When you’ve been running your spa brand for nearly 37 years, innovation in formulas and services is to be expected to fuel growth. What isn’t necessarily on the docket is overnight international expansion, in Korea no less, the leading skin care incubator in the world, stemming from the success of a little-known product in the region.

“A very famous Korean actress was being interviewed on TV. They asked her why her skin was so beautiful and she said, ‘Rapidex.’ Bingo. Everyone ran and looked for it and wanted to buy it,” said Lydia Sarfatti, founder and CEO of Repêchage. “Then our distributor created a Korean type version of the Home Shopping Network.”

The result was enormous. The product went from selling 100,000 in one year to over one million. Rapidex sales increased more than 450 percent in 2015, and the product is now sold in more than 43 countries.

“Now people from France want to carry our products because Korean tourists keep coming into their stores and asking for it,” Lydia said.

And the company projects a greater than 25 percent gain during 2016’s first quarter. In July, Repêchage will launch in China.

Since 1980, Repêchage has created a full range of nutrient-rich seaweed-based skin care products and treatments offered at spas and salons, which can now be found globally. This month, the no-nonsense, creative force that has spearheaded the company will release four fusion facials, their most pleasing, not to mention almost edible, treatments to date.

“I’d spent most of 2015 traveling and visiting spas and hotels. I watched people coming in for treatments and realized not everyone wants a chemical peel or a deep-pore cleansing and extraction facial. And there wasn’t anything for their children,” she said. “I realized when people are on vacation that’s the kind of facial they want.”

She went on to share that her passion for cooking was a huge inspiration for the new facials, along with her desire to create and provide customers with a sensory experience.

“All of our facials are serious and clinical. They require teaching and learning. We needed something fun and simple,” she added.

The Fusion Express Bar and Spa Masks include: Vanillafina, vanilla pumpkin; Matchafina, green tea; Berryfina, blueberry, beet root powder and strawberry; and Chocofina, chocolate. Each contains natural anti-oxidant properties along with other beneficial and nutriceutical grade ingredients.

These new offerings were showcased at Repêchage’s 18th annual conference on May 2at the Affinia hotel, where the company historically presents new treatments and products to more than 18 global distributors, spa owners and trade publications.

During the conference Lydia also introduced the company’s first children’s category, which is the result of four years of research and development: Sensory Fusion Face & Body Wash and Sensory Fusion Face & Body Moisturizer.

Additional unveilings due this fall include three whitening and brightening products, three items that focus on anti-aging and two lip plumping products.

“Every year we make major launches. Last year we focused on rosacea,” Lydia said.

For more than three decades, sea plant technology has played an important role in Repêchage, pioneering impressive treatments throughout the world while retaining strong roots in the US, specifically in Secaucus, NJ, where they are headquartered.

Last year their American ties grew stronger. Seaweed once cultivated in France is now collected in Maine, thanks to a new agricultural specialist.

“I’m a refugee from Poland who came here in the 1970s,” Lydia said. “This country has been very good to me. It took me in and opened its doors to me. There’s quality in making products in the US. It’s a personal issue. I’m proud that we make things in America. I’m proud of all the work we do.”