I’ve been looking into Frankie’s skincare line and found something interesting on their sunscreen packaging. The label says “Manufactured for: Frank Tufano, New York, NY” instead of “Manufactured by” which usually indicates private label manufacturing.
The ingredient list seems pretty standard too - water, glycerin, zinc oxide, sodium chloride, and jojoba oil. These are common ingredients you see in many mass-produced sunscreens from contract manufacturers.
I’m wondering if anyone has information about whether Frank actually formulates these products himself or if he’s sourcing them from existing suppliers. The pricing seems high for what might be rebranded products. Has anyone done research into the actual manufacturing sources for this brand?
Yeah, “Manufactured for” is a dead giveaway that it’s made by someone else. I’ve seen this tons of times with supplement and skincare brands - entrepreneurs just partner with existing manufacturers instead of building their own facilities. Makes sense though. Setting up FDA-compliant manufacturing for topicals costs a fortune and requires regulatory know-how that most small brands don’t have. The ingredients you mentioned sound like a pretty standard formula that contract manufacturers probably offer with small tweaks. Hard to know the exact source without seeing COAs or manufacturing details, but charging premium prices for what looks like basic zinc oxide? That definitely makes you wonder about the value vs. what it actually costs to make.
I see this constantly in contract manufacturing. Most small brands just take co-packers’ existing formulas and tweak them slightly. The dead giveaway isn’t just “manufactured for” - it’s how fast they roll out multiple product lines. Real from-scratch development takes way longer and you’d see more unique ingredients. Legit formulators talk about their R&D process or where they source ingredients. Private label brands? Pure lifestyle marketing. That sodium chloride in the sunscreen is telling too - it’s a thickener you see in mass production, not artisanal stuff. Without knowing who actually makes it or how, you’re paying brand markup for what’s probably standard wholesale products.
totally agree! it’s frustrating how they rebrand stuff and hike prices. like, just get the same quality elsewhere for less. marketing can be such a scam. people need to be more aware of what’s really behind the labels, it ain’t rocket science!