Two mothers who had known each other for only three weeks turned a casual remark over coffee into a multi-million-pound business that now ships thousands of sunscreen applicators worldwide from a warehouse in Cwmbran, Wales. Solar Buddies, a refillable sunscreen bottle with a rolling sponge applicator, was born from the frustration of school no-touch policies that left children unable to apply sun cream independently without sticky hands or ruined uniforms.
From coffee chat to product concept
Eleven years ago, Kelli Aspland and Laura Waters were sitting in Laura's living room while their children played. The conversation drifted to a common parenting struggle: schools increasingly prohibited teachers from helping children apply sunscreen, forcing kids to manage slippery bottles on their own. Kelli recalled how her youngest son, Charlie, got into a mess with sunscreen, requiring her older son Sam to help him. "They were saying: 'You should've seen the state of your kids' and I just thought: 'Why can't you help them? Their uniforms are ruined, all the suncream's gone, and what good has it done?'"
Laura said they searched online for a solution but found nothing. Then Kelli made a flippant remark: "Why don't we try and make something?" Laura laughed at first but soon realised Kelli was serious. "Well yeah – why not?" she thought.
University collaboration yields breakthrough
Neither woman had a design background, so they raided Bodycare stores to take apart existing products and understand their mechanisms. A phone call to Cardiff Metropolitan University's School of Art and Design led to a lecture theatre presentation where they explained the problem to design students. For 18 months, the idea was part of undergraduate and master's projects. A key suggestion combined a sponge and a rollerball into one applicator. "They said: 'Why don't you just put both of them together?'" Kelli recalled. "We were like: 'Oh... well that makes sense.'" The university's support, especially from Gareth Barham, was vital in creating the first prototype.
Launch and a life-changing decision
Solar Buddies launched in 2015. At the same time, Kelli had secured a place to study nursing at Cardiff Metropolitan University, a dream she had pursued after her children's health challenges. But investment from GoCompare founder Hayley Parsons came with a condition: Kelli had to commit fully to the business. "She basically said: 'Look, if I'm investing in this you need to put everything into it,'" Kelli said. After deferring for a year, she decided not to take the nursing course. "When you think about the different paths it would've been absolutely crazy. But I don't regret it at all."
Dragons' Den and viral TikTok propel growth
In 2020, as Covid-19 threatened the business, American influencer Daryl-Ann Denner shared Solar Buddies with her hundreds of thousands of followers in three free posts. "Her kindness didn't just save our business. It completely flipped it around," Laura said. The business then applied for Dragons' Den, where they pitched for 90 minutes (edited to 15 minutes on TV) and accepted an £80,000 investment from Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden in exchange for a 20% stake. The due diligence took a year, by which time the money was no longer needed, but the advice and contacts proved invaluable.
Later, a five-second TikTok video of labels flying from a printer went viral, causing orders to surge from 4 to 16 staff overnight. "We went from four staff to 16 staff overnight because we just couldn't cope," Laura said. Returning from a bank holiday weekend, they found 10,000 orders waiting. The business outgrew its 1,500-square-foot premises and moved into a larger warehouse.
Balancing growth and family
Both women struggled with the pressure of rapid growth and guilt about stepping away from work. Laura recalled a conversation with mentor Deborah Meaden, who asked: "If you worked for someone else and you woke up feeling unwell what would you do?" Laura said she'd call in sick. Meaden replied: "You've got the privilege of making that decision for yourself." The advice helped them learn to take occasional days to recharge. Kelli noted that entrepreneurship is often romanticised. "Everybody wants to grow their business, but what goes behind the scenes is a lot harder than people realise."
Partnership and key milestones
The pair credit their different personalities for their success. "I'm messy and a bit erratic. Kel likes everything planned," Laura said. "But we balance each other out." A key early milestone was securing JoJo Maman Bébé as their first major stockist after messaging founder Laura Tenison on Twitter. They personally delivered the first shipment to the Abergavenny store. Today, Solar Buddies is valued at around £5.5 million, stocked by eight major UK retailers and sold in the US through Target. The company also collaborated with Nivea, which approached them directly.
However, the founders emphasise that success took a decade. "It's only really been in the last year that we've started to see the benefits ourselves," Kelli said. "We've always been really frugal." Laura added: "Everything went straight back into the business. We've moved into lovely homes now and bought cars but that's taken 10 years." Their advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: "Be ballsy. You never know what can happen."
