A project started 20 years ago by a couple who left their life and business in London to create an eco-sustainable luxury farm in Tuscany, passing from a ruin to a structure of over 250 hectares, with twenty suites, three restaurants and a laboratory that creates skincare products: this project is the5-star hotel Borgo Santo Pietro, near Siena, and the cosmetics brand Seed to Skin which is produced here and which is distributed all over the world including European and American luxury spas.
“We were coming from a very successful year and the arrival of Covid struck us during the organization of the key launch of 2020 at Le Bon Marché in Paris – says Jeanette Thottrup, founder, with her husband, of the relais -. It was difficult to decide how to move at the time. Despite everything, however, the brand and the products were received with enthusiasm ».
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And he adds that “although sales have dropped in part within historically key retail outlets, such as Liberty in London, we have had a distribution increase in Europe in the new stores specializing in high-level natural skincare products. Net a porter, which we joined in 2019, continued to perform well in Asia as well. Furthermore, this year we started the distribution on Goop, one of the key platforms of the skincare sector in the American market ».
Since its launch, the brand has in fact focused on international market and still today Italy accounts for no more than 10% of the turnover. The leading market is the United Kingdom with around 30% followed by Switzerland, Germany and Finland. Since last year it has also started to push on North America, while Asia, which has had a marginal role so far, could become interesting in the future, explains Jeanette who for this year expects a 30% increase in both within the retail channel and in the one specialized in the hotel spa sector.
“We want to strengthen our presence in the UK market in which we are historically strong and increase our presence and visibility in France and the rest of Europe – he says – by focusing on traditional channels rather than online distribution which in reality this year, due to the pandemic, it performed very well. In North America we are focusing on the segment business spa with partnerships with luxury spa hotels and will soon open at the new Four Seasons in Napa valley. The world of wellbeing and the need to take care of oneself are, never before, the priorities of all of us. And this will be the basis of the success of natural products such as Seed to Skin behind which there are five years of study and an artisanal production in our laboratory in Tuscany using ingredients that we grow in our fields including rosemary, calendula, lemon balm and lavender. “.