"We always have a bunch in the front of the building, so visitors are always taking pictures in front of camouflage and military painted vehicles," Olivet adds, referring to Oakley's Orange County headquarters.
To celebrate breaking $1 billion in annual sales for the first time, the company unveiled an armed personnel carrier in April. The company's new toy literally crushed the competition -- a trailer that had competitors' logos on it.
"We have a track so we're going to drive it around," Olivet declares. "The thing goes 40 mph and will crush anything in its way." So, is this the same as high-tech firms with volleyball courts for employees to blow off steam? "Yeah, in an Oakley way," Olivet laughs.
Daily Driver
Another Oakley way is the close connection it has to the military. Oakley is a leading supplier to military units around the world, making boots and gloves for troops, in addition to sunglasses. Olivet's daily driver, a sleek one-of-a-kind 2005 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG, reflects the military motif.
"A lot of our charitable work is around military causes, we always have an apparel collection every season that is inspired by the military," Olivet says. "We use a lot of military design influence in everything we do."
In fact, Olivet's custom-painted SL65 is famous in itself. "It's famous because it's painted Army Ranger night camouflage," he describes. "It's fitting that we have camouflage cars, we have lots of camouflage trucks."
Oakley founder Jim Jannard painted the car night camouflage. In 2007, Oakley was sold to Milan-based Luxottica Group, the largest eyewear manufacturer in the world, but Olivet says Jannard is still involved with the company and has the title of "mad scientist." "He's a great designer and obviously founded the brand and ran the company for 30 years, so no better person to run your design ideas by than Jim," Olivet says.
Olivet rates his head-turning SL65 a perfect 10. "This is the first great car I've ever had, so for me, on reliability, fun driving it, styling -- it's perfect for me leading the company, it couldn't be more perfect for me," he explains.