Introduction
Discover how Tori Gill transformed a simple idea at the beach into a thriving sunscreen business generating $100K in just 90 days. As a busy mom and hairdresser, Tori identified a gap in the market for a mineral sunscreen that wasn’t thick, white, or chalky – and built the brand Sun and Daughter from scratch. In this revealing interview, she shares her journey from concept to successful launch, the challenges she overcame, and the strategies that led to remarkable early success.
Founder Success Story QnA
How did you come up with the idea for Sun and Daughter?
It probably started two years ago when I was on the beach in Manly with my family. I had one son at the time and was putting sunscreen on him. My friend was there and we both had the same brand of sunscreen, but mine said “mineral sunscreen” on it and hers didn’t, even though they were the same brand. She said, “Oh, you should buy this one. It’s a lot cheaper and you get more in it.” At first I wondered if mine cost more just because it said “baby” on it or if there was actually a reason why the mineral sunscreen cost more. Then I started really looking into sunscreen and realized there are only two different types: mineral sunscreen and chemical sunscreen. They work in different ways to stop your skin from getting burnt. After looking into it, I realized I wanted to use a mineral sunscreen on my kids because chemical sunscreens have chemical active ingredients that absorb into the skin and absorb UV rays, creating a chemical reaction under the skin that’s released as heat. Mineral sunscreen reflects UV rays and is normally more gentle on the skin and doesn’t absorb into deep layers. When I went to find a mineral sunscreen, I couldn’t find one that wasn’t thick or white or chalky like that zinc sunscreen that wouldn’t rub in. I thought surely there must be another solution to this.
How did you develop the branding for Sun and Daughter?
When the idea came around, I love Canva, so I went on Canva and played with every single font in Canva. I got a bottle off the internet, just a plain tube bottle, and was putting different fonts on it, writing “Sun and Daughter.” I randomly one day flipped the logo and turned it bright red and thought, “I love this.” Then I changed my whole mood board to have pops of color and thought, “Okay, this is the direction I want to go in.” This is fun. No one’s really doing color yet. Everyone’s doing the beige and boring Byron Bay vibes. I wanted to be different. That’s how the red color came around. Then I played on that and every day was changing the box to red or having the box cream with red writing, playing around with different ideas. Once I had everything, I made a brand deck. When I was ready to finalize it, I went to a branding agency to finalize because I do it all on Canva. I literally just copy and paste; I don’t know how to properly put where each text is going to go exactly. They finalized everything and moved the “and” sign across, which I didn’t have. That’s what made it spark. I did a lot of it and gave them the brand deck. They said they’d never really worked with a client that gave them the brand deck before. I had the mission, tone of voice, values, and colors ready and said, “You just finalize it and make it a bit better.”
What challenges did you face finding manufacturers for your products?
With sunscreen, it probably took a few months of looking at different manufacturing companies in Australia. I soon found out that sunscreen is probably the hardest product to do. The minimum orders are massive and it’s really expensive. Once I found them, they asked if I wanted them to find the manufacturer for the tubes and boxes. At first I said yes, but they were going to cost so much because they put their margins on it. So I said no, I’m going to try to look myself. I found three different manufacturing companies on Alibaba for the tubes and got samples made of all of them to see who I preferred. Each sample was so different and I picked the best one. I didn’t know this at the time, but my manufacturing company that makes the sunscreen used the one I picked. It was just complete coincidence. I was like, “These are the people making my tubes,” and they were like, “No way, that’s actually one of our manufacturing companies.” So I knew at that point they were pretty good since they gave me the best sample. For hats and brushes and stuff, I just searched on Alibaba and got samples made from a few different people and picked who I thought was best.
Why was sunscreen particularly difficult to manufacture and sell in Australia?
In Australia, a sunscreen is actually a medicine. It has to be listed by the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) to call it a sunscreen. You legally cannot sell a sunscreen here and call it a sunscreen. You can call it something else, but you can’t call it a sunscreen unless it has been tested and approved by the TGA. Their regulations are the strictest in the world. Because it is a sunscreen, every other country has its own regulations. I’ve just now got it approved to sell in the UK, but that was a whole other process. If we want to sell it in America, we have to get it FDA approved. Each country is different, so you can’t sell it in a country unless it’s been approved by that country because it’s a medicine.
How did you launch the business and what were your first sales like?
I launched on Boxing Day. The day before, on Christmas Day, I made a video saying I was going live tomorrow. I hadn’t told anyone until Christmas Day. I said, “I’m going live tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. We’re going live tomorrow Boxing Day.” Because I’d built up a little following on social media, I started posting in June or July with pictures and reels, and we had about 2,000 followers when we launched. I made lots of reels because if you post photographs, they don’t go to anyone except your followers, but if you post reels, they get spread to other people who aren’t following you, which gains new followers. I was making a lot of reels and boosting them to spread to more people, saying this is a new sunscreen, this is how it rubs in, we’re launching soon. We built up this following and I built up hype around the brand. When it came to launching on Boxing Day, I said the first 10 people to order would get a free gift – it could be a brush, a cap, a bucket hat, or even another bottle of sunscreen. That put pressure on people to order fast. We went live at 10:00 a.m. and the first order was at exactly 10:00 a.m. I don’t know how somebody navigated through a new website that quickly. Then it was just “ching ching ching” – I got 10 orders super fast. I made a video when I was packing those 10 orders to prove to people that, okay, this is Danny from WA, she ordered the sunscreen, I’m putting a hat in her order because she was our fifth customer. Out of those 10, two people I knew, so I didn’t know the rest of them. Our first day, we made $4,000 in sales. I was happy with one – if I sold one, I would have been happy.
What was your initial budget to launch the brand?
My initial budget when I wrote it all out was like $60,000, and it was more than that. It was probably all up almost $100,000. It’s a big investment, a huge investment. But as I said, it’s because it’s sunscreen. If it wasn’t sunscreen, it would have been a lot cheaper. I also put a lot of money into our photo shoot and campaign, which is what made the brand what it is. People might think I’m crazy because a lot of people say you don’t need to put lots of money into photo shoots and you can do it all on your iPhone, which you can, but I wanted to stand out and make this brand look very cool. By doing that, I had to invest in a good photographer and get models. I wanted that feeling of “okay, this needs to look cool, so how can I make it look cool?” I styled all the models myself, got lots of cool outfits, styled them all, and created this huge shoot. If you look at it now, you actually can’t tell it’s for sunscreen. I spent all this money on this shoot because I wanted to capture children having fun and the feeling of summer. We’re selling this feeling, the fun, kids being in nature, kids being outside, which is what a lot of big brands do like Nike. They don’t post their product all the time. We’re selling the summer feeling, and she captured that amazingly of kids having fun outside and enjoying nature, and that’s what our whole brand is about – kids enjoying the outdoors.
How are you growing the business so quickly?
We’re doing Meta ads and I’ve just started to do TikTok. I wasn’t that familiar with TikTok before; I didn’t have it. I’m just starting to go on the platform more, getting used to it, and going to work on growing our TikTok now. But mostly through Instagram. I feel like a lot of moms my age are on Instagram as well, and people are on TikTok too, but I am the market, which makes it easier. I know what I want to see. Just educating people around sunscreen as well. The Meta ads help. For instance, one day our sales weren’t at our target. I have a target every day that I give myself. It was 1:00 in the afternoon and I was thinking how can I get this target up? I decided to jump on Instagram. We have wet bags, which are waterproof bags where you put wet clothes after swimming to keep them away from everything else. I said, “All right, if anyone orders in the next 15 minutes, I’ll give you a free wet bag.” It was instant. I made a reel, posted it, and put it on my story. I said the time and always forget about different time zones, so I said, “At 4:00 p.m. in Melbourne” and wrote the times of what it would be in other cities. Within 5 minutes, orders were coming in. We ended up giving away seven or eight bags in those 15 minutes and hit our target for the day because they didn’t just buy one sunscreen – maybe they bought two sunscreens or two sunscreens and a hat, and I gave them a wet bag. It forced people to purchase straight away. One day I went live on Instagram and said, “Hey, I’m live. If you guys order while I’m live, I’ll give you a free gift in your purchase.” Doing things like that really helps to get people who are on the fence to make that purchase because everyone loves something free.
How did you come up with the complementary products to increase average order value?
I learned that from doing the course. I realized you have to have cross-sell and upsell products. The cross-sell for a sunscreen would be an applicator. I thought how can I make an applicator fun? There was a big video on TikTok that everyone kept doing using their mom’s foundation brushes, and kids were putting on makeup. As a boy mom, I don’t want my son using a makeup brush. I wanted to make it a paintbrush. They were custom made. I had to find a manufacturing company that specialized in makeup brushes but would get a paintbrush handle and combine them. It’s not an off-the-shelf product. It took a while to find somebody who would make that for me. Makeup brushes aren’t that expensive to make, so I knew that was going to be the cross-sell to the sunscreen. Our whole mission as a brand is to protect children’s skin from the sun, so I knew we needed hats and sunglasses. I was playing around with different caps and bucket hats. I found a couple of manufacturing companies, got some samples made early on when my branding was cream and brown. I had brown and cream hats made back in 2023, and my son wore them over and over again. We tested them for a year, so I knew the quality was good. When I flipped to red, I made new red hats and cream hats, and everyone loved them. I could use them in bundles to help get my average order value. The sunscreen is $39.95, and our average order value is $75 to $80. That’s from either bundling the sunscreen together where people can buy three and save money, or from them getting the bundle of hats and brushes. People love the brushes. They message me saying their kids hate putting sunscreen on, but if you give them a paintbrush, they don’t want to stop. They use half the bottle, which is great for me because then they have to order more sunscreen.
How did you build the courage to put yourself out there as the face of the brand?
I think it’s just practice and not caring what other people think. That’s the main thing. If you care too much about what other people think… Half the videos I do, I don’t put makeup on. I’m in the house, the kids are making a mess, my house is a mess. But in that moment, I think I need to do a video about this and I don’t overthink it. I just put it out there and don’t worry about it being perfect or what people think. And those are the ones that do the best really. All of our ads – I’m constantly making new content, but all the ads that actually convert, there are a few that just convert the best. None of them are my beautiful photography. All those beautiful photography photos don’t convert when it’s ads. They’re great for my website and my brand, and I love them for my aesthetically pleasing Instagram, but when it comes to making a sale through the ad, they don’t convert. All the ones that convert are me talking because people can relate, especially because I say I’m a mom of two. Moms automatically will take other moms’ advice rather than buy from a big company they don’t know. It’s me talking to the camera about what the sunscreen is, why you need to buy it for your child, and what we’re doing. Those are the ones that convert. The more videos I do talking to the camera, the easier it becomes. You have to feel like you’re talking to your friends, like you’re on FaceTime. That’s what people love because they watch you and feel like they know you. Then they trust you, and when it comes to wanting to buy a sunscreen, they’ll end up buying from you because they feel like they personally know you.
What are your future plans for Sun and Daughter?
We’re launching a body wash. I want like a step process: step one, you protect your children’s skin; step two, you come home and wash it off; and step three, you moisturize. Those are our products. We’re launching a body wash essentially like sunscreen removal. That’s why it kind of goes as a partner product. It’s been so much harder than I thought. It’s been a nightmare. I’ve gone through four different manufacturing companies because I’m passionate about the ingredients that go into products. So many manufacturing companies want to add different ingredients, preservatives, and things that aren’t as natural or have alcohol. That’s not what our brand is about. I finally found a smaller manufacturing company who gets me and has made the perfect formula for us. I’m so happy about that, but it has taken a long time. I think it’s persevering with everything. I don’t like taking no as an answer. If they say I have to have certain ingredients, I say no, I don’t want that, and I’ll move to somebody else. It’s been hard, but I want to stick to my guns for the brand. Ingredients are our most important thing. If I don’t want to put it on my children’s skin, why would somebody else want to put it on their children’s skin? That’s what’s going to set us apart from other brands, especially because there are lots of body washes out there, but ours will be one of the best with the ingredients we’re using. We have another sunscreen launching which is exciting. I can’t tell you much about it, but we’ll be launching that hopefully by October, November, just in time for summer here. There are a few more products we want to come out with and obviously bring out some more hats and different colors. Essentially, we want to be a natural children’s skincare brand. Sun is definitely our main focus, but we’re branching out to different other skincare products that children use on their skin. It’s a really good thing to do because with an eCommerce brand, you want people to come back and buy. People are constantly using body wash, people are constantly using sunscreen, so that’s where we’ll get that repeat purchase.
How do you balance the business with your job as a hairdresser and being a mom?
Honestly, I do so much on my phone. I could be sending emails at the park, pushing one child on the swing while the other one’s playing in the sand pit and sending emails. That’s good and bad because obviously you want to be present with your kids, but at the same time, you want to be working. I do a lot of things on my phone, but I also do it when the kids are sleeping. That’s probably why I’ve got bags under my eyes. They go to sleep at 7:00 p.m. and I’m straight on my laptop. People ask me if I watch this program on Netflix or have seen this movie, and I say no. I don’t have time to sit down and watch TV. My partner will sit down and watch a documentary, and I’ll be straight on my laptop. To me, that’s just wasting my time. I’ll be straight onto Alibaba getting samples of new hats made. When I come up with an idea like the wet bags, I design a wet bag on Canva, pick the colors, find a manufacturing company, and get a sample now. I’m quite fast. I think you just make it work. I work as a barber still on Monday and Tuesday afternoons and on Saturdays. My eldest son is now in kinder two days a week. I’ve got good family around, and my mother-in-law comes around and takes the youngest one off me for a few hours, so I can pump out some work. I’m packing orders normally in the evenings or the mornings. Last night, me and my partner were up until midnight packing orders. He was taping the boxes and I was packing them because we did a collaboration with Boob to Food, who has a big mom following, and she posted for us yesterday. My advice is to make sure you have enough boxes in stock before you do something like that because I ran out of boxes last night while packing. I had medium size, so it was fine, but that’s something I would recommend.
Tori Gill Business Stats
Tori Gill has achieved remarkable success with her Sun and Daughter brand in a short period. As a first-time entrepreneur working part-time as a hairdresser while raising two children, Tori has built a thriving business that’s on track to generate over $100,000 in just 90 days. Her strategic approach to branding, product development, and marketing has created a strong foundation for sustainable growth in the competitive sunscreen market.
- Launched in December with $4,000 in sales on the first day
- On track to make $100,000 in the first 90 days
- Average order value of $75-$80 (product price is $39.95)
- Started with 5,000 units of sunscreen (relatively low minimum for the industry)
- Built a social media following of 2,000 before launch
- Initial investment of nearly $100,000 to launch the brand
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Launch Date | December (Boxing Day) |
| First Day Sales | $4,000 |
| 90-Day Revenue Target | $100,000+ |
| Initial Investment | $100,000 |
| Average Order Value | $75-$80 |
| Product Price Point | $39.95 |
Tori Gill Method
Tori Gill built her successful sunscreen brand through a combination of strategic planning, authentic branding, and clever marketing tactics. Her method focused on identifying a genuine market need and creating a product that not only solved the problem but also appealed emotionally to her target audience of parents.
- Identified a gap in the market for mineral sunscreen that wasn’t thick or chalky
- Created distinctive, colorful branding to stand out from competitors
- Built social media presence before launch to generate excitement
- Developed complementary products to increase average order value
- Leveraged founder-led content to build trust and authenticity
- Used time-sensitive promotions and free gifts to create urgency
Tori Gill Tools
Tori utilized a combination of accessible design tools and strategic platforms to build her brand and manage operations. As a solopreneur working with limited resources, she focused on tools that allowed her to create professional results without extensive technical expertise.
- Canva – Used for initial brand design and creating marketing materials
- Alibaba – Sourced manufacturers for tubes, hats, and other products
- Instagram – Primary platform for building brand awareness and engaging with customers
- Meta Ads – Main paid advertising channel to reach target audience
- Email Marketing – Built email list of 250 subscribers before launch to drive initial sales
Key Notes
Tori Gill’s journey with Sun and Daughter offers valuable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly those looking to launch product-based businesses. Her experience highlights both the challenges and opportunities in bringing a new consumer product to market.
- Sunscreen is classified as a medicine in Australia, requiring TGA approval – one of the strictest regulatory environments in the world
- Minimum order quantities for sunscreen manufacturing are typically very high (100,000 units), making it capital-intensive
- Investing in professional branding and photography helped Tori’s product stand out in a crowded market
- Founder-led content outperformed professional photography in advertising conversions
- Strategic product bundling increased average order value from $39.95 to $75-$80
- Time-sensitive promotions and free gifts effectively created purchase urgency
Get Started in Just 5 Steps
Launching a successful product-based business like Sun and Daughter requires careful planning and execution. Based on Tori Gill’s experience, here are five key steps to follow when starting your own consumer product business.
- Identify a genuine problem in the market that you’re passionate about solving
- Research and understand regulatory requirements specific to your product category
- Invest in distinctive branding that resonates with your target audience
- Build anticipation through social media before your official launch
- Create complementary products that increase average order value and encourage repeat purchases
Conclusion
Tori Gill’s journey from hairdresser to successful founder of Sun and Daughter demonstrates what’s possible with determination, strategic thinking, and authentic branding. Her achievement of generating $100,000 in just 90 days while balancing motherhood and another job is truly remarkable. By identifying a genuine market need for an effective mineral sunscreen that wasn’t thick or chalky, Tori created a product that solved a real problem for parents. Her investment in distinctive branding, strategic product development, and founder-led marketing has positioned Sun and Daughter for continued growth in the competitive sunscreen market. As Tori expands her product line and works toward transitioning to her business full-time, her story serves as inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to turn their ideas into successful businesses.