Photo courtesy of Ron Williams.
Cablz inventor Ron Williams displays his product outside his business in downtown Birmingham.
On April 26, 2007, Vestavia Hills resident Ron Williams almost hit an elderly woman in a parking deck.
Williams, who was working in orthopedic sales at the time, was driving his truck and turned his head, only to have his eyewear retainer snag, impeding his vision, causing the near accident.
Williams noticed he’d thrown his sunglasses in frustration on top of cables used in medical procedures and wondered if there was a way to use the steel cables to create a new kind of eyewear retainer that better met people’s needs.
Williams used electrical tape to create the first prototype for Cablz, which uses ball bearings to keep the retainer off the neck and sunglasses on the wearer’s head.
Two years later, Cablz arrived on the market. For five years, Williams ran the business out of his garage, but now he operates from his office in downtown Birmingham.
At first, the retainer was a single cable without the ability to be adjusted, but Williams said he soon learned people wanted the ability to make Cablz longer or shorter depending on what they were doing.
The retainers now can be adjusted to sit off the neck or tightened to be snug around the head, and the products are made to military specifications for toughness, Williams said.
For about seven years after launch, the company’s growth was flat, Williams said. But in late March of this year, Williams said the company’s revenues were up 175 percent from the same time in 2018.
More products are on their way, including quick-transition lenses. Products launched since the company’s founding include floating retainers, multi-purpose glasses that can be used as safety glasses, surgical glasses, regular sunglasses and lens cleaner. Shirts and cups are also available on the company’s website, cablz.com.
Soon after the product took off in the U.S. and Canada, Williams found another company was trying to steal his idea.
At a 2010 trade show in Utah, Williams’ son, who was 10 years old at the time, was running around to look at the exhibits, before coming back to his dad and telling him another vendor was selling Cablz.
After spending $2 million in a legal battle over the patent, four of his five patents were validated.
“It’s all part of doing business,” Williams said.
Vestavia residents have helped Williams along the way, he said.
“Vestavians have always supported Cablz,” Williams said. “... Vestavia Hills is a very symbiotic area to be in. You give and it gives back.”
Despite his success, Williams said he’s not rich, except in what really matters.
“Rich in family, rich in love,” Williams said. “That’s all that matters, when it comes down to it.”
