Tennis star Naomi Osaka has announced a new line of sunscreen designed for people of colour. Set to launch later this year, Kinló is formulated specifically to meet the needs of darker skin tones that contain more melanin, and which have been largely overlooked by the beauty market. 

The Japanese-born athlete, who recently starred in Louis Vuitton’s SS21 campaign, is currently ranked world number one by the Women’s Tennis Association and the current champion at the US Open. Yet, despite spending day upon day in the unforgiving sun of the courts, she didn’t realise she needed to wear SPF. She told Business of Fashion, “What drew me towards this project is having memories of being a kid and not knowing how to protect my skin. I only started wearing sunscreen recently,” said Osaka, who is of Japanese and Haitian descent. “I used to tell people that I didn’t need to wear sunscreen — but even if you have melanin, you need to take care of your skin, and I am passionate about that.”

Kinló (“kin” means “gold” in Japanese and “ló” means “gold” in Haitian Creole) is born from the tennis ace’s vocation to bring awareness to this critical public health problem. According to The National Cancer Institute, 33 per cent of Black Americans die from melanoma in the United States, as opposed to eight per cent of non-Hispanic white people.

The initial products, set to launch in autumn 2021, will all be priced under $20 and will include an SPF 40 tinted face lotion with blue-light protection, alongside an SPF 50 sunblock for outdoor activity, and a protective body spray, lip balm, and eye cream.