Solios

The first watch brand to obtain B Corp status, Solios creates sleek, minimalist watch designs incorporating an innovative solar-powered technology that allow you to charge your watch using natural and artificial light. Since their inception, Solios has aimed to prove that it is possible to reconcile design, elegance and sustainability. No compromise here: each timepiece features carefully curated materials, ethical processes and, most and foremost, timeless and minimalist aesthetics.

Founders
University friends Samuel Leroux and Alexandre Desabrais embarked on a journey to find a business idea that would have a positive impact on the world. Watch lovers at heart, they spent some time analysing the sector before arriving at their winning idea: watches that incorporate solar technology. No more battery replacement. No more planned obsolescence. No more maintenance. 

“We believe sustainability can be elegant. Timeless. Trendy. Avant-garde. We also believe the journey to adopting a more sustainable lifestyle can be easy and fun"

Materials
The battery life of a Solios watch is over 50 years - approximately 25 times longer than a regular watch battery. It will take around five hours to fully recharge a Solios watch under the sun. Its power reserve is approximately 6 months. It charges even under artificial light - simply place it under a lamp for 24 hours for a full recharge!
Alex and Sam have also discovered a unique material that wasn't frequently used in fashion- silicone-based leather. Free from PU, PVC, phthalates, heavy metals, solvents, and toxic by- products, this is a truly eco-friendly material. The mesh strap is made with long-lasting dyes, and the rubber in the watch is replaced with cork.
The glass of the watch is made of hardened mineral glass, with a sapphire coating, and
an anti-reflection coating, making for superior reflective, strength and clarity properties.

People
Every factory working with Solios was hand-picked and has been visited on
multiple occasions to make sure that would meet the highest standards of working
conditions. Being a B Corp certified company, all production partners had to sign a legally binding Supplier Code of Conduct, including topics such as minimum-wage, security, and working hours, amongst others.
 
Production
Solios works with partners from all over the world to bring innovation into the mature and conservative watch industry. They collaborate with technological experts in Japan, Hong Kong, and Switzerland, with some of their materials carefully sourced from China. The final assembly and quality control takes place in Montreal, Canada.
To encourage circular economy, Solios has developed a watch recycling program, where people can send back their old watches, from any brand, and they make sure that most pieces of the watch will be recycled. 
 
Packaging
A Solios watch will be shipped in a 100% recycled cardboard that is locally sourced, using water-based ink, and is 100% recyclable. The packaging is hand-made in the founders' hometown of Montreal, and the brand has chosen to forgo any ribbons, magnets, or soft-touch finish that would make the packaging non-recyclable.
Many companies will have every individual piece protected and transported in single-use plastic during the manufacturing process, until its final assembly, where this plastic is disposed of. Solios has instead made sure to invest in recycled and reusable cardboard to transport their watches, and use reusable cloth for every other piece.

Animals
For everyone at Solios, a sustainable economy represents the economy of the future,
and the future that the brand envisions uses vegan innovation rather than animal-based, often cruelly produced materials.