Sofia Vergara Rethinks Sun Care With Toty Launch
Sofia Vergara is entering beauty with an aptly timed focus — sun care.
The category, which has been working to get year-round users, has gained Vergara as a new entrant with the launch of Toty. The brand is coming to market on its website with internal supplements, a mineral sunscreen, a color-correcting cream and a makeup compact for touch-ups, each priced from $28 to $54.
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Vergara, who previously had fragrances with Parlux, is no stranger to beauty. That includes her consumer experience, too. “I would read every single article and started to read about photo damage under the sun. I was in my 20s and that opened my eyes, and that’s when I started wearing sunscreen,” she said.
The brand was developed with Cantabria Labs, whom Vergara sought out as the company produced her favorite sunscreen, Heliocare, in Europe. The result is 360-degree sun care, ranging from internal supplements with antioxidants to sunscreen and makeup meant to be reapplied throughout the day.
“[Mitigating] sun damage is really what I want to do with the line. The line is supposed to protect and also restore. We did a lot of photo damage in our younger years,” Vergara said. “The ideal product, which I am already working on, will be able to not only protect from future damage, but also try to reverse existing damage.”
Vergara will also be appearing on HSN, which will carry the brand digitally, starting in July. More expansion is on the horizon, according to Paula Pontes, Toty’s chief executive officer.
“The mission of Toty is to expand the definition of sun care beyond just SPF,” Pontes, who had previously served as the CEO of Florence by Mills after a 10-year stint at the Estée Lauder Cos. “We have some news coming in the fall, which if you think about sun care and photo aging, will correct as well as protect. That’s how we think about the brand in terms of categories.”
The strategy was to hold off on wholesale partnerships because “I’m a consumer feedback nerd,” she said. “I want to see what consumers are reacting to, and the best way to start understanding the behavior of the consumer comes from having access to data… of course, in this day and age, omnichannel is critical, so we will keep evaluating which partners align with the brand and its message.”
Vergara and Pontes declined to comment on sales, but industry sources expect the brand will reach between $5 million and $10 million in net sales during its first year on the market.
From a demographic point of view, Pontes expects it to resonate broadly. ”Sofia mentions how she loves the product in her 50s, her niece in her 30s loves the product, and her mom who is in her 70s loves the product,” she said. “They talk to consumers across age groups.”
As part of staying true to Vergara’s own heritage, packaging includes copy penned in both English and Spanish. “Any consumer can use the brand, but we wanted to bring the Latin culture and put it at the center. Being Latina is so fundamental to who Sofia is,” she said. “We’re actually going to focus on 20 percent of the U.S. population that are Hispanic or speak Spanish. Out website is bilingual, our products are bilingual.”
As reported by WWD, Hispanic beauty households over-index on beauty spend, and their purchasing power skyrocketed 87 percent from 2010 to 2020. “We’re talking about community — the celebration of Latin heritage for us is really important. And from a business perspective, it’s really important, too,” Pontes said.
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