UNI-SOLAR Powered so-fi Bag Wins Prestigious International Red Dot Award

United Solar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD). announced that the UNI-SOLAR powered Solar Fidelity (so-fi) Bag has won the esteemed Red Dot Award 2012 for Product Design in the fashion, lifestyle and accessories category.

The so-fi M Azzurro bag, designed by GOpro! Creative Marketing GmbH, was chosen for this coveted award due to its innovative concept, high quality design and workmanship. The so-fi lifestyle messenger bags are integrated with UNI-SOLAR lightweight, flexible photovoltaic (PV) cells to harness the energy of the sun and provide unlimited extended power to the charging unit located inside the bag.

This charger can power smart phones, tablet PCs, MP3 players, digital cameras, portable navigation devices and more. As a winner, the so-fi M Azzurro Bag will now feature the renowned “Red Dot” symbol, be featured in the Red Dot yearbook, and be on display at the Red Dot museum.

“United Solar is very proud of this great achievement awarded to the so-fi bag design,” said Ed Sosnowski, United Solar’s project manager for Open Solar. “The enhanced design and integration of UNI-SOLAR cells makes the bag a truly unique product, and is a perfect demonstration of sustainability in consumer products.”

“Winning this prestigious award is a thrilling success for our brand,” says Rafael Kubisz, creator of so-fi products and owner of GOpro! Creative Marketing GmbH. “With United Solar’s technology we foresee the launch of many other products for the consumer market and believe in a great upcoming future for both of our companies. Our target is to position so-fi® as a leading brand for portable energy generating consumer products with sustainable performance, true communication and great usability. This is what ‘solar fidelity’ stands for.”

The Red Dot awards are internationally recognized as a symbol of achievement in quality and design. Three categories including product design, communications design, and design concept are assessed by a jury of design experts. The products are evaluated based on a given set of criteria: degree of innovation, functionality, ergonomics, self-explanatory quality, formal quality, ecological compatibility, durability, symbolic and emotional content, and product periphery. This year’s competition saw more entries than ever before .with more than 4,500 designs submitted in the product design category alone.

UNI-SOLAR powered so-fi products are available online at www.so-fi.com.