The SA.AL&CO Story

A meeting in a café.

The story of the Austrian skincare brand SA.AL&CO began in 2015, when two old friends — a skincare enthusiast and family business entrepreneur, Istvan Laszloffy, and strategy consultant Michael Sarnitz — met for a regular meetup in a small café in Vienna. The result of this meeting was pleasantly unexpected: they decided to co-found a skincare company with products based on ethically sourced natural ingredients, produced in the Austrian alpine region, and delivering a product experience similar to what they loved from other leading brands, but not available to men.

Istvan Laszloffy (left), Michael Sarnitz (right)

Brand name.

The co-founders approached the choice of a name for the brand in a rational and thoughtful manner. When contemplating a name for a brand, one considers everything thoroughly. This is how the brand name "SA.AL&CO" was born — a combination of several elements. "SA.AL&CO" was chosen from a kaleidoscope of ideas to convey a profound message.

SA.AL — is the combination of the first two letters of each of the founders’ surnames, separated and mirrored by the dot in the middle. It symbolizes our commitment to the brand and the responsibility of acting with integrity by putting our own names on it.

&CO — is an important addition that reflects the often-underappreciated fact that this brand represents the work not only of its founders, but also of those who contributed through thoughts, advice, and hard work — employees, advisors, friends, and family. It emphasizes that SA.AL&CO is both born and alive in its intended form thanks to the devoted involvement of many truly great personalities in a unique, true collaboration of peers. We also understand the addition to include our community of loyal friends and followers, as we intend to blur the traditional line between customers and company.

The logo of Austrian SA.AL&CO skincare

Production.

Their pursuit of a reliable partner who could create their dream skincare products brought them to Pure Green Cosmetics, one of the most innovative natural skincare producers in Central Europe. Pure Green is exclusively focused on pushing the boundaries of natural skincare and is located in the picturesque landscapes of the Austrian Alps in Tyrol. The production takes place at the foot of the Ötztal Glacier, using alpine spring water that melts directly from the mountains next to the production facility as a mineral-rich base for all products.

Picturesque location of Pure Green Cosmetics. Tyrol, Austria

Most ingredients are procured from the region surrounding the alpine lab in Tyrol, Austria, and are complemented by others from far-flung places to achieve the potency and quality sought. The small-batch production keeps the time from bottling to delivery to a minimum, as natural ingredients reveal their full efficacy when they maintain a high level of freshness.
The scent of all products is subtle, elegant, and fresh — a result of a carefully selected blend of essential oils that do not interfere with perfume or cologne and gently fade away.
Instead of focusing on bulk production, the commitment to small-batch production reduces the time between bottling and delivery, ensuring that the products reach their full potential.
All SA.AL&CO skincare products are PETA certified, certified by The Vegan Society UK, and have the NatCert certificate from The International Natural and Organic Cosmetics Association (NATRUE) as well as the COSMOS certification (organic and natural certification for cosmetics).

Packaging and design.

For the packaging, we opted for aluminum, a stylish yet sustainable material. The 99% recycled brushed aluminum used for both tubes and bottles conjures an image of industrial chic while simultaneously providing an immediate sensory pleasure and being easy on the eye. In addition, it is completely and indefinitely recyclable without any loss in quality. In our effort to keep production local and support local companies, we commissioned the creation of the aluminum packaging to a great Austrian manufacturer— TUBEX.

The very first batch of SA.AL&CO products

During the creative process, we drew inspiration from other industry sectors. For example, we used aluminum tubes and bottles commonly seen in the pharmaceutical industry. Meanwhile, small-batch gin and premium whiskey labels influenced the look and layout of the label design.

Inspiration and attention to detail led us to the typeface for SA.AL&CO, which we believe is a powerful element in giving the brand a genuine identity. The typeface across the brand is inspired by Italian license plates from the 50s and 60s.

Official typeface of SA.AL&CO — Italian Plate No. 1

In describing "Italian Plate No. 1" typeface by Copenhagen-based design agency “e-Types”, we relay to its creators very own words and intentions: “Managing the fine art of "sprezzatura", the Italian Plate family is a handsome and stylized typeface family that balances elegance with playfulness. Based on a study of Italian car number plates from the 60’s… (the typeface) family display a noble and nostalgic look with a modern touch”.

Kickstarter campaign.

Together, the co-founders launched a Kickstarter campaign, where they presented their ideas and brand concept. In just a few months, the campaign became one of the most popular on the platform, resonating with hundreds of people and helping the two friends raise enough funds to launch the brand of their dreams. Especially for the Kickstarter campaign, SA.AL&CO introduced a novelty in men’s skincare — a personalized approach to packaging, where each product could be customized with the customer’s special message.

Personalization of SA.AL&CO products

First steps.

Package to the very first customer of SA.AL&CO online store

In the early years of its existence, our brand focused on essential everyday skincare products used by men, such as hair & body wash, shaving products, deodorants, and face creams. Despite having only a few products and being quite a niche brand, SA.AL&CO became very popular among both men (who were the main target audience at the time) and women, who “stole” products from their partners because the products were natural and always fresh (due to the fact that they were produced in small batches several times a year).

SA.AL&CO men's skincare line from 2015

At first, we focused on distributing our products solely in high-end fashion stores, upscale apothecaries, and very exclusive retailers, including perfumeries, hotels, and concept stores. SA.AL&CO products could be found on the shelves of Barneys in New York, Fortnum & Mason and Liberty London, Skins stores in the Netherlands, Ludwig Beck in Germany, Kastner & Öhler and Kussmund in Austria, Beyorg in Hong Kong, JAN stores in Ukraine, Molecule stores in Russia, Centre Commercial and Ombres Portées in France, Abanuc stores in Spain, and Globus in Switzerland.

SA.AL&CO in GQ

We were also very particular and selective with regards to marketing and PR activities. Over the course of 10 years, articles about our brand and products were published in Forbes, GQ, Esquire, Wallpaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Monocle, The Evening Standard, and many other reputable media outlets.

Further development.

With brand awareness and our customer base growing, we came to the natural realization that it would be the right strategy to expand and find partners who share our core values of sustainability, naturalness, and eco-friendliness. This is how our skincare line appeared on the shelves of natural skincare stores, vegan grocery shops, local pharmacies, spas, gyms, and barber shops — a relationship that has lasted ever since.
In 2018, SA.AL&CO added a new product to its portfolio — Hand Wash — and doubled the team.

During the summer of 2020, we completely revamped the design of our website, making it more informative and user-friendly. As a result of this necessary development, we were able to increase customer satisfaction, drive more traffic, and reach even more happy customers.

The family is growing.

When the founder of a brand is so passionate about his creation, it is quite natural for the brand to adopt the traits of its creator and evolve with him, going through various stages and undergoing positive changes. Our brand was no exception to this. In 2022, with Dr. Charlotte Laszloffy, the wife of the founder, joining the brand, it became a family company.

More and more of our customers reached out to us, mentioning that they love our brand’s values, philosophy, natural ingredients, and sustainability practices. However, they hesitated to use the brand because it was labeled specifically as "men’s skincare." The same was noted by our B2B partners — they wanted to give us more shelf space and the recognition we deserved, but due to the label on the packaging, it was challenging for them to communicate the gender neutrality of our skincare line to customers.

In 2022, with the support and endorsement of our B2B partners and customers, we made the decision to enhance our skincare products (nevertheless, we stayed true to our initial product formulations and ingredients, core values of being vegan, natural and never testing our products on animals) and made our line unisex/gender neutral.

This shift was a risky decision for a self-funded, family-owned business, but we backed it up with careful analytics, our shared vision for the future of SA.AL&CO, and the unwavering support of our family, friends, B2B partners, and loyal customers.

As time has shown, it was the right decision, which allowed our brand to meet and connect with hundreds of wonderful partners, creators, artists, loyal customers, and just truly remarkable people. Today, SA.AL&CO is an Austrian, family-owned skincare brand with a decade-long history, developing premium, certified natural and vegan products that are cruelty-free, paraben-free, and GMO-free. Our portfolio includes 12 skincare products, which are currently available in over 25 countries and 400+ locations worldwide.

Dr. Charlotte Laszloffy (right), Istvan Laszloffy (left) and their children