The brand, cofounded by Christina Han and Esther Nordlinger, launches directly on its website Tuesday.The brand, cofounded by Christina Han and Esther Nordlinger, launches directly on its website Tuesday.
Body care‘s new entrant is cleaning up.
Enter Sluff, the body care brand cofounded by Esther Nordlinger and Christina Han, which launches Tuesday with a body soap bar, a body scrubbing mitt and a lotion for after care.
Han, a brand strategist and former beauty editor, said the range was a fusion of their personal needs as well as her own eye for gaps in the market.
“I have tried thousands upon thousands of products, and there was a point where I thought to myself, ‘I’m never going to start a brand. There’s no reason. It’s so saturated,’” she said. “Then, I realized how incorrectly people were bathing and showering. For us, it’s so second-nature to use a Korean scrub cloth, and it became even more apparent when I went to L.A. and couldn’t hop into a Korean spa and had to drive 15 miles. I felt there was an easier, faster way to do it.”
The founders, who know each other from their personal lives, are both Korean and had a common upbringing with Korean bathhouses. “The first idea was, ‘Hey, let’s open a spa where you don’t have to be naked, and there’s no awkwardness and you have private space,’ and then we realized that was speaking to a small audience and only open to people in that region. We kept noodling on it and landed in the place we’re in now,” Han said.
Rather than compete with the lengthier services offered at spas, the idea was to integrate gentle cleanse, deep exfoliation and light moisture in a foolproof routine.
“What is really important in this development was trying to create something easy and routine versus a ritual,” Nordlinger said. “Having a bath that feels so luxurious in terms of time — not everyone has that. It was important to us that it was in the shower, people can do it in five minutes and move on with their day.”
The mitt is larger than standard ones, Han said, is double-sided and has two thumb holes. While thinking about what newness to launch, Han said her philosophy is “product that stays true to the body care realm.”
“This really is from chin-down, and it is to continue creating ancillary products that are adjacent and complementary to the kit. That’s the hero, and that’s the basis of everything else,” Han said. “Even if we do create other products that support body care, we still want to make sure you get that barrier off, that film off, because anything that comes after would otherwise not be as impactful.”
Education will play a key role in the brand’s marketing and on its website. “There’s a lot of education, but it’s such a proven product because this is how Koreans and different [cultures] take care of their body, and we’re really trying to make it so easy and a part of a routine at home,” Nordlinger said.
Han is particularly bullish on Gen Z, given the digital nature of the launch, “but ultimately, it’s our peers as well in the Millennial age group,” Han said. “We don’t have a lot of time, and you can fit in some care for yourself.”
