HP and Oakley team up for 3D prototyping

Reinventing prototyping

Using 3D printing, Oakley is revolutionising how the brand prototypes and creates functional parts by leveraging 3D technology across all of its portfolio of sports accessories, equipment and lifestyle products.

According to Oakley’s Head of Design, Nicolas Garfias, “With HP’s breakthrough 3D printing technology, we will not only accelerate our design-to-production timeline, but we will also reconceptualize the way our products are made, pushing the boundaries of sports performance to new heights.”

Enhancing sports performance for the world’s best athletes

As one of the world’s leading sports performance brands, Oakley has a culture of creators, inventors, idealists and scientists – all of whom specialise in using design and innovation to create extraordinary and inspiring products. The company has been at the forefront of performance sports products and technologies for over 40 years, and has been utilising 3D printing since 1992 – making them early adopters of the process. Since 2018, they’ve been using HP 3D technology for rapid prototyping across multi-product lines, including sunglasses, helmets and more.

"Oakley has the highest of design standards, and our innovative 3D printing technology helps them deliver on that experience for millions of athletes around the world," says HP’s 3D Printing Product Manager, Jeff Fawcett. "Together, we are transforming the sports performance community and changing the way the world designs and manufactures consumer products."

How teamwork with HP fuels Oakley's design innovation

Oakley harnesses the power of digital manufacturing using HP's Jet Fusion 580 platform to take a 2D sketch off the page and make a design model a reality. This means the design team can:

• Accelerate the design iteration process: Oakley designers can now see parts and conduct tests in just 24 hours
• Utilize the power of colour, creating richly detailed models by changing the colour, breaking up the material in the model and then printing it in different colours to more clearly see different design iterations simultaneously
• Test functional parts: replicate the production process exactly during the development stage, as HP 3D high reusability (HR) CB PA 12 is lightweight and durable
• Leverage build volume by creating smaller and large prototypes at once

For more information on how you could use 3D printing to revolutionise your own business, talk to the Perfect Colours sales team on 0845 680 9000.

Note* - Post updated and corrected August 2022