Sol Republic, Inc. (stylized as SOL REPUBLIC, often subtitled Soundtrack Of Life) is an American privately held audio manufacturer based in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Founded in 2011 by Scott Hix, Seth Combs, and Kevin Lee, it was sold to HoMedics in late 2015 or early 2016.http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/techflash/2016/01/sol-republic-quietly-sold-to-homedics.html Some of Sol Republic's best-selling products include unique over-ear headphones such as ''Tracks'', whose couplets are interchangeable with the included headband.

History

The company was founded in 2010 by Scott Hix, Seth Combs, and Kevin Lee. Lee had worked at

Beats Audio Beats Electronics LLC (also known as Beats by Dr. Dre, or simply Beats by Dre) is an American consumer audio products manufacturer headquartered in Culver City, California. The company was founded by music producer Dr. Dre and record company exec ...

, while Hix had been an executive with

InFocus InFocus Corporation is an American privately owned company based in the state of Oregon. Founded in 1986, the company develops, manufactures, and distributes DLP and LCD projectors and accessories as well as large-format touch displays, softwa ...

. Lee's father, Noel Lee, founded video and audio cable company

Monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

. The name is an acronym for "soundtrack of life". By December 2011 the company had 33 employees split between headquarters in Wilsonville, Oregon, and

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. In July 2011, the company received $5.2 million in investment funding, followed by $22 million in July 2012. Sol Republic introduced its DECK portable speaker in August 2013 in partnership with

Motorola Mobility Motorola Mobility LLC, marketed as Motorola, is an American consumer electronics manufacturer primarily producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android OS, Android. It is a subsidiary of the Chinese multinational technology company ...

; the system was designed to work with the

Motorola Moto X Motorola Moto is a range of Android mobile devices manufactured by Motorola Mobility, a subsidiary of Lenovo. The Moto brand is also used and marketed for certain public-safety products from Motorola Solutions and by Motorola brand licensees on ...

. At that time the company had grown to 85 employees. The company raised another $27 million in March 2014, by which time it was employing 100 people and had its products in 26,000 retail stores. The funding came from Riverwood Capital and Greenoaks Capital Management, and was expected to be used to expand into international markets as well as new product development. Sol Republic's main distribution channels at that time were through

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

RadioShack RadioShack, formerly RadioShack Corporation, is an American retailer founded in 1921. At its peak in 1999, RadioShack operated over 8,000 worldwide stores named RadioShack or Tandy Electronics in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Austra ...

, and

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

. In 2014, the President of Sol Republic, Scott Hix, gave up his duties to co-founder and CEO Kevin Lee. Hix still owns a major portion of the company and is still considered a co-founder. Hix's business partner Brad Gleeson also left the company in January 2014. On October 20, 2015, Sol Republic partnered with Indiegogo in an attempt to crowd fund their newest invention; the Relay Sport Wireless During December 2015, the official website was shut down temporarily for redesign of the entire structure. They were also purchased by HMDX audio, and had their headquarters relocated to the same location as HMDX. In this merger, many of the styles of Tracks were discontinued, including their college and musician styles, as well as some of their Bluetooth devices, such as the Deck speaker and Tracks Air headphones. They also switched from using custom made and sized boxes for shipping to using generic packaging.

Products

Sol Republic manufacturers a variety of audio products, such as headphones, portable speakers, and ear buds. To help in marketing the products, the company has partnered with musicians and DJs such as

Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter who has released six studio albums. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'', was released in June ...

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and

Steve Aoki Steven Hiroyuki Aoki (, ; born November 30, 1977), best known as Steve Aoki, is an American DJ, record producer, music programmer, and record executive.

. Artist

Jesse Hernandez Jesse Lizarraga (born August 25, 1950), known by the ring name Jesse Hernandez, is an American professional wrestler, referee, trainer, and actor. He is the owner of the independent wrestling organization Empire Wrestling Federation, based in Sa ...

was hired by the company to design a line of headphones in 2015.

Headphones

*Tracks (All models are in Regular, HD, Master, Air (Discontinued), or Collegiate editions) *Shadow Wireless *Relays (Sport and Sport Wireless models) *Jax *Amps (discontinued) *Amps Air

Speakers

*Punk (discontinued) *Deck (discontinued) (Both Regular and Ultra models)

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , title = Entity Details , url = https://delecorp.delaware.gov/tin/controller , work = Division of Corporations , publisher = Delaware Secretary of State , accessdate = April 1, 2014 , url-status=dead , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110721035421/https://delecorp.delaware.gov/tin/controller , archivedate = July 21, 2011 {{cite news , last = Siemers , first = Erik , title = Sol Republic makes noise , url = http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/print-edition/2011/12/16/sol-republic-makes-noise.html?page=all , accessdate = April 1, 2014 , newspaper =

Portland Business Journal Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, date = December 16, 2011 {{cite news , last = Rogoway , first = Mike , title = Sol Republic seeks share of crowded audio market by blending fashion, technology , url = http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2014/04/sol_republic_seeks_share_of_cr.html#incart_more_business , accessdate = April 28, 2014 , newspaper = The Oregonian , date = April 26, 2014 {{cite news , last = Siemers , first = Erik , title = Sol Republic raises $22M , url = http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/print-edition/2012/07/13/sol-republic-raises-22m.html?page=all , accessdate = April 1, 2014 , newspaper =

, date = July 13, 2012 {{cite news , last = Stevens , first = Suzanne , title = Soaring Sol Republic amps Moto X cool, debuts new speaker , url = http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2013/08/soaring-sol-republic-amps-moto-x-cool.html , accessdate = April 1, 2014 , newspaper =

, date = August 1, 2013 {{cite news , last = Spencer , first = Malia , title = Wilsonville's Sol Republic lands $27M , url = http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2014/03/wilsonvilles-sol-republic-lands-27m.html?page=all , accessdate = April 1, 2014 , newspaper =

, date = March 31, 2014 {{cite news , last = Rogoway , first = Mike , title = Sol Republic, audio technology startup with offices in Wilsonville, raises $27.5 million for new products, global expansion , url = http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2014/03/sol_republic_audio_technology.html , accessdate = April 1, 2014 , newspaper =

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

, date = March 31, 2014 {{cite news , last = Spencer , first = Malia , title = No longer president, Sol Republic co-founder Scott Hix looks to nurture other businesses. , url = http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/techflash/2015/06/no-longer-president-sol-republic-co-founder-scott.html , accessdate = December 8, 2015 , newspaper =

, date = June 24, 2015 {{cite news , last = Spencer , first = Malia , title = Sol Republic partners with Indiegogo to exclusively launch Relays Sport Wireless in-ear headphones. , url = http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sol-republic-partners-with-indiegogo-to-exclusively-launch-relays-sport-wireless-in-ear-headphones-300162727.html , accessdate = December 8, 2015 , newspaper =

PR Newswire PR Newswire is a distributor of press releases headquartered in Chicago. The service was created in 1954 to allow companies to electronically send press releases to news organizations, using teleprinters at first. The founder, Herbert Muschel, ...

, date = October 20, 2015 {{cite news , last = O'Brien , first = Ciara , title = The Soundtrack of Life for music lovers , url = http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/technology/the-soundtrack-of-life-for-music-lovers-1.1738874 , accessdate = April 2, 2014 , newspaper =

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

, date = March 27, 2014 {{cite news , title = Dia De los Muertos with Jesse "Urban Aztec" Hernandez , url = https://blog.solrepublic.com/2015/10/26/dia-de-los-muertos/ , work = Sol Republic , date = October 26, 2015

External links

Portland Business Journal.com: "Sol Republic's president on lessons he's learned from InFocus and Planar"
Headphones manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Michigan American companies established in 2010 Electronics companies established in 2010 Manufacturing companies established in 2010 2010 establishments in California 2010 establishments in Oregon