If you weren’t already aware summer is around the corner, the number of new sunscreen launches would surely inform you.
Since the beginning of the year, new products from Vacation, Augustinus Bader, Merit, and Skylar have launched buzzy products in the form of shimmery whips, tinted moisturizers, and fragrance sprays. And cult-favorite foreign brands like Australia’s Ultra Violette and South Korea’s Beauty of Joseon have entered the US markets, ready to capture consumers’ desire for elevated sunscreen. Among the buzziest of these launches is Kopari, with its suite of shimmery Instagram-friendly body oils and makeup finishing sprays.
Kopari first entered the sunscreen category in 2021, and it has since become a major pillar of growth for the decade-old brand. Thanks in great part to TikTok virality, the year-over-year (YoY) growth for suncare is 84% in 2025, and the majority of suncare purchasers are new to Kopari. Susan Kim, CEO of Kopari, said brand sales are evenly split between suncare, bodycare, and facecare on a full-year basis, with the first half of the year sales weighted more in suncare. Overall, Kopari sales have grown 600% since 2020, and the brand has been profitable for nearly as long.
“That [growth] comes through innovation, differentiation, and doing something that is elevated, [to the point] where consumers are willing to pay a prestige price point more,” said Kim. “The headwinds are really about whether we’ve shown consumers that the $39 value [equals] their value perception.”
Kopari’s first product, the $42 Sun Shield Body Glow, arrived in 2021 in a shimmery gel format and has served as the basis for some of the brand’s most popular products. In 2024, a collection of $39 Sunglaze Sheer Body Mists sold at a rate of one bottle a minute and catapulted the brand on TikTok. In February, Kopari followed up on that success with a new golden hue, plus a setting mist version that leaves a glass-skin finish.
The mists function the same as a less expensive option available at a mass store, because the Food and Drug Administration regulates sunscreen, and only a select few active ingredients are approved for sun protection use, said Kim. But experientially, the idea was to make sunscreen glamorous with a dash of sex appeal. To achieve this, Kopari used mica to create a visually compelling product (especially through a mobile screen, said Kim), and added vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, and vitamin E for additional skin benefits. It also comes with far more interesting scents than the traditional, medicinal-like sunscreen, like coconut milk and papaya. Nonaerosol primary packaging also meant a more environmentally friendly and visually appealing bottle. The end result is glowy, sensual-looking skin, taking the unsexy medicinal idea of sun safety and turning it into its sexier cousin, skincare.
“We wanted to make it enjoyable and experiential, versus [something] you have to do,” said Kim.
That hurdle to user experience is one of the biggest aspects holding back sunscreen from greater growth, according to Joan Li, Senior Analyst at Mintel. In a Mintel survey of 2,000 people, daily sunscreen usage in the US sat at about 50% of the population, indicating both a major opportunity for brands and a lack of interest from consumers. The US suncare market is expected to grow by 6.7% between 2024 and 2029, a steady yet slower growth compared to categories like haircare and fragrance.
The greatest growth is among suncare enthusiasts who are consciously trading up from mass to prestige sunscreen products. A Mintel survey of 2,000 shoppers found that the average spend on a facial moisturizer with SPF was between $16 and $44. And 15% of sunscreen users said they shopped for those products at specialty beauty retailers, like Ulta Beauty or Sephora, while another 30% of people who purchased facial moisturizers with SPF bought them at specialty retailers.
“A lot of brands are competing for that same segment of engaged sunscreen users for sunscreen products. It's increasingly a very tight market,” said Li. “Positioning to win in this particular category [requires] finding claims that position the product for everyday use and comfort.”
For the Kopari team, that means marketing products as enjoyable as a “permanent vacation” and “permanent paradise.” To better tell that story of permanency, Kopari moved its content creation in-house in mid-2022, allowing the team of three to produce social assets more efficiently. The team also manages all influencer marketing, including earned, paid, and gifting opportunities; the team works with a “couple thousand” influencers a month across all three buckets, said Toral Patel, Vice President of Marketing and E-Commerce for Kopari.
As such, earned media value (EMV) is an important metric for Kopari. In the first quarter, Kopari’s EMV grew 60% YoY. Meanwhile, the average across the prestige skincare index was 2% growth during the same time period, said Patel, citing CreatorIQ data. The brand’s influencer retention rate in prestige skincare, which measures how frequently influencers mention the brand in two consecutive time periods, sits at 118% for the month of March, based on CreatorIQ data.
Kopari has also partnered with Monday Swimwear to gift samples during Miami Swim Week, which will be between May 28 and June 1, and online through Monday’s e-commerce site. The two brands also developed social content together and cross-shared on each branded account and co-hosted a pool party at the home of Monday Swimwear co-founder Devin Brugman, where 150 units were gifted to brand friends and influencers.
“This is [one way] to continue to elevate the brand and its aspirational aspects,” said Patel.
For the setting mist, which launched in February, the Kopari team gifted hundreds of TikTok creators ranging from micro to mega followings, including makeup artist Shelby Ann Bell, said Patel. The product eventually saw more than 50 million views across TikTok and sold out at Nordstrom, Revolve, and multiple Ulta Beauty stores.
“We've been working on building this brand the way that we wanted to build it over the last five years,” said Kim. “It's not an overnight success or a sole viral hit. It is the collective of making structural changes within the organization, such as seeking everything in-house.”
