Rhone founder says biggest challenge for men’s skin care is apathy, not resistance

The Australian brand offers a range of skin care and grooming products designed specifically for male skin. The products use native botanicals such as Kakadu plum, tamanu oil and Davidson plum.

“Men’s skin care is a very untapped market around the world. The market has grown massively over the last few years. There are a lot of four-in-one multipurpose products, but we wanted to create a luxury brand with proper products like a clay mask specifically for men,” said founder Manuel Naci.

“Our goal was to create a luxury brand that was accessible to everyone. Men want to take care of themselves, they want to look good and feel good. Some people are happy to use the simple, affordable products. But I think guys want to have a luxury product whether it’s clothing, perfume, or skin care. The feedback we’ve gotten from customers around the world has been really positive.”

While Rhone Skincare sees numerous opportunities in the men's skincare market, Naci acknowledged there were significant challenges. He emphasises that the biggest hurdle was the lack of awareness and education about proper skin care among men.

“It’s not the price point. That isn’t the concern because men are willing to pay more for products that are good for them. We need them to understand the importance of good products and good ingredients,” Naci told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.

He added that the obstacle the brand faced was not resistance from men, but rather apathy.

“We’re still trying to educate men about that because we have a lot of people that want to stick to their cheaper products – like your three- or four-in-one products. We need to get them to try the products, when they do, they come back to us and say they notice a difference. We want to break this attitude of, 'I can use cheap products; I'm sure I'll be fine.’”

International expansion

Since its launch six months ago, the brand has expanded internationally with customers across Asia, Europe, and North America. Additionally, the brand is available locally in Albania and Greece.

While the brand is young, Naci said that the brand is eager to expand overseas, where it can tap into the growing demand for men’s skin care and Australian-made products.

“This is a global brand. We want to tap into markets like Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. By expanding, we learn more. For instance, we can learn about what we’re missing in terms of products and bring that feedback to our development team. The more data we have, the better we can improve our products and expand on the range.”​

He added that future product development will be dependent on the feedback and insight the brand gathers as it expands.

The brand is focused on face care at the moment but could potentially expand to other categories, including body care.