# Solbari moves 100% D2C brand into U.S. wholesale, names retail sales head to own shelf space *Australian UPF brand's channel pivot shows how certified physical properties unlock specialty retail distribution at scale.* By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC. Published 2026-06-12. Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/solbari-2026-06-12t00-2 Subject: Solbari Tags: wholesale, distribution, certification, upf, d2c pivot, specialty retail --- Solbari, a Melbourne-founded sun-protection apparel brand, appointed Grayson Davis as Head of Sales and launched U.S. wholesale expansion, according to Morningstar. The brand, which built its business entirely direct-to-consumer selling UPF 50+ certified clothing, is now pursuing retail shelf space across specialty stores as demand for daily sun-safe garments grows in the American market. The company manufactures apparel with third-party certified UPF 50+ ratings, meaning fabric blocks at least **98%** of UV radiation. Until this move, Solbari sold exclusively through its own e-commerce channel. Davis will lead retail partnerships, targeting specialty outdoor, wellness, and dermatology-adjacent retailers where sun protection is a stated customer need. The play works because certification converts a commodity garment category into a defensible product claim. A shopper cannot visually assess UV protection. UPF 50+ is a lab-tested, standardized rating that appears on hang tags and allows a retailer to justify higher price points and dedicated fixture space. Solbari is not selling shirts—it is selling a measurable health outcome that costs the retailer nothing to verify and that the end customer cannot easily comparison-shop on Amazon. Wholesale also solves a customer acquisition problem. Solbari's D2C model required paid media to reach consumers who did not yet know they needed UPF-rated daily wear. Retail distribution places the product in front of shoppers already shopping sun care, outdoor gear, or dermatologist-recommended items. The retailer has already paid for foot traffic. Solbari pays a margin haircut instead of a Facebook CPM. The steal for a smaller physical-product brand with a certifiable attribute: identify the one testable property your product owns that a retailer can sell without explaining it twice. If you make GOTS-certified organic cotton, OEKO-TEX dye safety, NSF water filtration, or ASTM impact resistance, that certification is your wholesale unlock. Retailers stock products they can defend to customers in one sentence. Package the cert prominently. Build a one-page wholesale linesheet showing the certification logo, the test result, and three SKU photos with wholesale price, MAP, and reorder minimums. Lead with the property, not the brand story. Next, target **10 to 15** independent specialty retailers whose existing assortment signals they care about your attribute. For Solbari, that is surf shops with reef-safe sunscreen, dermatology office retail corners, outdoor stores with sun hats. For you, it is wherever your certification already lives on someone else's product. Email the buyer a two-line pitch: the certification you hold, the margin you offer, the minimum opening order. Attach the linesheet. If three stores say yes, you have a wholesale business. If none respond, your product or your margin needs work, and you learned that in a week instead of after hiring a sales head. Solbari's timing is also signal. The brand waited until D2C demand proved the category before entering wholesale. That sequence matters. Retailers want brands that already have customer pull. A small brand should hit **$500K** to **$1M** in D2C revenue before pitching wholesale, so the buyer sees proof the product moves. Then wholesale becomes margin arbitrage: you trade 50 points of margin for someone else's rent and traffic. The certification makes the shelf space defensible once you are on it. The broader lesson is that wholesale is not a growth strategy—it is a distribution strategy for a product that has already proven it can sell itself. If your product requires explanation, stay D2C until you find the message that converts cold traffic. Once you have that, and a certification or measurable claim that travels without you, wholesale is how you stop paying Meta for every transaction. ## The takeaway Certified physical properties unlock wholesale because retailers can sell the claim without explaining the brand twice. --- ## Publisher **Hako Shikin LLC** — Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded 1997. ASI 217876 · DUNS 18-204-6339. Principal and author: **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA**. - Author: https://www.huanggoodman.com/about - LLM context: https://www.pops4.com/stash/llms.txt - MCP endpoint, for AI agents: https://mcp.pops4.com/mcp - Client dashboard: https://dashboard.pops4.com/ - Catalogue: 70,000+ products, 200+ brands