Talk about double duty.

MDSolarSciences is looking to redefine what skin care and sun care means to consumers – simultaneously. No easy feat.

The Connecticut-based company, which is ending 2016 with a 25 percent increase in sales over 2015 in the face of restructuring its distribution channels, is looking to break through the challenging world of sun care marketing and merchandising with a focus on specialty distribution and education.

“We have refocused the company on our founding mission, [which is] to educate, protect and prevent, and have aligned our selling efforts putting purpose before profits,” said Don Uselmann, President of MDSolarSciences. “When you think about who needs sunscreen, there is a lot of opportunity in sports and other active, healthy lifestyle -focused companies and specialty retailers.”

The brand, which is sold in Sephora, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Credo and on Amazon, will be piloting their protection products in 10 Solstice stores, an eyewear retailer, including Florida, California and Hawaii, as well as online.

According to Don, Solstice’s “Protect Your Eyes and Protect Your Skin” partnership was initiated in order to grow the brand footprint in niche retail doors, a tactic to help overcome the difficulty of selling in traditional channels.

“I’m working on lots of retailers and more distribution. I’m not giving up. We’re looking for smaller retailers with specialized staff so we can give them product knowledge about why they should be wearing sunscreen,” Don said.

According to Don, who came to the brand after 35 years as Senior Vice President, Director of Stores, Saks Fifth Avenue, it is notoriously complicated to educate and sell sun care products to the consumer in brick and mortar distribution, especially for non-drugstore brands.

“When people think about sunscreen, they usually say, ‘I’m going to the beach, I have to run to the pharmacy and buy some sunscreen,’” said Don. “We are a beauty brand, and there are two parts. The sunscreen part that protects with sun blockers and antioxidants, and the other part that is all about skin repair.”

Because of this dichotomy in brand positioning, finding retailers that are aligned in terms of marketing has proved complex.

“Sephora is interesting in that they take sunscreen products off of shelves in the winter,” he said, underscoring that it is important that women use sun care year-round. “Small brands have a hard time competing in the beauty department of stores, especially sun care brands.”

Another challenge comes in the form of fast-growing start-up sun-focused businesses, such as Supergoop.

“Despite the Supergoops of the world, we’re more scientific, we’re not as sexy, but the customer is getting more sophisticated. We are a better product.”

The brainchild of Dr. Robert J. Friedman, a noted oncologist, MDSolarSciences was created after he realized how many fewer cases of skin cancer there would be if women would just wear sunscreen every day.

Priced between $19 for a Quick Dry Body Spray SPF 40 to $96 for a Evening Facial Repair Serum, MDSolarSciences formulas are created by a team of 12 scientists who work on a volunteer basis.

Because of this, Don said there is passion and cutting edge technology behind every MDSolarSciences product.

Looking to the future, Don said a focus will be on expansion as well as more partnerships with like-minded brands.

“We are also looking to grow social media and continue working with influencers.”