protection is built into Oakley's Plutonite® lens material, so full UV filtering is a standard feature with all Oakley lenses, no matter what the hue. Even clear Oakley lenses block 100% of UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light . The raked-back curvature of Oakley eyewear provides further protection by blocking UV from the periphery.
• Polarization: Polarization blocks the blinding glare that bounces off horizontal surfaces like roadways and water. Oakley uses an injection-molding process to infuse the lens material around the polarizing filter.

POLARIZATION

Light waves "roll" at every angle. Imagine a curl traveling down a bullwhip. If the whip moves from side to side, the curl is parallel to the ground. If the whip moves up and down, the curl is perpendicular to the ground. Waves can roll down the whip at any angle. That's how light waves travel, except when they reflect off flat surfaces. This causes them to align so they all roll in the side-to-side direction. The result is blinding glare. A polarizer is a filter that blocks certain angles of wave roll. Imagine the bullwhip is fed between the slats of a fence. Only the up-and-down waves can make it between the slats. A polarizer does the same thing with light waves, eliminating glare by blocking the side-to-side waves that blind you.

• Conventional Technologies: The lenses of all polarized sunglasses have polarizing filters. These filters are thin and delicate, like sheets of film. Getting the filter into the lens is difficult. Some manufacturers sandwich the filter between lens layers by applying adhesive, but that reduces optical clarity. Other manufacturers sandwich the filter between lens layers and press it over contoured forms with heat, but that causes optical distortion.
• Oaklely Technology: Oakley solved the problem by developing a liquid fusion technology. The filter is combined with the lens while the lens material is still in its liquid state. This creates bonding at the molecular level, eliminating the need for adhesives. And with no need to heat the lens or press it in molds, the delicate polarizing filter is never damaged or distorted. That's why Oakley polarized lenses offer the highest level of optical performance.

Benefits Of Oakley Polarized Lenses

• UNBEATABLE DURABILITY because we encase the polarizing filter in a protective mantle of lens material.
• NO VISUAL HAZE because we injection-mold the lens material to eliminate the adhesives used in ordinary polarized lenses created by lamination.
• CLARITY AT ALL ANGLES OF VISION because we make the only polarized lenses on earth that offer the performance technology of patented XYZ Optics® .
• UNRIVALED OPTICAL PERFORMANCE because we bond the polarizer at the molecular level, ensuring the highest degree of optical fidelity.
• NO OPTICAL DISTORTION because we don't shape our polarized lenses in heated pressurized molds like conventional manufacturers.
• UNSURPASSED PROTECTION because our Plutonite® lens material inherently blocks 100% of all UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light .

UV PROTECTION

You can be blinded by what you can't see. An invisible form of radiation, UV rays pelt your retinas at 186,000 miles per second. Eye damage linked to UV includes cataract, a condition where the eye lens becomes opaque so light can't get through. UV is also linked to photokeratitis (sunburn of the cornea), pterygium (tissue growth that can block vision), and macular degeneration (damage to the part of the inner eye that receives light patterns and transmits them to the brain).

Oakley's Plutonite® lens material is engineered to stop every wavelength of ultraviolet radiation, not just the lower energy form called "UVA". In fact, Plutonite® inherently blocks 100% of UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light up to 400 nanometers. The protection is built into the lens material. It's not a thin surface coating that can become scratched, leaving your dilated pupils exposed to UV leaks. In addition, Oakley's patented XYZ Optics® technology maintains visual clarity for raked-back lens contours, so Oakley lenses can have extreme curves at the sides to maximize protection against harmful UV.

• UVA, UVB And UVC : The reflective glow of florescent colors in black light is near the beginning of the UV spectrum. More powerful UV wavelengths are invisible. The full spectrum is divided into three categories. UVA has longer wavelengths and lower energy than the other forms of UV. The middle of the spectrum is UVB. On the high end, UVC has the shortest wavelength and is the most damaging. Most eyewear lenses block some of the UVA wavelengths, so they can claim "UV protection". Oakley's Plutonite® lens material stops all UVA. It also blocks 100% of the more damaging wavelengths, UVB and UVC.
• Blue Light: Harmful blue light rays are known as High Energy Visible (HEV) wavelengths. In the spectrum of visible light, HEV is on the upper end where your eyes perceive the colors blue and violet. Wavelengths in this part of the spectrum are approaching UV in energy, and HEV light has been linked to macular degeneration and other forms of eye damage. That's why Oakley's Plutonite® lens material is engineered to block 100% of all harmful blue light up tp 400 nanometers. In addition to protection, this is a performance benefit, because blue light rays are a major factor in glare.
• Electromagnetic Spectrum: Radio waves, microwaves, visible light and X-rays are fundamentally the same thing. All are forms of electromagnetic (EM) radiation. Visible light is just a small part of the EM spectrum.
• Ultraviolet Light Absorption: Oakley's ultra-lightweight Plutonite® lens material is composed of specially formulated polymers, long chains of repeated molecules. These molecule chains are engineered to absorb ultraviolet and harmful blue light. Plutonite® lens material selectively blocks these forms of radiation by taking advantage of their short wavelengths. Longer wavelengths of visible light pass through while shorter wavelengths of damaging light are absorbed by the lens material. The absorbed energy is dissipated as tiny amounts of heat, too small to be felt by touch.

RX LENS TECHNOLOGY

• Color Inherence: Oakley RX lenses utilize color inherent technology that integrates the color deep within the lens material. Plutonite lenses are never tinted so the color is always rich and permanent and unlike surface tints, it will never fade.
• Polarization: Polarization blocks the blinding glare that bounces off horizontal surfaces like roadways and water. Oakley uses an injection-molding process to infuse the prescription lens material around the polarizing filter.
• Light Weight: Oakley prescription lenses are engineered with our proprietary Plutonite, an ultra-lightweight material that provides you optimum performance with maximum comfort.
• Optical Precision: Oakley prescription lenses are ground to your individual prescription with optical precision that exceeds industry standards. The Oakley RX system maps light rays in a 3D grid to achieve precise coordination with your optical lobes and the entire surface of each custom ground lens.
• Iridium Coating: Optional Iridium® lens coatings allow you to tune transmission for specific light conditions. Superheated metal oxides are fused to the lens at the molecular level, permanently bonding to create an optically uniform layer.
• UV Protection: Protection against ultraviolet light has nothing to do with lens color. The protection is built into Oakley's Plutonite® lens material, so full UV filtering is a standard feature with all Oakley lenses, no matter what the hue. Even clear Oakley lenses block 100% of all UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light . The raked-back curvature of Oakley eyewear provides further protection by blocking UV from the periphery.
• Oakley Labs: Designed and built to provide superior optical clarity and highly customized products each Oakley lab exclusively services authorized optical accounts around the world.

PHOTOCHROMIC

• Photochromic Comparison: Whether you're golfing, mountain biking or pounding pavement on a training run at dawn, you can't maintain peak performance unless your eyes keep up with your environment. That's why we partnered with Transitions Optical to create lenses that darken and lighten automatically. They help you adapt to changing light conditions while filtering out 100% of ultraviolet light (UV). Not to mention the added confidence of having lenses that aren't too dark when the sun pulls a disappearing act, or too light when it knifes through the clouds.
• Lens Colors: The Oakley Activated by Transitions™ sunglass lenses will initially be available in two performance colors including Oakley's VR50™ and Black Persimmon. As UV light exposure increases, the base lens darkens automatically to maintain a precisely tuned level of light transmission - from overcast/flat light to bright sun - ensuring visual acuity is optimized. Additionally, the balanced light transmission helps to boost visual contrast, enhancing depth perception, a key performance benefit that improves visual quality and comfort.

IMPACT PROTECTION

• High Mass Impact: Oakley premium eyewear surpasses the protection requirements for high-mass impact, as defined by The American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Part of an industrial standard called ANSI Z87.1, the high-mass impact test requires that the lens be hit by a 500-gram metal spike (over a pound of weight) dropped from a height of 51.2 inches (over four feet). To pass the test, no frame parts or lens fragments that could damage the eye may be ejected during impact.
• High Velocity Impact: Oakley premium eyewear also surpasses the ANSI Z87.1 test for high-velocity impact protection. For this test, a pneumatic cannon accelerates a quarter-inch steel shot to 102 miles per hour. The lens is targeted straight on from three different heights, and at seven different angles. To pass the high-velocity test, no contact between the lens and eye is permitted during impact. In addition, no frame parts or lens fragments that could damage the eye may be ejected during impact.