Clothing That Doubles as Sunscreen

Inspiration was born out of tragedy for Mary Kay McCormick and Lynn Rose, who discovered their entrepreneurial missions after their husbands died of skin cancer.

Along with other entrepreneurs, they have helped create an industry that provides sun-protective clothing and accessories to a nation that loses 8,000 people to skin cancer annually. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, yet the sun-protective clothing industry is still in its infant stages here.

McCormick and Rose consider their businesses--respectively, Solar Eclipse of Phoenix and Soleil Chic in Marina Del Rey, California--a tribute to their husbands, as they strive to help other people enjoy the sun safely.

Other entrepreneurs, such as Bethany Bunnell, Missy Varner and Adam Perl, have joined the industry to forestall tragedy.

Bunnell, for example, discovered sun-protective clothing while living overseas. After resettling in the U.S. in 1994, she searched unsuccessfully for UPF clothing to keep her children safe. Dissatisfied, she decided to make it herself.

By 1997, SunSafe began manufacturing and marketing sun-protective swimwear for children. The company has since expanded to include adult and infant clothing suitable for a variety of outdoor activities.

The company also is a voting member of a committee of the American Society of Testing Materials that helped establish a U.S. standard for ultraviolet protection in textiles. The voluntary standard provides guidelines for testing and labeling sun-protective clothing, meant to assure consumers that the garments prevent overexposure to UV rays, which can damage skin cells and contribute to skin cancer.

Bunnell, 45, lives in Miami where, she says, "We experience the need for sun safety--and see people ignore it--every day!

Mark Schmidt, SunSafe director of marketing and operations, reports a loyal following for the firm.

"Seventy-five percent of our customers purchase again the following year," he says. Schmidt declined to provide sales figures, but Dun & Bradstreet estimates SunSafe's sales at $1.5 million.

Getting the Word Out
Varner, 37, stumbled upon sun-protective clothing while looking online for a potential business venture.

She started out as a sales representative for various sun-protective clothing lines, and then her clients started asking her to approach magazines for publicity.

"[Sun-protective clothing] was basically unheard of, so of course the magazines wanted to pick up on it," Varner says.

This prompted Varner to create her company, Sunsmartpr, which promotes all sorts of sun-protection items, including sunscreen and sunglasses. The Knoxville, Tennessee, company currently has multiple clients and has turned even more away.

"I'm very particular about the companies I work with. I want to see samples and what the clothing is made of," she says. She insists on full disclosure on client labels, especially sunscreen.

"This is something I felt passionate about because we're boaters and spend a great deal of time out in the sun," she says. "I want a job where I can make a difference."

Sunsmartpr fits the bill, and Varner also spends a good portion of her time speaking at health fairs and other events to raise aware about the dangers of being out in the sun.

SunSafe's Schmidt says consumers are getting the message. "The consumer is finally asking for this," Schmidt says. "When we started out, I went up and down the coast of Florida, and I couldn't give it away."

Sunsafe welcomes what Schmidt says is growing competition from retailers large and small. "All of this is helping to build this market and create a bigger pie," he says.

Spotting the Potential
Perl, 41, saw the potential in UV fabrics several years ago when he purchased Alex & Me Co., which bills itself as a one-shop superstore for sun-protective apparel.

A former investment banker, Perl is the third owner of Alex & Me, which began retailing sun-protective clothing in 1997. Family members on his wife's side have died of melanoma, and he saw the business as an opportunity in a growing, undervalued field. The company also fed Perl's desire to find a business that would "help people somehow or some way."

When Perl took over, Alex & Me sold one brand of sun-protective clothing. Today, it offers 36 brands. At first the clothing was largely utilitarian, but now it runs the gamut, he says.

"There are leopard prints and spots and stripes. A lot of people have brought a lot of fashion into it," he says.

And it's become less of a niche business. Well-known clothing brands such as Columbia, Speedo and Patagonia are producing items with UPF protection, Perl says.

Consumers are taking note, he says. With thousands of customers, Alex & Me is expecting $500,000 to $750,000 in sales this year.

As for McCormick, 63, she was already manufacturing a line of golf and ultrasuede clothing when she learned about Supplex, a tightly woven fabric that UV rays can't penetrate. The discovery, coming on the heels of her husband's death, galvanized her.

She considers sun-protective clothing a better solution than sunscreen when it comes to protecting people from harmful exposure to UV rays. She points out that it's easy to miss a spot when putting on sunscreen. Some people have allergic reactions to it, and babies shouldn't be using it at all, she adds.

So McCormick and her son got on the phone and started doing research. The result was Solar Eclipse, founded in 1996.

Sales last year totaled about $750,000, and McCormick hopes to reach $1 million this year.

From Rain to Sunshine
Soleil Chic's Rose started producing rain umbrellas in 2001. When she came across a sun-protective fabric shortly thereafter, she shifted her direction.

"I thought, wouldn't that be a great thing to do something with it, especially after the loss of my husband to skin cancer," she says. The UV protection is part of the dyeing process. Rose says lighter colors block about 97 percent and darker colors up to 99 percent of UV A and UV B rays, both of which have been linked to skin cancer.

Rose, 65, contacted 35 umbrella companies in China before she found a manufacturer for her line. She then sold her first 50 sun-protective umbrellas to the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena, California.

That was easy compared with what came next, when she decided she needed tote bags to go along with the umbrellas.

She knew nothing about fabric, style, construction or hardware. So she went to Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue and used their bag departments as her classroom.

"I spent about three years learning about this stuff before I got my products," she recalls.

After her line of bags and umbrellas started selling to country clubs, spas and hotels, she decided to make UV hats to complete the line, using the same fabric as the bags.

Sales last year were under $100,000, but she anticipates additional growth this year. She recently received orders from Crystal Cruises. Her hats and umbrellas have garnered publicity on The Today Show and in the Los Angeles Times, and have been featured in several trade publications. Consumer demand has followed.

"People are so much more aware than when I started," Rose says. "I think that's why it took me so long to get business from the cruise shipping community. I think the cruise lines did not want to deal with that."