Samsung has announced six limited edition watch bands for the Galaxy Watch 4 made of recyclable and eco-friendly materials including apple peel. The range was made in collaboration with Sami Miró, a fashion designer whose previous collections have made use of upcycled materials. The bands are available today, with prices starting at $39.99.
There are six designs included in the collection. The “Midnight Black” and “Stratus Sky” bands are made out of 100 percent apple peel skin “recovered from the fruit industry.” Samsung claims the material has the “premium look of leather” while obviously not being sourced from animals. The other four designs (“Aurora Night,” “Cloud Navy,” “Earth Sunrise,” and “Dawn Atlas”) are made of a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) material which Samsung says is recyclable.
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Alongside the watch bands Samsung is also releasing a collection of three complementary free watch faces available for download from the Google Play store.
Yes, the most sustainable choice will always be to use the watch band that came with your smartwatch, but if you’re going to buy an aftermarket watchband it’s nice to know some effort’s been made to reduce its environmental footprint. Personally I hope that Samsung’s future smartwatches might use these materials as standard, rather than only in optional accessories.
Samsung already uses sustainable materials in its packaging, and as of last year its sites across the US, China, and Europe were powered by 100 percent renewable energy (that’s not the case for all regions, like Korea, but Samsung says it’s working on it). But, it still has a lot of work to do to reduce the environmental impact of its devices themselves, particularly when it comes to repairability.
