Tree Hut — a skin and body care brand rooted in scented sugar scrubs, shave oils, whipped body butters and washes based in Coppell, TX— celebrated its 21st year in business with an immersive bath and shower art installation, product display and demonstration at a popup experience in New York City.  

 

At the popup located at 365 Broadway, guests entered a maze that began with a bathtub filled with colorful plastic balls that led to a shower wall covered in foaming gel washes in their signature scents from watermelon, strawberry, pineapple and Moroccan Rose. Ceiling-to-floor clear plastic beads represented a shower. The brand’s Allure Magazine award-winning skin-softening shave oils and whipped body butters were also on display. Beyond the smoke machine meant to symbolize steam, was a room filled with the brand’s signature sugar scrub tubs. 

Free from sulfates and parabens, the brand’s ingredients include shea and cupuaçu butters, sugar, avocado oil, macadamia seed oil, evening primrose, sweet almond, hemp seed and coconut oils. Tree Hut also includes guarana, aloe, fruit enzymes and extracts and vitamin C in its formulations.  

 

The family-owned and operated brand founded in 2002 aims to transform mundane hygiene routines into highly sensory self-care rituals with a goal to boost mood. 

 

According to Jon Song, CEO, Naterra International, Tree Hut has seen a +400% growth in the last five years. 

 

“Millennials and Gen Z are really into Tree Hut and they love the scents that we offer,” said Traylor. “Our strategy right now is really just focusing on how do we bring that happiness to everybody when we’re all so stressed out by the times. We really want to bring in that self-care routine and really give people that time to appreciate themselves and their bodies.” 

 

Despite the myriad of delicious scents for which Tree Hut is known, the seed of the brand began with a singular shea body butter. Subsequent to the launch, the brand took advantage of an opportunity in the exfoliator category.  

 

“At that time, the category had very limited offerings. Our focus was crafting a high-quality product that left behind amazing results,” explained Song. “We also wanted a formula base that was unique in texture and knew sugar had so many hydrating and smoothing benefits – it was the perfect key ingredient.” 

 

Tree Hut branched out into different scents in 2007. The brand began offering shave oils in 2016 in a unique gel formula. 

 

“Afterwards, we saw an opportunity to enhance our brand with a regimen approach, and we increased our offering to a new form of hydration,” said Song. “As consumers wanted a lighter, non-greasy feel, we launched our whipped butters in 2019. With the growth of UGC, many of our loyalist began to show out their shower routines. All had a body wash in another brand, but within the same scent type as our body scrubs and whipped butter. We just knew we had to service our community and round out our regimen. Thus, the Foaming Gel Wash was born.  We just launched in 2023 and it’s already becoming a fan staple.” 

 

The covid-19 pandemic also played a role as the catalyst for the brand’s current boom in popularity.  

 

According to Hazel Smith, senior marketing manager, people’s growing interests in self-care routines gave the brand a leg-up as consumers appreciated their vibrantly scented products that fueled feel-good vibes.  

 

That, and word of mouth from the brand’s loyal followers or so-called “Tree Huters” help reach more and more users, noted Zoe McKinley, social media specialist. 

 

“Since I started with the brand two years ago, the community has grown. We started at 10 influencers, and now we have 500 influencers. Our community is up to 20 million impressions a week,” said McKinley, who added that the brand leverages TikTok as the platform with the highest selling-point. 

 

Despite the digital influence, there’s nothing like spreading the word the old-fashioned way, IRL. 

 

“That’s why we’re doing this,” said Smith of the store. “We’ve been so digital, and now life got back to normal.”  

 

Tree Hut is available in-store at Target, Ulta and Walmart and select drug and grocery outlets nationwide. Products are also available online at Target.com, Ulta.com, Walmart.com and on Amazon.