DESIGN WITHOUT HUMAN SUPERVISION: OAKLEY® RETURNS TO MARS X-METAL LEATHER
A FRAME DEFINED BY A LEGACY OF UNTETHERED EXPLORATION
Thursday, November 9, 2023 — Return to the Red Planet with one of the most disruptive designs in Oakley® history. In 1998 it left its mark on 90s pop culture, now twenty-five years later, the MUZM Mars X-Metal Leather returns to mankind with a limited drop.
To produce Mars, it took a six-ton generator with 425,000 watts of power to push the five-axis machining that maintained a .0005 inch precision to create the extraterrestrial X-Metal frame. With a complex process and radical design technology, Mars was produced for six short years, but its time-bending legacy lives on.
“Bonding science and art around one concept was how we first landed on MARS. As the 90s ramped up, the piece defined a moment in culture, appearing on the silver screen to basketball players” said Brian Takumi, Oakley VP, Brand Soul and Creative. “Its futuristic design was ahead of its time, defying the era it’s brought into. With the imminent arrival of our 50th anniversary in 2025, bringing it back from our archives and our DNA, MARS is just one of the portals set to expanding the Oakleyverse."
Utilizing the same cutting-edge technology that produces complex metal parts for rocket engines, the MARS X-Metal Leather is built with a direct metal laser sintering process where high-powered lasers melt the intricate X-Metal powder. Oakley’s team of engineers created form-fitting shapes that were then hand-finished and hand-stitched with suede leather to the chassis of the frame.
The perfectly balanced circle shape from the planet found its way into the flawlessly executed sculptural physics of the frame. Designed for the future, delivered to the present, the new Mars X-Metal Leather features Unobtainium™ earsocks and nosepads as well as Prizm™ 24K lenses that enhance colors and contrast to see more detail.
The level of technical skill and artistry needed to create such a mad-scientist masterpiece comes from countless days spent meticulously planning and applying only the highest quality of craftsmanship to each and every frame. MARS X-Metal Leather is a true alien in the world of eyewear.
The original Mars came to this planet as more than just a frame, taking an approach of engineering insanity, reaching beyond the stratosphere of creative design capabilities. Nick Garfias, Vice President of Design at Oakley says “The preconception of what a round ocular shape means in the eyewear industry takes most people to classical and traditional place in their mind. Mars does this on its paper description, but in its true physical form it defies what you think you know about eyewear and any conceived notions behind round frame shapes. Its combined mixed material Xmetal with leather and daring proportions is a combination of maybe and WTF. Its identifiable iconic beauty does not see the need for overt branding. Mars is truly the past meeting the present” said
Celebrating the same rebellious optimism of Oakley more than a quarter of a century later, the iconic Oakley MUZM Mars X-Metal Leather glasses will be available in limited quantities starting November 14th on Oakley.com, retail partners and in select Oakley stores: FHR | 5th AVENUE | FASHION SHOW MALL | CADORNA | COVENT GARDEN | SHIBUYA.