Rebranding is Kind to skincare tan firm with a near 50 per cent revenue boost
TanOrganic changed its name to the Kind Brand Company after adding VeganTan to its range and has its sights set on the US market
TanOrganic, the self-tanning company founded by Noelle O’Connor, has rebranded and is targeting a US expansion having added a new vegan product aimed at younger customers.
Now known as the Kind Brand Company, it produces both TanOrganic and VeganTan products. The rebranding has resulted in revenue growth of nearly 50 per cent this year, O’Connor told the Business Post.
The Kind Brand Company was incorporated in 2021 following the launch of VeganTan, and has helped the company grow its sales both in Ireland and overseas, according to O’Connor, who set the business up in 2010.
The company, which makes tanning oils and mousses for the face and body, as well as branded tanning mitts, secured both investment and valuable publicity after O’Connor appeared on Dragons’ Den, the RTÉ series.
From their early days, O’Connor’s products won plaudits for their dermatological value. “That was something I was really passionate about, because I’m very passionate about skin cancer prevention,” she said. “And I believed the ingredients we put on our skin should be organic.
“We were always about being a skincare tan, rather than a purely cosmetic product. It’s the only tan you will see recommended by dermatologists, and that’s very important to us.”
The company’s emphasis on practicality, as well as natural ingredients, won it a loyal customer base which helped see it through the pandemic, O’Connor said.
“We weren’t a nightclub tan, we were an everyday skincare tan. The more you use our products, the better your skin will be.”
With VeganTan, which retails its mousses, oils and mists at €12.99, O’Connor is targeting a younger demographic, but the business’s adherence to high standards has remained the same.
“The product is vegan – it’s not organic – so the ingredients won’t be the same, but it is ethical,” she said.
“All we did was change the name of the company. It’s still the same company – it was just to align what we do when we added the new VeganTan brand.”
The Kind Brand, which has backing from Enterprise Ireland, currently employs ten people and is actively recruiting new staff.
It sells through distributors across Europe, including in France, Spain, Iceland and Switzerland, and is seeking to consolidate its position on the continent before expanding across the Atlantic. “We’ve a huge interest in the US, but we just want to get Europe right first,” O’Connor said.
Despite that, the company has already held talks with some of the biggest retailers in America, including CVS and Ulta Beauty.
“We’re probably targeting 2023, or 2024, for that move,” she said. “The US is a huge market, so of course it will be a game changer for us. For any brand, you’ve got to break the US market – you’ve got to break it.”
The Kind Brand Company places a significant emphasis on sustainability. With VeganTan, it participates in Plastic Neutral Programmes, which means that for every bottle of tan it sells, the company will remove and recycle one pound of plastic waste from the ocean in Goa, India.
This Making it Work article is produced in partnership with Enterprise Ireland
