Military personal care products for grooming, skincare give back to vets
Civilians can now buy Military-approved grooming products.
New York-based company Bravo Sierra enlisted at least 1,000 active-duty military members to stress test its line of personal care products like deodorant, shaving cream, antibacterial wipes and SPF to see how they hold up in field conditions and on base camps. Now, everyday civilians can buy them.
"Wellness and health don't need to be portrayed as high end aspirations for the privledged few," Justin Guilbert, co-founder of Bravo Sierra, told FOX Business of the company he started with Benjamin Bernet, who has worked with beauty brands like L'Oreal, Kiehl's and Glossier.
Bravo Sierra created a 4-in-one cleansing product.
Bravo Sierra, named for the coded military idiom used to call bulls---t, partnered with the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps to sell the products its service members helped make in base camp exchanges - known as retailers that sell products for military service members. All products are made in the U.S. in states like California and New Jersey without chemical additives like parabens and phthalates.
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Products cost between $5 and $14, and include a four-in-one face, body wash, hair cleanser and shave gel ($9.50); face sunscreen with SPF 30 for ($13.50); a barber set with shaving foam, moisturizer and hair grooming paste ($25); deodorant ($9.50) and more. The No. 1 seller are its antibacterial body wipes for military-style tactical showers ($10.50 for 10 wipes). Military service members pay 15 to 20 percent less for products.
Civilians can purchase the products straight off the website and 5 percent of the revenue goes to the Morale, Welfare and Recreation, which offers support programs to U.S. service members, veterans and their families.
"We want to be able to hit the half-million dollar mark next year in contribution," Guilbert said.
Bravo Sierra raised $6.7 million in Venture Captial funding in August, and plans to roll out a line of food products next.
Bravo Sierra teamed up with the Military to test out its skincare and body products.
The U.S. men's grooming market is $8.9 billion and it's estimated to grow by more than 7 percent in the next four years to $9.5 billion, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.
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And more companies have been targeting the white space in the saturated wellness market by putting out self-care products for men. Direct-to-consumer shaving brands like Dollar Shave Club and Harry's recently expanded product lines to include deodorant and fragrances for men. Hawthorne, a "grooming solutions" company that launched three years ago, grew its sales by 1,000 percent in the last year selling soap that's tailored to men's skin needs.
It uses a personalized 20-question online quiz and artificial intelligence customers take to be matched with products best suited for their needs. And Huron, another direct-to-consumer brand, sells face wash, body wash and lotion.