Consistent
Quality: Country Style
Hoss Sauce Skin-Care Products Appeal to Wide Variety of Tanners
By
Margaret Hooks
"the
gym where I worked out offered indoor tanning, but I wasn't happy
with the products. They either smelled too strong, they were sticky
or they didn't do what they promised."
The Pacific Northwest is known for many
things, but cosmetics aren't one of them. Yet that
could change if Dale Hansen, president of Hoss Sauce,
has his way. Since 1991, Hansen has formulated and
manufactured his line of skin-care products for the
tanning industry in a 20,000-square-foot facility in
Portland, Oregon.
Hansen
admitted he entered the industry almost in self-defense. "I
started tanning in the '80s, mainly because the
gym where I worked out offered indoor tanning,
but I wasn't happy with the products. They either
smelled too strong, they were sticky or they didn't
do what they promised."
Working
with a chemist friend, now a full-time Hoss Sauce
employee and one of two chemists on staff, Hansen
developed his own tanning lotion formula. First he
test-marketed the product in gyms and tanning salons.
When he was ready to market the lotion, he searched
for a private label company to mass-produce it. "We worked with a private label
company for six months," he said, "but
they didn't stick with the formula. It seemed the
product was different every time they sent me a sample;
either the texture was different or the smell. That's
when I decided I needed to control the manufacturing.
Hansen
contacted the owner of a manufacturing company in
Florida that specialized in private-label work for
the tanning industry. He arranged to buy the equipment,
then transport all of it to Portland and opened for
business.
"Now we can maintain the quality and integrity
of the products," he said. "My main goal
is that the products have to be the best, I also
want them to be consistent."
Today
the Hoss Sauce line includes 15 tanning products
in different sizes, one moisturizer in three sizes,
and one sunless lotion. "We
say they are not just tanning products, they are
quality skin-care products," Hansen pointed
out.
And
the name Hoss Sauce? Hansen explained that 'sauce'
is another name for lotion, and his own nickname
is Hoss after Hoss Cartwright, the character played
by Dan Blocker in the TV series Bonanza. "It's
a friendly term,"
he said. "And quite frankly, it fits my image.
I'm kind of country; I dress casually and wear boots
most of the time. And when the staff goes to trade
shows, we all dress in western attire and wear dusters.
As a company, were quite different."
Hansen added that the marketing concept at Hoss Sauce
is also different. "We keep it on a laid-back,
country level,"
he said. "They call us good ole boys and that's
a reflection of an attitude not the place you come
from."
Anyone
who has seen a bottle of Hoss Sauce knows the packaging
is different as well. The logo, a smiling sun face
wearing a cowboy hat, was developed by Hansen to
appeal to a wide customer base. "After years of going to the gym and tanning,
I know if a bottle has flowers on it or is in any
way feminine-looking, guys won't touch it," he
said. "It's interesting, but men are not embarrassed
to pick up our product, nor do they have a problem
with the name. And women also like Hoss Sauces because
of the texture and the way it works. The fragrances
are appealing to both men and women. What's also
nice is that about an hour after you've used it,
the fragrance has dissipated."
The
Hoss Sauce product line emphasizes moisturization,
Hansen noted. "I've taken samples
out to construction sites and asked workers to try
it on their hands," he said. "They protest
at first, but they try it. It works very well on
extra dry skin and hard, callused hands."
For Hansen that means his skin care
products are doing what they should be doing.
Tanning Trends
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