We fell in love with Suntribe, their Swedish founders and their holistic philosophy in approaching the production and use of effective, sustainable sunscreens. Read on to learn about their brand and their story!
Welcome to Nourish Beauty Box! Please introduce yourself and your amazing sunscreen brand to our readers!
I’m Julia, one of the three founders of Suntribe. We are an independent company from Sweden with a vision to change the sunscreen industry. We exist because research has shown that ingredients used in conventional sunscreen are harmful both for us humans and nature, and we want to change that. That’s why we always use safe and natural ingredients and base all our choices on research and science.
“All our clean sunscreens are tested in independent labs and verified safe for you and nature - that’s what we call worry-free.”
I started Suntribe in 2017 together with two of my classmates from university. We are now a team of five people bound together by our love for spending as much time as possible outdoors and developing products that are good for us and the planet.
You’re entering into a well-regulated industry with a plethora of mainstream brands that have existed for years. What makes Suntribe different?
What makes Suntribe unique is that we are completely transparent about the ingredients and packaging we use, and that everybody can feel safe using our natural cosmetics.
"All our skincare products are 100% natural and free from any potentially harmful or irritating ingredients such as petrochemicals, perfume and preservatives. Our mineral sunscreens are certified reef-safe and the majority of our products are 100% plastic-free."
How do you determine the sourcing of your ingredients & packaging?
It is very important for us to ensure that our ingredients and packaging have a minimal impact on the environment. Between 60% to 100% of the ingredients in each of our products comes from certified organic farming. We source all ingredients as locally as possible and produce in Europe.
What has been your biggest challenges in running your brand?
It has been challenging to enter the cosmetics industry as it is a very competitive industry with well-established players.
“We bootstrapped our business which meant that we couldn’t afford the marketing budgets the large beauty corporations are investing to promote their products."
That’s why we focused on creating a community of like-minded people and developing high quality products that speak for themselves.
What do you think of larger companies claiming to be reef-safe?
We have found that the cosmetics industry is a rather unregulated industry with a lot of greenwashing and unfounded claims.
“We have seen examples of global companies claiming their products are reef-safe when they still contain ingredients considered to be toxic for marine life according to peer-reviewed scientific studies.”
Our strategy has been to focus even more on educating customers to help them identify safe sunscreens and to be completely transparent about the ingredients we choose as well as how we have verified that they are safe.
Who do you follow and what brands do you personally admire?
One company that continues to inspire us is Oatly (a Swedish company offering oat-based dairy alternatives). We find their approach to challenge the conventional wisdoms of their industry very inspiring since we are doing exactly the same thing in the beauty industry. Oat milk used to have a rather boring image and the association was that it’s healthy, but definitely not cool.
“Mineral sunscreens are undergoing a similar metamorphosis and we are doing our best to communicate that zinc sunscreens are not only the safer and more sustainable alternative but also pretty fun to use!”
Do you support any charities or movements?
Yes, we work with a number of organizations such as the Hawaiian Safe Sunscreen Council that is actively working towards banning dangerous sunscreen chemicals worldwide.
This year we have also started a collaboration with One Tree Planted, which is an NGO organising reforestation initiatives in more than 40 countries around the globe. For every Suntribe product marked with the One Tree Planted symbol we plant one tree.
We also regularly support organizations such as Nordic Ocean Watch which organises beach clean-ups in Scandinavia, and are always open for new collaborations!
What exciting things do you have in store for us in the future?
We are currently working on a few new products for the coming season - we’ll be able to share more details soon! Anyone who wants to stay in the loop about Suntribe can check us out here.
Find Suntribe’s All Natural Night Cream in our March 2022 box!