Sloane Stephens wants to smell good on and off the court.
The tennis player on Wednesday is launching her body care brand Doc & Glo, lovingly named after her grandparents, perfectly timed to the U.S. Open — qualifying matches are being held this week, while the tournament officially begins on Monday. Stephens was the 2017 champion.
Doc & Glo No. 3161 Game-Changing Deodorant and 24/7 Hustle Deodorizing Body Mist.
Doc & Glo currently includes two stock keeping units: No. 3161 (a nod to her grandparents’ address) Game-Changing Deodorant, $18, a clean fragrance-free formula, and 24/7 Hustle Deodorizing Body Mist, $22, a fragrance-free deodorizing spray. The products, which are refillable, will be available on Amazon, direct-to-consumer and on the Free People Movement site. Stephens hinted that two products will also be launching for holiday and there will be additional retail news coming in the fall.
Sloane Stephens
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“My grandpa was Doc. He was an OB/GYN. He delivered 60,000 babies… My grandma [Glo] was so glamorous and had all these girl groups and was always giving back to the community and serving. I mixed all the things in my life that I had learned from both of them,” Stephens told WWD.
With Doc & Glo, Stephens aims to honor their legacy and the life lessons they taught her. While heavily inspired by her grandparents, she was also influenced to create Doc & Glo after her experience in locker rooms in the midst of COVID-19.
Sloane Stephens
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“During COVID, we couldn’t shower in the locker rooms, and it was terrible. Everyone was super stinky and smelly,” she said. “To be able to create products that I could see myself using no matter what was really important for me… creating products that inspired that new generation of feeling good, feeling refreshed even if you couldn’t take a shower.”
That being said, she was also eager to create a brand that aligned with her lifestyle as a tennis player and wasn’t just another celeb-founded label with a slew of products.
Sloane Stephens
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“When I started the brand, I definitely wanted to create something that was more personal and more specific to me, my lifestyle and how I live,” she said. “A lot of brands create a lot of products that are very random… I wanted to create something for the people like me who are active, on-the-go, always on the move.”
While working on the brand, Stephens assigned herself and family as product testers.
“My stepdad was my number-one and first tester of all of my products,” she said, adding that it was important for the brand to be gender-neutral. “I want someone to be able to put it in their bathroom and not know who it’s for.”
Doc & Glo
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She added: “[I’ve been] teaching my husband what an everything shower is. We do a lot of self care together. Couples who self care together, friends who self care together, I want this product to live with them and [be] something that they can take with them and use together.”
Stephens herself has been testing different iterations of the products since 2021. As far as additional products, Stephens said she is sticking with body care.
“As an athlete or someone on-the-go, there’s a lot of wipes and things out there that already exist, but being a little bit more creative in the body care space is something that I want to dig into,” she said. “You can see that with our deodorizing body mist… You don’t need wipes. You don’t need a whole bunch of stuff.”
While Stephens is gearing up for the U.S. Open qualifying matches, she’s bullish about Doc & Glo’s future.
“One day I’ll be retired from tennis and this will be what I’m super passionate about, running this business,” she said.
