OUR STORY

OUR STORY

It Started with a News Article

The article had to do with researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute (IOLR) who succeeded in “enhancing the production of bio-active compounds that offer medical benefits to humans. Among other things, They were able to double the concentration of antioxidants in seaweed and triple the natural sun protection. Here’s a link to the publication announcement.

The article had to do with researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute (IOLR) who succeeded in “enhancing the production of bio-active compounds that offer medical benefits to humans. Among other things, They were able to double the concentration of antioxidants in seaweed and triple the natural sun protection. Here’s a link to the publication announcement.

That sounded like something we wanted for our skin. We knew of luxury skin care products that were already leveraging bio-active compounds in seaweed, but as sailors we were most interested in sunscreen.

Not finding one, we decided to make our own.

That sounded like something we wanted for our skin. We knew of luxury skin care products that were already leveraging bio-active compounds in seaweed, but as sailors we were most interested in sunscreen.

Not finding one, we decided to make our own.

A Daughter/Father Project

Not all parents have an interest in being in business with their children, and the reverse is certainly true. But this particular daughter/father team loves sailing together, and we were sure we could put together a strong business team.

Elle Sabiya Baumgarten -- the company namesake -- is a fashion model and social media influencer with an entrepreneurial spirit and driven sense of health and wellness. She worked for a few years in London but gave up the rain and gloom for the sunny boat culture Miami.

Elle’s father Alan prefers his home in the Rocky Mountains, where he works as a Customer Experience, Brand, and IT consultant. Like many post-COVID business, SABIYA is lean and virtual.

User Research First and Foremost

Knowing that good customer experience begins with a significant amount of user research, the team set to work on a lengthy user research project. We interviewed sailors, yacht owners, cruisers, charter operators, weekend boaters, fishing boat captains, and even aspiring boat owners. We investigated sunscreen and other personal care items from every imaginable angle. We discovered pain points, we learned what delighted people, and we found out what made them loyal. These insights, coupled with a crash course in skin care chemistry and FDA regulations, led us to these three simple problems that we believed we could solve for our sailing community:

Skin Health. At sea your skin takes a beating. People who go out to sea often take a skin beating often. Peak sailing hours are peak UVR hours, and as sailors we get blasted from above, from reflected UV on the water surface below, and from the gel coat -- literally from every direction (hat or no hat). The wind and sea also take a heavy toll. Promoting healthy skin quality requires sun protection that is up to the
Staining. The single biggest pain point sailors have with sunscreen is staining. It took us a while to narrow down the true source, but when we did we realized that we couldn’t consider any sunscreen with the usual cocktail of chemical sun filters, chief among them being Avobenzone. It literally shocked us (though it shouldn’t have) to see stain warnings in fine print on the Drug Facts panel of nearly every sunscreen product in Walgreens, Target, and Whole Foods. So boat safe sunscreen became a thing; we invented it.
Environmental Awareness. Sailors love the sea and are passionate about marine environments. They are selective in choosing products that won’t harm the sea or its inhabitants. Our sunscreen and skin care products needed to be marine friendly.

To our great delight, our original research into sea kelp bio-ferments led us right back to these three product pillars. We worked with great partners to develop custom sunscreen formulations that leveraged marine-sourced and marine-safe ingredients to meet the specific sun protection needs of our sailing community.

Creating a great brand like SABIYA is a journey, and we are just setting out. Look for more great boat-centric products from us in the future. But for now we invite you to enjoy our initial products and grow with us.