is a senior reporter focusing on wearables, health tech, and more with 13 years of experience. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine.
It was a sweltering Sunday in Brooklyn. Instead of being wasteful and spending $10 on a five-minute Uber, I decided to walk the 20 minutes to a cutesy Japanese stationery cafe with an even cutesier name. Despite the 85 percent humidity, my vanity demanded I wear a full face of makeup with a snatched nose contour. Sweat was leaking out of every pore, melting said nose contour into my sunglasses. Foundation ran down my neck and stained my shirt collar. I’m pretty sure all of Williamsburg could see I had pit stains.
So I was taken aback when a suave artiste walking a French bulldog stopped me, pointed to the Oakley Meta HSTN Limited Edition sunglasses on my face, and said, “Yo, those are siiick — do you love them?!”
They proceeded to rattle off some questions. I was flabbergasted to realize this person was genuinely curious and eagerly wanted to hear my impressions. I managed a “Just got them! I think they’re cool?” before scuttling away like the awkward turtle I am.
My flabbers were even more gasted when I realized this was the first time anyone had ever noticed that I was wearing a pair of smart glasses.
I’ve been thinking about that interaction a lot while testing the Oakley glasses. After so many years as a smart glasses skeptic, it’s wild to see how successful Meta’s been with the Ray-Bans — the Oakleys’ predecessor. EssilorLuxottica said in its earnings results earlier this week that sales have tripled year over year. And not just among techies. Among regular people. Just the other day, a friend sent me a TikTok with footage from a Stray Kids concert recorded by the Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Shoulda done this for our show, they’d texted. A quick search showed that someone at our exact show, seated not that far from us, actually had.
When I first reviewed the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, I knew something had shifted. But it’s mind-boggling that under two years later, Meta has launched multiple limited editions and a Super Bowl commercial, let alone an option from another brand to reach new audiences.
Where Ray-Bans are classic and versatile, Oakleys conjure images of Olympic cyclists or Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights. The young’uns have also glommed onto the brand as Y2K fashion is all the rage again.
The PRIZM lenses make greenery incredibly lush and verdant.
Stylistically, the Oakleys are more polarizing. Not just because they have PRIZM lenses, either. Both my spouse and bestie scrunched their noses at the concept of white sunglasses. Multiple friends and coworkers pointed out the slanted area by the nose bridge, asking, “Why the hell does it do that?” (The answer is that Oakley’s regular HSTN glasses do that. It’s an Oakley thing.) Anyone can rock these, provided they bring a bit of swagger. Many people won’t feel comfortable with such a bold look.
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