Introducing the Staying Afloat Series, where we take an inside look into the lives of many different fly fishing guides, shops, brands, and lodges across the world in hopes of finding out how the CO-VID is affecting them, what they are doing to help, and how we can do our part to help them.
For this feature, we interviewed the folks over at Chums, a Utah based outdoor brand is known for pioneering and inventing sunglass retainers. A common accessory among anglers.
Flylords: Can you tell us about the new Chums retainer that just launched? What makes it unique?
The Mariner! It is made from 100% repurposed fishing line – we really wanted to design a pair of Chums that was targeted to the fishing industry and especially the saltwater community.
Also, the Mariner is designed with silicone ends which is new for us. These ends have no memory so you can pull them off and on your glasses without them ever stretching out. Lots of newer frames have a rubber coating on the arms and our rubber ends are hard to slip over the rubber coated arms, the silicone works perfectly and is easy to slip on and off.
Flylords: I know you launched these early in an effort to support the #saveourseason campaign – can you tell us what this campaign means to your team?
Yeah – we rushed the launch of the Mariner so we could support that campaign. Chums is very aware that our most loyal users are fishing and rafting guides and we love that community. Knowing that many guides are getting most of their trips canceled, we knew we had to do something to give back to that community. Guides have been supporting Chums since 1983 and we knew it was our time to step us and support them.
Flylords: Tell us about the video feature you just launched with guide Ken Jones.
Here’s a little behind the curtain look at Chums and our marketing efforts: Because we are a Utah company we get stuck in the Rocky Mountains with our imagery and videos fairly often. We really wanted to focus on telling the Chums story in the South.
We were introduced to Ken through our buddies at Packsaddle Productions and knew we wanted to tell his story. These tough, core, and gritty guides that get after it day in and day out and do so all while having a pair of Chums around their neck.
Flylords: Are there any other initiatives going on right now that you have noticed and would like to highlight?
There is so much good being spread right now – the boys over at Sendero had an awesome imitative to raise funds for local Waco companies that was rad. What y’all are doing with Fat Tire is also really cool. Also just a shoot-out to Postfly and Badfish, we are really just piggybacking off of their initiative. #savetheseason
Flylords: For people interested in the product where / when is it available?
The Mariner is live right now on our website and we are giving 25% of all sales are going back to the #savetheseason campaign.
Flylords: When this all blows over, where is the first place you want to go fishing?
We’ve really connected with Captain Justin Valakis, a guide down in the Keys through this campaign. I need to jump on a trip with him asap!
Cheers to Fat Tire and New Belgium Brewing for making this series possible. Throughout the “Staying Afloat Series,” we will be sending beer to people who are really in need of a “pick me up”. If you have a good story for someone who deserves some beer shoot us an email theflylords@gmail.com.
Be sure to check out Chums’ Fishing Division online here and give them a follow on Instagram @chumsusa.
