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For those sunny afternoons Photo by Bob Pennell Sunday Afternoons owner Robbin Lacy shows off the design of his company's sun hats on inventory manager -- and somewhat reluctant model -- Krista Shrader. Sun protection is specialty of Ashland couple By DAVID PRESZLER ASHLAND -- The sun is shining on Sunday Afternoons, a business now making most of its money on protecting people from the dark side of sunlight. Robbin and Angeline Lacy started Sunday Afternoons a decade ago to make waterproof picnic blankets, but another product is now driving it: sun hats. "We were selling picnic blankets for years and people were asking about sun protection," says Robbin Lacy. So the Lacys designed and launched a line of high-tech hats that protect people's skin from ultraviolet rays and make up about 75 percent of Sunday Afternoons' sales. "They've really taken us in a new direction," said Lacy, noting that the company started making hats about six years ago. With awareness of skin cancer and other sun-related ailments on the rise, the Lacys think the business is poised to take off. Robbin Lacy went to a recent American Academy of Dermatology conference in the Bay Area expecting to sell a few hats and talk to a few people. But after the first day, the response was so intense that his wife had to fly in to help handle the rush. "From the get-go, I was packed," he said of his booth. "It just blew me away." They sold 400 hats in four days. The Lacys sell their products wholesale to retailers and through both their own catalogs and their Web site, www.sundayafternoons.com. The hats have been featured in catalogs for GI Joe's and REI and have been worn by several teams in the Ecochallenge adventure race events aired on The Discovery Channel. They are sold locally at Ashland Mountain Supply and Paddington Station. Robbin Lacy, the company's chief salesman, also travels to 30 to 35 consumer and trade shows a year, where he'll sell 300 to 600 hats per show, depending on show size. "People are much more aware of the need for sun protection," he said. "In every show I do, dozens of people will come up with diagnosed skin problems." The hats, which cost $29 to $42, are made of a fine-weave nylon that earned a 45 UPF rating (a ultraviolet protection factor of 50 is the highest possible) in recent tests on sun-blocking fabrics at Cal Poly. The company has secured a nine-point utility patent on the design. Sunday Afternoons has four styles of hat: a sport hat, an adventure hat, a resort hat and a derma safe hat for those extremely sensitive to the sun. They come in a variety of colors and in sizes to fit children and adults. The hats are light, weighing about 3 ounces, and can be rolled small enough to fit in a fanny pack. They are waterproof and float, important features to the river rafters and fishermen Lacy hopes to target. He said they're also designed for gardeners, hikers and anyone else who spends a lot of time outside. Angeline Lacy designed the hats, which are sewn by a Wolf Creek company called Select Designs. She's designing a rain hat and planning to make more sun-protection gear, including a line of shirts, shorts and other apparel. The company still makes the Adventure Blankets it started with and has created several new additions to that line as well. With its business on the rise, Sunday Afternoons moved into a new 2,000-square-foot space in an Ashland industrial park in January. It had been run out of the Lacys' garage in Talent. Robbin Lady said the business started when his wife, a talented seamstress, made outdoor blankets for their family to use. Friends wanted blankets of their own and away they went. Before moving to the Rogue Valley, the couple lived, as Robbin Lacy put it, "off the grid and growing our own food" on a remote ranch near Happy Camp, Calif. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA