Sothys

Sothys is a French professional skincare and cosmetics company. It was founded in 1946 in Paris by the medical biologist Dr. Hotz, who started it as a beauty institute [2][9]. The name comes from Sothys, described by the company as the brightest star in ancient Egyptian mythology. From the beginning the house sold its products only through beauty institutes and spas rather than in shops, a professional-distribution model it still follows.

The company traces its origins to 1946, though the present-day enterprise dates to 1966, when the Mas family acquired it and rebuilt it into an international skincare house [2]. It remains family-owned, led by Frédéric and Christian Mas, and now forms the core of Groupe Sothys. According to French-language records the business is present in about 120 countries, with the large majority of sales made abroad.

Dr. Hotz, a biologist, opened Sothys as a Paris beauty institute in 1946 [9]. The house credits him as its founder, while noting that the modern company took shape two decades later. In 1966 the Mas family bought the business; French Wikipedia additionally names the Lacroix family among the founders of the reconstituted 1966 company [8]. The Mas family expanded it from a single institute into a professional brand distributed to salons and spas internationally.

The brand's name draws on Egyptian mythology, with the company saying it evokes beauty and celestial brightness.

Under the Mas family the company built out both its treatment expertise and its manufacturing base. It introduced its first lifting facial treatment in 1968 and established a training school in 1978. The Paris flagship, L'Institut Sothys, opened in 1985. A manufacturing facility followed in Meyssac, in the Corrèze region of France, in 1989.

In 2004 the various activities were consolidated into Groupe Sothys, which by then held several subsidiaries. Two years later the company opened Les Jardins Sothys, a botanical garden estate in Auriac, Corrèze. In 2016 it launched La Crème 128, a prestige face cream presented in Bernardaud porcelain [2]. The Paris institute underwent a complete renovation in 2023.

Sothys is a family-owned enterprise controlled by the Mas family and led by presidents Frédéric and Christian Mas [8]. It sits within Groupe Sothys, whose portfolio also includes the sibling cosmetics brands Bernard Cassière and Beauty Garden, the latter an organic line created in 2014.

The location of the company's headquarters is recorded differently by different sources. The brand names its Paris address at 128 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, the site of its flagship L'Institut Sothys [3]. French Wikipedia instead lists the international headquarters as Brive-la-Gaillarde, with manufacturing in Meyssac, both in the Corrèze [8]. In practice the group's operational base is in the Corrèze while Paris houses the flagship institute.

Sothys positions the professional beauty therapist as its central figure, describing the therapist as the brand's ambassador. The company frames its mission as "responsible beauty that respects the skin and is committed to protecting the environment," and lists excellence, sustainability, natural ingredients, professional expertise and French heritage among its guiding values.

Because the products are sold only through institutes and spas rather than general retail, the brand is positioned toward the prestige end of the skincare market [9]. Its tagline states that "Since 1946, Sothys has represented French excellence in professional treatments for beauty institutes and spas."

Sothys develops face, body and make-up ranges, alongside a line of professional spa treatments. Much of its formulation work draws on proprietary botanical extracts developed at Les Jardins Sothys, a 30-hectare estate in Auriac that includes four hectares of botanical gardens set within a 26-hectare protected forest, and which holds France's Jardin Remarquable designation. Founder figure Bernard Mas described the gardens as a place "where meaning takes root."

Several of these extracts are patented. The company reports that its Boletus mushroom extract increases the skin's synthesis of hyaluronic acid by 23 to 29 percent [4], and it has developed patented extracts from elderberry, rowan berry and white nettle, in part through green-chemistry methods. Other signature actives include a specially cultivated rose used in La Crème 128 and prestige treatments.

Formulation is carried out at the company's Soredec laboratory, which the brand says employs 28 biologists, chemists and beauty therapists and releases roughly 35 new product formulas and 15 make-up products each year. Sothys states that it restricts more than 500 ingredients, among them parabens, formaldehyde, aluminium salts and non-certified palm oil, and that product efficacy is assessed by an in-house testing unit drawing on more than 700 panellists.

The company frames its environmental work around a "reduce, reuse, recycle" guideline. It says it has lightened the plastic in its jars and professional bottles, sources more than 95 percent of its packaging within Europe, and removed PVC from its packaging some years ago. It offers refillable formats, including for La Crème 128, and markets Sothys Organics as a certified organic range.

Sothys states that it invests one percent of its revenue in protecting nature through Les Jardins Sothys and the surrounding forest reserve. The company also describes partnerships with Plastic Bank, which offsets plastic used in parts of its packaging, and with Tenaka, which supports coral-reef regeneration.

Sothys is an active, family-owned company. French-language records report revenue of 35.5 million euros for 2024, a net income of 1.27 million euros, and about 67 employees [8]. The brand renovated its Paris flagship in 2023 and continues to launch new formulas each year. Founded in 1946, it approaches its 80th anniversary in 2026.