Oakley Turns Its Eyes to the order Taxi 12s Athletic Footwear Market

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Oakley, which spent most of 1997 dealing with a sales slowdown in its upscale sunglasses business, this week unveiled the line of $125 athletic shoes that mark its entry into the fiercely competitive $8.2 billion athletic footwear market now dominated by Nike.

During a daylong meeting with security analysts at Oakley's headquarters in southern Orange County on Tuesday, Oakley founder and Chairman Jim Jannard described the shoes as a functional yet stylish alternative for younger consumers who take their apparel and footwear cues from surfers, motocross riders and participants in other alternative sports.

Oakley won't say how many pairs of the distinctive shoes it projects manufacturing when its production line in Foothill Ranch opens on June 22. But Jannard maintained that the shoe line will turn a profit because of Oakley's blend of proprietary technology and materials.

Arguing that shoe manufacturing is an inherently labor intensive process, Knight maintained that high volume manufacturers can't keep prices affordable using domestic plants. plants in 1984, when it transferred production to Asian countries with lower labor rates.

Knight said domestic production won't be feasible until manufacturers perfect new technology and materials not Taxi 12s for sale yet on the horizon or unless legislators use tariffs to boost the cost of foreign goods.

"Our studies show that the average cost to retailers for a pair of Nikes would go up by $100," Knight said. "That means the average retail price, which is $70 to $75, would go up to $170 or $175." And, Knight said, the price for a pair of Taxi 12s 2013 already pricey Air Jordan shoes would jump to $250 from $150.

Jannard, though, bluntly maintains that the shoe industry has failed to keep pace with modern manufacturing processes.

Labor intensive shoe factories, Jannard said, "are much the same approach as the Pyramids. You throw enough bodies at Taxi 12s it and you'll be able to move those stones."

Oakley's 75,000 square foot shoe manufacturing facility inside its Foothill Ranch plant incorporates computer buy Taxi 12s aided design terminals, a pair of injection molding machines to turn out oversized soles, and a room where manual and automated stitching is completed.

Oakley won't try to go toe to toe with Nike in athletic shoe stores. It will instead restrict sales to the Internet and about 200 retailers that cater to participants in alternative sports such as surfing and snowboarding.