Hard Sun is the NYC brand revolutionising sunscreen

Hard Sun is a New York City-born sunscreen brand that rethinks sports sunscreen from the ground up with a mineral SPF formulation that’s actually comfortable, and flattering, to wear. For athletes, it's a revelation – a sunscreen that offers high-intensity UVA and UVB protection, has 80 minutes of sweat- and water-resistance, and is breathable enough that it doesn't leave a mask-like layer on the face, unlike many mineral sunscreens. For people who confine their outdoor adventures to city streets, it’s equally useful, with a glide-on texture and tinted, mattifying formulation that leaves a pore-free finish. On top of it all, there’s the ever-appealing factor, for athletes and aesthetes alike, that the product just looks cool.

For co-founders and friends since high school Will Kortum and Will Jarvis, creating a sunscreen wasn’t an obvious choice. Professionals in graphic design and advertising by weekday, and hobbyists in cycling and rock climbing by weekend, the pair knew they wanted to create a product in the outdoor recreation space when they started formulating ideas for their own brand during Covid.

‘From the very beginning, it was important that what we made was ultra-functional,’ they say over email. ‘Maybe coming from brand world, having seen the sausage being made (or having taken part in making the sausage ourselves), we were super-allergic to the idea of just doing a cooler X, or slapping a brand on an existing product. It was also important to us that we made something that at least had elements of being new or unexpected. It seems simple, but we just said to ourselves: What do we not look forward to using? We never got excited to use sunscreen – and we were sort of like, yeah… this is it.’

Hitting on the idea was only the beginning of the process, what came after was years of research, trials and reworking to create a fully custom formulation. The duo worked with a chemist – who had more than four decades of experience in developing products solely for dermatologists and plastic surgeons – to create two SPF 50 tinted sunscreens: Tint 401 for very light to medium skin tones and Tint 4725 for light to deep skin tones.

‘We tried every sunscreen out there and tested every version we made with athletes and dermatologists – and on ourselves outside on long rides, surf trips and around town,’ say Kortum and Jarvis. ‘It wasn’t a situation where we went to a lab and asked to change one or two ingredients from an existing product to get it out the door. We created a fully custom formulation, which is why it took so long to get to market.’

Hard Sun recently launched online after an initial debut at the Capsule Plaza showcase during Salone del Mobile earlier this year in Milan, a testament to the impressiveness of its design. The brand worked with a team of collaborators over the past five years to develop the final aesthetic, including Radim Pesko for the typeface, Jungmyung Lee for the logo, and architect Sam Chermayeff, who informed the brand’s minimal, although slightly out-there, identity. Other inspirations include countercultural magazine Whole Earth Catalog, the work of supergraphics pioneer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, ‘some Ulm School/Vitsoe-adjacent stuff’ and design studio M/M (Paris).

Functionality and sustainability were also key when developing the packaging design. Realising that refillable containers often use more materials than their non-refillable counterparts and are often treated as single-use anyway, Hard Sun sourced an airless pump that's fully recyclable without disassembly, making it easier for people to recycle properly. Once they hit on that, they worked with friend, and avid cyclist, James Caruso to develop sport-friendly design elements such as smooth surfaces with a wide chamfered edge to prevent any dirt or debris from getting wedged in, and a twist cap that is easy to turn with gloves on or when you're on the move. The cap also locks in place to ensure it won't fall off accidentally when the container is jostled around amid other belongings.

In a market crowded with sunscreens, Hard Sun stands out as something different. Up next, Hard Sun is expanding to a line of SPF skincare products targeted at providing protection while also solving common skin issues among outdoor athletes; expect moisturisers, balms, and lotions formulated with SPF, as well as some new experiments in packaging and industrial design.

hardsun.com