Humble Beginnings

Back in 2004, Karen Allard, Founder|CEO of SBR Sports was a competitive triathlete, USAT coach who specialized in triathlon swimming, and a mom. 

I spent countless hours in the pool and ocean and needed a good salon quality after-swim hair and skin care line to remove the harsh chemicals I was marinading in for countless hours per day! At the time, there was only a cheap drug store shampoo for the hair. At the other end of the spectrum, an expensive well-known salon brand that claimed it removed the Chlorine, but it was really a “clarifying shampoo” that would actually dry the hair out more because it was not formulated to remove Chlorine; only gels, mousses, and sprays. I decided to hire a chemist to formulate a premium quality shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion that also had the most sequestering agents in the formula to remove Chlorine, saltwater, Bromine (found in hot tubs), and hard water minerals while adding vitamins, proteins, botanicals and Keratin. TRISWIM was born. The name came from a combination of the two sports I loved.

TRISLIDE was originated because back in the day, we used to use PAM the vegetable spray to put on our tight triathlon wetsuits. I had heard stories about how anything vegetable based or Petroleum based would disintegrate neoprene. I was a non-believer until my triathlon wetsuit actually did disintegrate with black tar like marks on my shoulders. I thought, “what did I like about PAM?” I liked the continuous spray application, and at the time, I was using a silicone on my feet to prevent blistering and chafing on my inner thighs. TRISLIDE was created with these two combinations.  After many tests with different packaging and blending the perfect formulation, TRISLIDE was introduced in 2008. Due to the popularity as an easy continuous spray skin lubricant, in 2010, SKIN SLICK was introduced into the run, bike, swim and first aid market.

The FOGGIES concept was born on the shores of Corona Del Mar. Having to use an anti-fog spray on my goggles and trying to find a clean, sand-free towel to wipe off the excess spray, with no luck I started thinking as I was swimming, “why isn’t there an anti-fog solution on a clean towelette?” As we were sourcing the “cloth,” we found one that did not dry up as soon as it hit the air. Bonus….Keeping the FOGGIES wipe airtight, you can get many applications out of one wipe. In the beginning, this product was actually called FOGGLE; combining FOG + GOGGLE. Running into trademark issues, we changed the name to FOGGIES.

My passion and mission is to teach and make products available for athletes that are 1) formulated with the best ingredients available, 2)  extremely effective at what they are supposed to do, and 3) affordable. The last thing an athlete wants to do is spend money on personal care products and would rather focus on bikes, swim suits, shoes, equipment and nutrition. In the early days of triathlon, I was always amazed at how much emphasis was put on training and nutrition, but no attention to the skin and hair; this is the first thing people notice. 

I am very proud of the exceptional products we have created since 2004. We are not like companies that find a gap in the market and make something cheap to sell. Every product we have developed has been out of a need, carefully formulated and tested. Not to mention, when the core company employees only use SBR products, it says something about the quality.