Le Rub

Le Rub is a luxury mineral suncare brand created by the Belgian siblings Kim and Raf Maes [9]. It pairs Mediterranean-sourced ingredients with clean-beauty formulation across a small range of facial and body sunscreens, after-sun products and serums. The name is styled in French and the products are made in Italy, but the company and its founders are Belgian — origin and manufacturing sit in different places.

Sources disagree on when the brand began. WWD reports a 2024 launch, quoting Kim Maes: "We launched Le Rub in 2024 after three years of dedicated formulation and testing" [9]. The editorial site Mintoiro instead dates the founding to 2023 [10], and other summaries point to 2022; these earlier dates most likely mark the company's incorporation or the start of its roughly three-year development period rather than the public market debut. The brand's own website states no year.

Kim and Raf Maes are a brother and sister born in Belgium. Kim is a former make-up artist who in 2016 founded Blos, a Belgian beauty concept store, and serves as Le Rub's head of research and development [9]. Raf is a former professional snowboarder who became a brand builder and photographer, and was a co-founder of the watch and eyewear company Komono [9]. The two trace the brand to a shared history around sunlight, writing that "all our best memories are sun related. From sunrise on the slopes to sunset on the shores," and framing Le Rub as an effort "to protect what we cherish."

According to the company, the idea grew out of dissatisfaction with sunscreens already on sale. The existing options, Kim Maes says, "often forced a choice between sticky textures that leave a white cast on the skin and luxury options filled with ingredients we didn't want to use." The result is positioned as the answer to a question the brand returns to repeatedly: why can't suncare feel amazing and be kind to the planet?

Le Rub reached the market in 2024 with an initial five-product range and a rollout to around 80 retailers across Europe [9]. Two further additions followed the same year, according to WWD: an SPF 50 range in August and a mineral stick format in October. The company also signalled plans for sprays and a tinted SPF range in 2025. No parent company, funding or sales figures have been disclosed.

The founders summarise their outlook as "The Good Life," a phrase the company ties to the Mediterranean and to the sun's "positive effects on our mood, health, and energy levels." Its manifesto frames an ambition to make suncare that is good not only "on the planet" but "for the planet too." The brand describes its formulas as dermatologist-approved and hypoallergenic, and treats inclusivity as a stated value — "sunshine is for everyone, no matter your gender, age or background" — while presenting sustainability as a baseline rather than a selling point.

The opening assortment centred on five products: an Everyday Sunscreen SPF30 for the face, an All-Day Sunscreen SPF30 for the body, Glow Drops SPF50, a Sunset Serum, and a Repairing Lotion for after-sun use. The company says the range combines sun protection with skincare textures and Mediterranean ingredients, among them hyaluronic acid, grape ferment extract, almond oil, shea butter, aloe vera, prickly pear extract and Sicilian myrtus.

Le Rub's early products used non-nano zinc oxide as the mineral filter, an ingredient WWD's reporting describes as "the most coral-friendly active sunscreen ingredient available" [9]. The brand has since indicated it is moving past purely mineral formulas: one journal entry is titled "Why We Chose Mineral Filters — And Why We're Expanding Beyond Them," pointing to other filter types in newer ranges. The company describes the line as reef-safe, vegan and cruelty-free, free of UV filters such as octinoxate, oxybenzone and benzophenone, and both fragrance-free and non-comedogenic. These are self-stated claims; no third-party certifications are listed.

Environmental impact features prominently in the brand's positioning. Its aluminium tubes and cans are made from recycled material — "95% post-consumer and 5% post-industrial," according to the manifesto. The company says it has "minimized [its] footprint by choosing local suppliers and small supply chains." Ingredients are drawn from Mediterranean farms in Sicily and Sardinia and from a distillery in Milan, where the brand's laboratory is based [9].

In 2024, WWD profiled the brand in a launch feature, "Meet Le Rub, a New Sunscreen Brand to Know Celebrating the Mediterranean Lifestyle," by correspondent Sandra Salibian [9]. The same year the independent site Mintoiro published a "Beauty Brand Breakdown" that welcomed the concept but questioned several claims, disputing the reef-safe assertion as unproven and querying the novelty implied by the recycled-aluminium packaging [10].

Le Rub is an active brand. As of early 2025 it was expanding both its range and its retail footprint, with brand content datable as recently as a March 2025 journal post [8]. Distribution spans roughly 25 European countries through the brand's own online store and stockists including Space NK, Le Bon Marché and LuisaViaRoma, alongside selective points in the Americas and the United Arab Emirates.