Rising inflation combined with the already high prices of designer personal accessories mean that a common middle class person tends to treat a personal accessory like say sunglasses or watches a once in a lifetime buy. In such a scenario, that duplicate, yet immensely practical products like the fake oakleys come into the picture.

Already bitten by the dogged consumerism bug, the consumers of today are aspirers by trait. And products like the beautifully designed fake oakleys provides them the easiest way to realize their aspirations. The fake Oakleys give them the same kind of satisfaction they would feel had they been wearing the original ones. And virtual ground pricing of the products means that a product like the fake Oakley has the potential to percolate the lowest possible denominator as it completely eliminates the high price barrier.
A sociologist would perhaps describe the replica phenomena as a social leveler. A kind of a breakthrough which manages to, if not equate, at least cut across vertically right from one end of the social spectrum to the other.