Many people have asked us how Solmates started, and it really began with just a little idea born out of frustration and guilt.
We were both determined to use less plastic in our daily lives - and geez, you use a lot of single-use plastic bottles protecting yourself and your family from the sun in Australia year round! … (that’s where the guilt came in).
But it really wasn’t so easy to do so … bulk bottles were too cumbersome (and messy!) to carry around and other options seemed too expensive or fiddly, making our lives harder not easier (that’s where the frustration came in).
So we got to thinking - why wasn’t there a ‘keep cup’ for sunscreen? We had a reusable coffee cup and a reusable water bottle, why not for sunscreen?
It was one of those ‘what if’ ideas that you usually have and then move on from. But this time we didn’t move on. There was one stat that really stuck with us - you probably know the one by now - by 2050 there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Scary right?! And that’s just one example of the harsh reality of the world we might be leaving to our kids.
So we decided to put skin in the game. We designed a replacement for all that single-use plastic - a sunscreen applicator we could refill again and again and take anywhere.
Sounds relatively easy? We thought so too - haha, it was not! In bringing Solmates to life, there were a few things we were determined to do - make our applicator in Australia, use ocean-bound recycled plastic and be as sustainable as possible with all our packaging (recycled, recyclable, locally-made). Plus we just wanted it to look really good ….. There was a lot of research, numerous design iterations, trials, failures, likes, dislikes, some celebrations and more than a few tears!
Oh, and did we mention one of us (Caroline) now lives in London while the other (Kel) is in Sydney? … and that this all took place during a global pandemic!
But we kept going and here we are - very happy and grateful to be bringing our Solmates products to you. We hope you love them as much as we do, and we look forward to having you on the rest of our Solmates journey together.
