Our Story
From the beaches of Southern California, circa 1986, a memory of Lifeguards patrolling the waters and wearing white Zinc on their noses inspired a vision to have color, sunscreen and zinc oxide merge together. This artsy and colorful idea quickly took hold of the surf community and grew from 2 guys to 60 employees in just a few short months.
Zinka, derived from Zinc Oxide, found a new niche in the sunscreen industry introducing 16 hot colors of Zinka Nosecoat. We hit the beaches hard sponsoring professional surfers, volleyball players and other action sport athletes. The need to expand the line came quick, so Zinka developed several other sunscreen products ranging from oils, to clear sunscreens and lip balms. Country wide and international success came fast and colors seemed to rule the world of sport and art; for the time being. Think about 80’s fashion in general and the brightness of it all; everyone has a colorful story to tell.
As we know, the 90’s came along and the official Grunge era had arrived. Seattle rock and style dominated the scene and color was definitely out. This turned out to be good and bad for Zinka. Our colored nosecoat wasn’t in high demand anymore, but the awareness of the Ozone Layer and the environment called upon the need for effective clear sunscreens. So we took the time to reinvent our clear formulas and today our products are the best they’ve ever been.
We take pride in the evolution of our company, from using zinc oxide in a fun and trendy way to now making it a staple in all of our formulas. Currently the emphasis in the suncare industry is to focus on higher SPF ratings, block UVA/UVB rays and use safer ingredients like zinc oxide. We’ve been working with zinc oxide for 30 years and it still proves to be one of the most sought after ingredients to look for in sunscreens today. This is why we have stayed in the industry for so long and the reason our products really do work best!