Oakley Reports Record Seizures of Counterfeit Product and Record Number of Arrests in 2001.

Business Editors

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2002

-- Number of confiscated sunglasses more than doubles in 2001 to 1.6 million

-- Number of arrests nearly triples to 663

In its ongoing campaign to identify and aggressively pursue violators of its protected designs and trademarks, Oakley Inc. (NYSE:OO) today highlighted the results of its 2001 anti-counterfeiting efforts.

Working closely with a wide variety of local, national and international law enforcement agencies, Oakley's legal team oversaw the confiscation of 1,595,458 fake Oakley products, primarily sunglasses, worldwide in 2001, with an estimated street value totaling more than $24 million. This represents a 119 percent increase over the 736,751 pairs confiscated the previous year, with an estimated street value of more than $11 million.

Total worldwide arrests in 2001 totaled a record 663, up 197 percent compared with 223 the previous year. Of the 663 total arrests in 2001, one-third, or 220, were outside the United States, due in large part to the company's stronger efforts to educate and train law enforcement agencies resulting in more criminal prosecutions against counterfeiters in important international markets.

"We take our brand and image very seriously and will look to the ends of the earth to stop the unauthorized use of our name, designs and trademarks," Chief Executive Officer Jim Jannard warned. "Thanks to the effort and cooperation of numerous law enforcement agencies around the world, last year was a record year in our legal team's war against counterfeiters.

"Our products are protected by more than 600 patents and 800 trademarks worldwide and deliver unmatched protection against the harmful UV spectrum and against the risk of traumatic eye injuries caused by projectiles and a wide range of other impact forces. We believe it's a matter of principle and a matter of integrity to protect our loyal customers from dangerous imposters."

Vance Lommen, Oakley's Director of Legal and Security added: "For us, the most encouraging figure is the 220 international arrests. Getting people arrested internationally is difficult. We have been involved with international crackdowns for years, but due in large part to the extensive training we have given foreign law enforcement agencies on how to stop counterfeit operations, 2001 is the first year that there have been a significant number of arrests outside the U.S. Because most of the illegal manufacturing takes place overseas, these arrests will have the biggest impact on our efforts to curtail the flow of illegal products worldwide."

Oakley's enforcement efforts also succeeded in limiting the illegal sale of products over the Internet. More than 7,500 auctions on 133 Web sites and Web pages, including auctions on eBay.com and yahoo.com, were shut down, deleted, or otherwise cleansed of counterfeit Oakley products. Violations included auctions of counterfeit merchandise, auctions showing Oakley's copyrighted images and auctions violating policies involving key word spamming, a practice involving the misuse of the name "Oakley" to draw attention to an auction.

The company intends in 2002 to continue to make investments in its anti-counterfeiting operations and looks forward to another successful year in this ongoing battle to protect the Oakley brand.

About Oakley

Oakley: An original, unexpected and innovative world brand. Building on its legacy of market-leading sunglasses, the company offers expanding lines of premium performance footwear, apparel, accessories, watches and prescription eyewear to consumers in more than 70 countries. Trailing-12-month net sales through Sept. 30, 2001 totaled $432.4 million and generated net income of $56.8 million -- a 13.1 percent net margin.

Oakley Inc. news releases, SEC filings and the company's Annual Report are available at no charge through the company's Web site at www.oakley.com.

Safe Harbor Disclaimer

This news release contains certain statements of a forward-looking nature. Such statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The accuracy of such statements may be impacted by a number of business risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated, including: risks related to the company's ability to manage rapid growth; the ability to identify qualified manufacturing partners; the ability to coordinate product development and production processes with those partners; the ability of those manufacturing partners to increase production volumes in a timely fashion in response to increasing demand and enable the company to achieve timely delivery of finished goods to its retail customers; the ability to provide adequate fixturing to existing and future retail customers to meet anticipated needs and schedules; the dependence on eyewear sales to Sunglass Hut, which has recently been acquired by a major competitor and, accordingly, has sought to alter its relationship with the company and could further alter or terminate such relationship; the company's ability to expand distribution channels and its own retail operations in a timely manner; unanticipated changes in general market conditions or other factors, which may result in cancellations of advance orders or a reduction in the rate of reorders placed by retailers; continued weakening of economic conditions could reduce demand for products sold by the company and could adversely affect profitability, especially of the company's retail operations; further terrorist acts, or the threat thereof, could continue to adversely affect consumer confidence and spending, could interrupt production and distribution of product and raw materials and could, as a result, adversely affect the company's operations and financial performance; the ability of the company to integrate acquisitions; the ability to continue to develop and produce innovative new products and introduce them in a timely manner; the acceptance in the marketplace of the company's new products and changes in consumer preferences; reductions in sales of products, either as the result of economic or other conditions or reduced consumer acceptance of a product, could result in a buildup of inventory; the ability to source raw materials and finished products at favorable prices to the company; the effect of the California power crisis on the company's operations including temporary blackouts at the company's facilities; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; and other risks outlined in the company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2000 and other filings made periodically by the company. The company undertakes no obligation to update this forward-looking information.