Roland Martin Signature Series: Sun-Mag+ Polarized Sunglasses with Bifocals

Roland Martin Signature Series: Sun-Mag+ Polarized Sunglasses with Bifocals

Bass angling's renowned touring pro has helped design a new

series of polarized sunglasses for anglers providing sharp focus close-up and far-away

MOBILE, Alabama – Ono's Trading Company, a leading manufacturer of over-the-counter polarized reader sunglasses, is introducing a new brand called SUN-MAG PLUS™. The first SUN-MAG PLUS™ branded products featured are the Roland Martin Signature Series™, a new line of polarized sunglasses with bifocals so anglers can switch to close-up focus to tie knots, clear line tangles, and dislodge hooks from fish.

Models inspired by the nine-time Angler of the Year feature low-profile readers with magnifications of 1.50, 2.00 and 2.50.  Upper portions of the quality lenses are for normal distance vision or for eyesight corrected by laser surgery or contact lenses.

Chris Nelson, national sales manager for Ono's Trading Company, said the Roland Martin models will sell for about $50 through pro shops and fishing tackle departments and are targeted to serious weekend anglers who want to "take their fishing to another level." 

The new sunglasses will be demonstrated to retailers for the first time at the annual ICAST tackle show in Las Vegas, Nevada in mid-July (Exhibit # 1816).

Nelson said the inaugural Roland Martin Signature Models include one with tortoise frames and amber lenses and another with black frames and grey lenses. Amber lenses will give anglers more color contrast for seeing through the surface to detect fish and underwater fish-holding structure. Grey lenses help anglers see all colors more accurately, a decided advantage when fish are holding in water of a certain color. Both grey and amber lenses provide 100 percent protection from harmful A and B ultraviolet rays, he said.

"Our new sportfishing series grew out of discussions we had with Roland about how sunglasses can help anglers catch more fish," said Nelson. "He told us serious anglers especially need dual-focus sunglasses because they are constantly shifting their focus from the water to their reels and back again. He also told us that serious anglers have a need for two pairs of sunglasses, one with amber and another with grey lenses, so they can have optimal vision in a variety of water and sunlight situations."

Martin said good polarized sunglasses are critical to seeing bass that are bedding and help anglers precisely place casts and retrieve lures effectively when working weedlines, jigging submerged timber, slow-rolling spinnerbaits through stickups, ticking logs and bumping stumps.

Martin was the first professional bass fisherman to be inducted into all three fishing halls of fame – IFGA Hall of Fame, Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame. Nine times he was named bass Angler of the Year. He won more than $1 million fishing bass tournaments. Martin is host of his own TV series – Fishing with Roland Martin. He is considered the father of pattern fishing, which is the strategy of locating other places on a body of water similar to the spot where the first fish was caught.

Like Martin, Ono's Trading Company is a pioneer in its field, having first brought to the market polarized sunglasses with bifocal magnifiers, an instant hit with millions of outdoor lovers, aged 40 and over, whose close-up vision had started to blur. "It's called presbyopia, or aging eyes," said Nelson. "There are an estimated 120 million people with this condition in North America and probably the same number or more in Europe."