Skoop Skincare founder allows shoppers to ‘Pay What You Can’ ahead of a very sweaty summer

It’s a scary sentence to be writing in December 2024, knowing full well that it has been written year after year: Australia is staring down the barrel of the hottest summer on record. 

The fact of climate change has many Australians asking themselves (and Google) the same questions each year: “how to keep cool this summer”, “how to better insulate our homes”, “the best SPF sunscreen on the market” and “where is the closest beach?”. 

But what about sweating? And smelling? 

Unless you’re lucky enough to live right by the beach, can afford a private pool, or are going to rack your energy bills to the highest heights by blasting the air conditioning 24/7, profuse sweating is likely going to be an occurrence for you this holiday season. 

As Skoop Skincare founder Hannah Milgate knows, many Australians simply can’t afford these luxuries – especially not sweaty teenagers who have just hit puberty and don’t know why their bodies are changing the way that they are. 

So Milgate launched her bootstrapped skincare business a year ago – going to market with the product in November 2023 – and was certain the brand should be built on a pillar of accessibility for every human. 

After all, who doesn’t sweat? 

That’s why from today, December 11, Skoop Skincare will allow 500 customers to pay for any product via its e-commerce site for as little as five bucks. 

The first-come-first-served sale will run while stocks last or until the 500th customer is reached, with a minimum order of $5 and a purchase limit of eight products per person. While Skoop is available to Australians via Adore Beauty, this sale is exclusive to the Skoop Skincare website, Miller explains.  

A ‘Pay What You Can’ sales campaign is undoubtedly a bold move to be launching in the first year of business. After all, Milgate hasn’t even completed a tax return for Skoop yet. 

But this sale is hardly about finances: it’s about accessibility. 

“I felt embarrassed” 

“The reason I launched into a ‘niche’ category [of] sweat-related issues was due to my personal experiences,” Milgate tells SmartCompany. 

“I was on a family trip in Bali as I entered puberty and was suffering from severe chafe,” she says. 

“I felt embarrassed and started researching to find solutions.” 

After years of researching a chafe-free solution to no avail — and then working in the beauty industry for 15 years as a marketing and sales executive — Milgate decided to create the solution herself. 

“Skoop has been a long time in the making,” Milgate says. 

“Over my years in previous roles, I identified experts across every area of the industry and earmarked exactly who I hoped to collaborate with.” 

A year post product launch, and the company still only has two employees – yet it’s already raking in over six figures. 

“I [invested] $20,000 of my own funds,” Milgate says, explaining that the company is completely bootstrapped with “a team of skilled contractors across finance, web development, warehousing, and creative” who help bring Skoop to life. 

“At Skoop, we believe everyone should have access to effective, clean, and empowering solutions for sweat-related discomfort – without hidden nasties or shameful narratives.” 

Sweating all over the globe

For Milgate, her true passion lies in product development and marketing – and her expertise on the marketing and sales side of skincare startups leaves her well-equipped to future-proof her strategy. 

“Having worked with several brands that scaled with the goal of selling, I am acutely aware of the pitfalls and the impact this approach can have on a company’s ethos,” she explains to SmartCompany. 

“For now, we want to keep Skoop to ourselves, which allows us to roll out initiatives like the ‘Pay What You Can’ campaign,” she says. 

“While it may not make the strongest financial sense, staying true to our core values of accessibility and inclusivity is what’s most important to us – something we might not be able to achieve if we had structured the business differently.”

Looking forward, Milgate plans to “aggressively scale” over the next two years and expand into the UK market – sweat marks and all. 

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