Industry News
Oakley Introduces New Kato Sunglasses
Oakley recently added a new model to its iconic sports eyewear collection. According to the company, the new model opens up a whole new dimension in design and wearing comfort and stands for limitless possibilities. The model is called The Oakley® Kato™. The sports glasses, which are the result of a 45 year long innovation process, break all boundaries in the field of sports performance. The frameless sports glasses with an extended field of vision feel like a mask and allow the gaze of a superhero by removing all boundaries. The sunglasses have been a long time coming, being worn to victory by Sam Bennett on stage four of the 2020 Vuelta a España – and featuring again one day later on Chris Froome’s Instagram.
During development, a select group of elite athletes including Patrick Mahomes, Mark Cavendish, Nigel Sylvester, and Joseph Newgarden, were equipped with a prototype, testing the durability and performance attributes that sets Oakley Kato apart. This feedback led to the final design, which features an adjustable rake system and multiple nosepads to enable a customized, seamless fit like never before. The strong yet lightweight O Matter™ stems provide durability, and Unobtainium® earsocks are molded over the stems to deliver all-day comfort with no-slip grip. This next-level innovation required a complete overhaul of the fabrication process – from molds to optical axis machines and lens adhesive. Conventional approaches were abandoned in order to achieve this never seen before aesthetic. Oakley Kato is available with Prizm™ lenses designed to enhance color and contrast to see more detail.
“We wake up every morning obsessed with the goal of igniting human possibility,” says Caio Amato, Oakley Global Brand Director. “Our pursuit for the new and unimagined has taken on many forms throughout the brand’s history, and the latest is Oakley Kato - a redefinition of aesthetics to usher in a new age of optics for the sports industry. Today represents more than just the release of a new product, it is a moment to remind ourselves that anything is possible, that superheroes are not just found in comic books, but in real life, and we can all aspire to be better than we ever imagined.”
