Piz Buin
Established 1946The first commercial sunscreen was brought to market in 1936 by Eugène Schueller, the founder of L’Oreal. During the same period, Hamilton Sunscreen came to the Australian market. In 1944 Red Vet Pet was produced for the US military. This formula was commercialized under the Coppertone girl and Bain de Soleil branding in the early 1950s. Although, heritage-wise, there were a few notable brands in the sunscreen category, all had limited effectiveness or were disagreeable sticky substances.
The first effective modern sunscreen was created in 1946 by Swiss chemist Franz Greiter. After suffering overexposure to the sun while climbing the Piz Buin alpine peak in 1938, he developed the Piz Buin Gletscher Creme. Working with his wife, a beautician, Greiter developed a sun care brand that combined cutting edge sun protection with luxurious skincare. Piz Buin was also one of the first to implement the Sun Protection Factor (SPF) system in the 1960’s, which has become a worldwide standard for measuring the effectiveness of sunscreen.
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