Jayson Tatum- And Jude Bellingham-Backed Onside Plays To Win In Men’s Personal Care

As some men embrace the intense self-optimization of looksmaxxing, a growing crop of brands is catering to those more interested in softmaxxing or gradual self-improvement. Newcomer Onside is hoping to become a leader among them.

At the outset, it has big-name professional athlete backers—Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, a six-time NBA All-Star, and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham, one of soccer’s most sought-after rising stars—and a big-name retail partner in Target, where it rolled out nationwide in May under a one-year exclusive after launching in March. Already, Onside has momentum at the retailer. Its Hybrid Body Spray has emerged as an early breakout product, with more than 1,000 units of each of its two scents sold on Target’s website in the past month.

Onside has arrived as the beauty and grooming industry wonders whether hype around the men’s opportunity is finally becoming a reality as guys, especially younger consumers, gravitate toward fragrance and are exposed to social media trends around appearance and health. According to market research firm NielsenIQ, men’s grooming sales in the United States were up 6.9% last year to $7.1 billion. Online sales in the category surged nearly 28%, with fragrance and whole-body deodorants becoming two of its fastest-growing product segments. Per NIQ, 59% of men now express concerns about aging, while 40% believe premium brands are worth the price.

“Men’s have been on the table as an opportunity forever, but in the last five years it became the hottest segment,” says Georgia Garinois-Melenikiotou, an Onside board member and former EVP of corporate marketing at The Estée Lauder Cos. “What I like in this brand is this balance of desirability and accessibility. It plays at a high level of fragrances and packaging, but at a very accessible price.”

She believes Onside can fill the white space between legacy brands like Old Spice and prestige brands like Le Labo and Aesop, offering consumers an elevated experience without a prestige price tag. She’s also bullish on Onside’s lifestyle-oriented positioning. Its ethos of discipline, preparation and consistent performance is reflected in both its athlete backers and its high-performance products.

Onside’s Hybrid Body Spray epitomizes its performance-driven philosophy. “In your gym bag, in your car, wherever you go, you have this opportunity to not only use fragrance as a tool to mask odor, but you can spray it anywhere on your body that you sweat,” says Onside founder Bradley Churchill. “It’s kind of that refresh between a body spray and a product that can essentially be applied to your skin and not cause irritation.”

Its 10-product assortment addresses sweat, odor and skin health concerns across body, hair and face with fragrances taking cues from prestige brands. The brand’s three hero body products—Hybrid Body Spray, Aluminum-Free Deodorant and Body Wash—come in two signature scents, santal leather and eucalyptus mint. Hybrid Body Spray combines odor control, fragrance and skin-care ingredients such as witch hazel and niacinamide. Every product is priced under $16.

A facial toner mist, cleanser, moisturizer, eye gel, exfoliating wash, body cream and two-in-one shampoo and conditioner round out Onside’s assortment. The shampoo and conditioner come in three scents: hinoki incense, green tea cedar and tea tree mint. While developing the line, Onside looked to premium shower gels and fragrances from brands such as Le Labo to bring a similar sensory experience to mass retail.

Fragrance is foundational to Onside’s approach. In September, the brand is slated to release athlete-inspired scent collections tied to Tatum and Bellingham, each spanning the brand’s three hero products and supported by dedicated Target endcaps. Churchill says Tatum and Bellingham are participating in fragrance evaluation and product feedback sessions as Onside develops the collections.

“Men’s have been on the table as an opportunity forever, but in the last five years it became the hottest segment.”

While Onside is hyper-focused on propelling velocity with its existing hero products, Churchill sees opportunities to extend into adjacent product categories like sun care. “A man that moves usually moves in the sun,” he says. “When we bring new products to market, they have to embody that same idea of movement and performance.”

Onside raised $5 million from athletes, operators, strategic partners and individual investors to get off the ground. It sits under the umbrella of Non Normal Ventures, where Churchill is the COO. The incubator and venture studio was founded by Ross MacKay, the serial entrepreneur behind plant-based meat company Daring and supplement company CadenceTM. Another partner is Domenic Iacovone, the entrepreneur behind fast-growing wellness brands RAW Nutrition and Bum Energy. He’s an investor and board member.

A key priority for Onside currently is building awareness, community and credibility through athlete partnerships, micro-influencer programs and premium creative content. The brand plans to continue leveraging athletes as brand partners, but Churchill doesn’t envision an endless roster of athlete-investors in its future. He stresses that future athletes will be selected based on how well they represent the brand’s positioning rather than simply their star power, and he’s careful to separate the athletes associated with Onside from the brand’s core rationale.

“This is not Jude’s brand. It’s not Jayson’s brand. It stands by itself,” says Churchill. “We always saw the business solving a problem first and then layering athletes on top.”

Onside is hardly the first brand to merge sports and personal care. Art of Sport, a brand connected to Kobe Bryant likened to the “Nike of skincare,” pursued a similar strategy in the mass market. It was previously carried by Target and Walmart, raised around $25 million and was acquired by Starco Brands in 2022. Today, it sells on Amazon.

But the backdrop has changed. Onside may be attempting the model at a more favorable time. Athletes are increasingly diversifying their business ventures beyond sports, and men are becoming more engaged with fragrance, skincare and other forms of personal maintenance.