Suntan Lotion Container Helps Eliminate the Problem of ‘Bikini Bulge’

A few years ago, John Marsden was walking along a beach in Australia when he noticed the same problem he’d spotted at beaches from New Zealand to Newport Beach--young women were ruining the appeal of their sexy swimsuits by storing oily bottles of suntan lotion between their bikinis and their backsides.

Problem: Sunbathers don’t know where to keep their tanning oil bottles.

Solution: HandyTan.

HandyTan, which is produced by Marsden’s company--Soladyne Pacific Corp. of Laguna Hills--is the first “bottle” of suntan lotion that doubles as a fashion statement. In fact, it isn’t a bottle at all but a plastic bracelet.

The bracelets are made at the company’s Chatsworth facility and come in four colors, ranging from “hot pink” to “sun yellow.” The flexible bracelets, which retail for $3.99 to $4.99, unhitch into suntan lotion dispensers--each filled with a choice of four tanning oils or sun blocks.

Executives of the privately held company refuse to talk about revenue--they say for fear of attracting more competitors into the market. “But believe me,” said Edward Harrigan, the company’s chief operating officer, “sales have exceeded our wildest expectations.”

Sales are especially strong in Southern California, Florida and East Coast resorts such as Cape Cod, Mass., and Atlantic City, N.J., Harrigan said.

Although HandyTan is mostly sold at Southland surf shops, Soladyne is negotiating for distribution with a number of major drugstore chains. One chain, Sav-On, has posted strong sales of the product since it began stocking it in late June.

“We’ve never even advertised it, but we’ve sold about half of our original order,” said Brian Hazlett, assistant general manager at Sav-On’s Huntington Beach store. He said the market for the unusual suntan lotion is clearly “young girls--mostly teen-agers--on their way to the beach.”

With the success of the suntan bracelet, Soladyne executives are already devising still more schemes for next year’s products--perhaps necklaces or rings that also hold suntan lotion. “We’re pretty closed-lipped about that,” Harrigan said.

Just as closed-lipped is the competition. A spokeswoman for Schering-Plough Corp. of Memphis, Tenn., maker of Coppertone tanning products, said she was familiar with HandyTan, but she would not comment on the product.

“It is not the type of product that we manufacture,” she said. “But I can’t tell you what our future plans are.”