Piz Buin

Piz Buin is a Swiss suncare brand founded in 1946 by the chemist Franz Greiter, with its headquarters in Zug, Switzerland [2]. It takes its name from Piz Buin, a 3,312-metre mountain in the Eastern Alps, and built its identity around sun protection at a time when the category barely existed. The brand remains active today, owned by the consumer-health company Kenvue and distributed in several European markets by the Sarantis Group [1][5].

The company presents itself as a specialist in helping people balance a tan with adequate protection. According to its brand material, Piz Buin has spent more than 70 years providing suncare solutions "that help them achieve the perfect balance between getting a beautiful tan and the protection they need."

The brand traces back to a mountaineering accident. Franz Greiter, then a young chemistry student, suffered a severe sunburn while climbing Piz Buin in the Swiss Alps. Sources disagree on the exact year: Wikipedia dates the incident to 1938 [2], while the editorial history site Discover Walks places it in 1936 [4]. The 1946 founding date, by contrast, is consistent across sources.

The experience led Greiter to develop a protective cream. In 1946 he introduced Gletscher Creme (Glacier Cream), described by Wikipedia as possibly the first effective modern sunscreen; the product became the foundation of the Piz Buin company [2]. The brand was named in honour of the mountain where Greiter reportedly got the sunburn that inspired his work. The original cream is estimated to have offered an SPF of about 2.

Piz Buin's most cited contribution is its role in the development of the Sun Protection Factor. The dating of that milestone varies. Wikipedia records that in 1974, Greiter adapted earlier calculations from Friedrich Ellinger and Rudolf Schulze and introduced the "sun protection factor," which went on to become a worldwide standard for measuring sunscreen effectiveness [2]. The brand's own material frames the timing differently, saying Piz Buin "was one of the first to make tanning safer by implementing the Sun Protection Factor (SPF) system in the 1960's" [1].

During the 1970s the company also introduced a line of sunscreens combining ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B filters, an early example of broad-spectrum protection [2].

Piz Buin sits within Kenvue, the consumer-health company spun off from Johnson & Johnson, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2023 [5]. Kenvue owns and manufactures the brand; in certain markets it is distributed by the Sarantis Group, which is why the brand appears in that company's personal-care portfolio [1]. Within Kenvue, Piz Buin shares a stable with brands such as Johnson's, Aveeno, Clean & Clear and Le Petit Marseillais.

The brand positions itself around the tension between tanning and safety rather than protection alone. Its stated purpose is to help "sun lovers" enjoy time in the sun safely, "whether it's at the beach, on a mountain or in the city" [1]. That framing leans on its long suncare heritage and its early association with the SPF concept. Its products span moisturising suncare, tanning and protection items, and after-sun formulations, including creams aimed at high-altitude conditions.

In its 2024 brand assessment, the ethical directory The Good Shopping Guide gave Piz Buin a score of 0 out of 100 on its ethical scale, against a benchmark range of 23 to 67 [3]. The guide cited the brand's continued use of animal testing, noting a policy that "aims to use non animal alternatives whenever feasible but does still use animal testing," and the absence of vegetarian, vegan or organic certifications. Piz Buin scored well on the guide's fossil-fuels and armaments criteria but poorly on animal welfare, certification, marketing and political-donations measures.

Piz Buin is an active brand. It continues to be manufactured under Kenvue and sold across European markets through the Sarantis distributor network and broad retail presence [1].