The New Sun Care Brand to Know Comes From an Unexpected Country
MILAN — An ode to the Mediterranean lifestyle coming directly from Belgium: what might sound like an odd premise speaks for the unconventional spirit embedded in emerging sun care brand Le Rub.
After all, founders Kim and Raf Maes are unconventional types themselves. The siblings boast different professional backgrounds and poured their combined expertise in beauty, fashion and branding in the shared venture they launched earlier this year.
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In particular, Kim Maes is a former makeup artist who has worked as a consultant for leading brands, in addition to having founded in 2016 the Blos physical and online beauty destination carrying a handpicked selection of exclusive niche brands. Her brother Raf is an experienced brand builder with a passion for design, branding and photography as well as former president and co-founder of the Komono brand of watches and eyewear.
The combination of these worlds generated an appealing formula aiming to raise awareness around the importance of sun protection and make it cooler, also for new generations. The founders’ mission is to elevate the perception of the category with a smart offering of mineral sunscreen and after-sun products combining high-performance formulations with skin care properties like light textures, scents winking to luxury beauty and a design packaging that could further encourage consumers to use products in broad daylight.
The approach turned out to be successful and timely given the overall positive momentum the category is experiencing, helping Le Rub secure a rollout at 80 key retailers across Europe this summer.
“We launched Le Rub in 2024 after three years of dedicated formulation and testing,” said Kim Maes. “We were driven by the need to create a high-quality sun care range that felt amazing on the skin, was kind to the planet but also had cool branding with beautiful photography, different than most other sun care brands,” she added, underscoring that seeing a gap in the market initially prompt the duo to action.
“The existing options often forced a choice between sticky textures that leave a white cast on the skin and luxury options filled with ingredients we didn’t want to use. Our goal was to offer something different and better, something that really stood out and the reactions have been extremely positive,” she said.
Maes, who oversees R&D, highlighted how Le Rub’s products are intended “not only to protect the skin but to nourish it” via antioxidant-rich and vitamin D-boosting natural ingredients as well as anti-inflammatory and hydrating properties poured in vegan and cruelty-free formulas. She added that the supply chain is also designed to minimize emissions, with natural ingredients sourced across the Mediterranean, including from small farms in Sicily, Sardinia and a historical distillery in Milan — the city that also houses the lab that develops the brand’s formulations.
The assortment currently comprises five products, priced between 44 euros and 49 euros. These include the Everyday Face Sunscreen featuring hyaluronic acid alongside ingredients such as grape and almond oil; the All-Day Body Sunscreen blending grapeseed and sunflower oils with glycerin for extra hydration; the After Sun Repairing Face Mask, which comes with a creamy texture based on the likes of tomato skin, extracts from Sicilian myrtus and cucumber; the After Sun Repairing Lotion intended to soothe skin and maximize tan with the addition of shea butter and aloe vera; the Sunset Serum featuring a plant-based complex of Sicilian prickly pears, myrtle, cucumber and apricot extract, among others.
This month, the company will also introduce the SPF 50 version of its Everyday and All-Day sunscreens for face and body to offer a higher protection compared to the SPF 30 products it already carries, while in October a mineral stick format will be added as a more practical and on-the-go option just in time for the ski season.
Sprays and a tinted SPF range combining sun protection with a touch of color to further enhance skin tone are also in the works for next year, the founders said.
The siblings can count on the help of Emily L’Ami of Bodha and Leslie David in the creative process. The former is a Los Angeles-based perfumer trained in aromatherapy who was tasked to develop the signature scent of Le Rub’s products using natural ingredients such as Italian tomato leaf and Atlas cedarwood to evoke the sun-kissed Mediterranean landscape. The latter is the Paris-based award-winning creative director behind Le Rub’s packaging and graphic identity, which is inspired by vintage logos from the ’50s and ‘60s and Raf Maes’ own photography paying tribute to the Riviera aesthetic of the same decades.
The visual aspect is contributing to propel the appeal of the brand, which founders decided to christen with a name “meant to be fun and light” to align with the company’s philosophy of uncomplicated and enjoyable sun care.
Such a spirit helped Le Rub to garner the attention and hit the shelves of retailers including Rinascente, LuisaViaRoma and The Beautyaholic’s Shop in Italy; Le Bon Marché in France, and Niche Beauty in Germany, to name a few.
Spain is also a top-performing market for the brand, followed by the Benelux region and Scandinavian countries. Founders said they see also significant potential for expansion in countries like the U.K., Australia and the U.S. “where sunscreen is already integrated in people’s daily routine.”
“We believe in offering a personalized shopping experience where customers can see, feel and learn about our products firsthand. We’re targeting all the premium stores that align with our brand values and can help us reach discerning customers who prioritize quality and sustainability,” Kim Maes said.
While the founders eye further expansion in the physical channel, they are also working to boost Le Rub’s online presence by improving the user experience and widening the reach of its e-commerce through campaigns and digital marketing as well as partnering with online retailers and beauty platforms that could further help Le Rub access a wider audience.
“The ultimate mission is to always create purposeful products and meaningful content, which celebrate our customers’ view of the world and the things they like…[and] to become a strong global sun care brand while keeping things fun, simple and focused while always respecting our values,” concluded Raf Maes.
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