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Non-Tech : OAKLEY- NYSE:OO -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dr. Jeff who wrote (1116)	10/22/1997 6:37:00 PM
From: Robet Butkus	Respond to of 1383

With a market cap of over $650m and declinging sales...who knows?

To: Dr. Jeff who wrote (1116)	10/23/1997 1:43:00 PM
From: Greg Ballinger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1383

Dr Jeff and All, If you haven't read this yet. Greg CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -(Dow Jones)- Polaroid Corp. began shipping its first company-branded sunglasses in the U.S. in more than 25 years, hoping to take advantage of surging demand for high-priced eyewear that provides glare protection. Bob Murray, vice president for most of Polaroid's nonphotography operations, told Dow Jones Wednesday the company was hoping to have more than $100 million in sunglass sales and become a "strong No. 3" to Bausch & Lomb Inc.'s Ray-Ban unit and Oakley Inc. within the next "three or four years." Polaroid's worldwide sales of polarizers and sunglasses, which it currently sells in Europe, Japan and elsewhere, now are close to $50 million, Murray said. Polaroid's total annual revenues are about $2.3 billion. Polaroid (PRD) got out of the U.S. sunglass market when patents on some of its early technologies expired, enabling other companies to copy the glare-protection, or polarizing, methods invented by Polaroid founder Edwin Land. Now, Polaroid has patented some new polarizing techniques it believes will give it a cost and performance advantage in high-end glasses, Murray said. Glasses in the new U.S. line, named Xoor, will retail for about $100 to $150, with an average of about $130. Murray said glasses that provide polarization with the same quality of styling and frame materials are currently retailing at price points about $30 higher. Polaroid also contends its new technology allows plastic hardness that gives scratch resistance comparable to glass. Murray said Polaroid hadn't sealed any deals yet for distribution in major retail chains, but expected to do so by early next year. The new glasses will appear first at opticians, ski and surf shops, he said. Distribution will undoubtedly be key to Polaroid's new thrust, especially since the emergence of Sun Glass Hut as a major force in sunglass retailing. Murray says opticians and others were excited about the new Polaroid line at the Vision Expo show in Anaheim last month. Currently, high-priced sunglasses can be polarized only by sandwiching a plastic polarizing filter between two pieces of glass, adding to production costs, Murray said. The new Polaroid technologies enable polarizing in a single piece of high-quality acrylic, such as the Xoor line has. Murray estimates the marrket for polarized glasses in the U.S. today is about $60 million to $70 million and growing rapidly. Copyright (c) 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ------------------- Try The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition at wsj.com for concise company briefing books and detailed stock quotes. Transmitted: 10/22/97 19:49 (L100ZSic)