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Brain Dead x Oakley announce the launch of the highly lauded Oakley Factory Team. Brain Dead join hands in creating new, innovative products via Oakley’s creative ecosystem. Acting as the Research & Development division for the highest form of conceptual design and experimentation, the Oakley Factory Team will push the limits of our collective mission via product and multimedia storytelling mediums.  

The vision is clear – expand upon Oakley’s rich history of innovation, experimentation and disruption by extracting the DNA of archived products and integrating it into new models via Brain Dead’s design matrix. 

According to Brain Dead founder Kyle Ng: “Oakley Factory Team represents the cross-section between art, design, experimentation and functionality. We look at Oakley Factory Team as being the experimental prototype that facilitates the imagination to be realised.  

Brain Dead has always been one to push the boundaries of the avant-garde via experimentation. We look to take the foundations of Oakley’s original concepts and ideas and bring them forward into our new world. Some of Oakley’s earliest designs, such as the Flesh, seemed so futuristic at the time that it is only now that they have begun to feel like contemporary objects. From the desires of functionality to those of performance, the Oakley Factory Team desires to expand the mind and bring to life ideas from Oakley’s alt imagination.” 

The Oakley Factory Team, Brain Dead and Oakley’s first endeavour will be to resurrect the iconic Oakley Flesh with three new styles, including two new limited-edition styles and one linear model, the Oakley Mainline. Launched in the early 2000s, Flesh captures the rugged, organic and futuristic lens through which Oakley continues to communicate its design ethos. 

Brian Takumi, VP, Brand Soul and Creative said: “Like anything, there’s always going to be the original. And at the same time, there is always an opportunity to evolve. That creative exploration of pulling something rare from the archives and reimagining what it could be for today is a process we are thrilled to be doing with Brain Dead. At Oakley, we are equal parts scientists and engineers as we are designers. So, with every product, each element is carefully considered. The result is a fresh interpretation of Flesh with a neo-futuristic aesthetic that symbolises evolution and progression.” 

In bringing Flesh into the modern age, the Oakley Factory Team looked at all aspects of the shoe to ensure its re-imagination lived up to its initial launch. Available in two colourways, Ice and Lime/Blue, the shoe features the original rubber midsole with a phylon layer, making Flesh lighter for easier day-to-day wear. The design team kept the open chamber in the sole, allowing for easier compression and cushion when walking. The upper has also been modified via applied oval gels that push the already forward-facing aesthetic even further into the future, imaginatively channeling the energy from the wearer’s last step into their next. 

The Brain Dead x Oakley Factory Team Dead Flesh are available from April 19th via wearebraindead.com.