The Adult Novelties Manufacturers Expo is right around the corner, with industry heads gathering in Burbank from July 17th – 19th in order to showcase their wares and highlight where the booming sex novelty industry is headed.
With sex toy manufacturers’ profits having risen notably over the course of the past few years, the expo offers an indication of how the industry will continue its exponential growth over the coming years, showcasing a variety of sex toys from vibrators through to anal beads and a lot more. However, with the sex toy business now making major strides into the future thanks to the advent of virtual reality and the potential of AI sex partners, we asked ANME founders Ron Braverman (Doc Johnson), Nick Orlandino (Pipedream Products) and Susan Colvin (California Exotic Novelties) to outline their respective visions of the sex novelty industry’s future.
Check out our interview with them below:
CRAVE: In what key ways have the advancements in technology we’ve experienced over the years helped the adult novelty industry?
Ron Braverman: Without even having to think about it, I can confidently say that the most important development for the pleasure product industry has been the expanded use of the internet. You can browse thousands of sex toys without leaving your house, and rest assured that your sex life will remain as private as you want it.
Advancements have also allowed us to improve the quality of pleasure products in a number of ways. For example, technology has made ion batteries more affordable, which in turn has made USB rechargeable sex toys more accessible to the masses. Technology has also brought us better motors, with more options and multiple functions—you have more control over speed and type of vibration, you can switch from pulsating, tapping, rolling, and so on, rather than just having one or two speeds of continuous vibration.
Nick Orlandino: Simply stated the internet gave the adult industry a unique new vehicle to openly showcase products that were always too racy for traditional media. Combined with the anonymity of the web, you have people actively seeking more information about sex, sex practices, toys, lifestyle, etc. There will always be constant tech innovations, some will have more staying power than others – but the power and reach of the internet has significantly contributed to the $15B pleasure products industry of today.
What changes can you see these technological advancements contributing to in the future?
Ron: Technology will increasingly improve the connection between pleasure products and the end user, and will also make pleasure products more adaptive to user preferences. For example, pleasure product owners might be able to generate their own set of functions, or use memory control so that the product does exactly what they want, exactly how they like it, as soon as they turn it on.
There is also room for advancement in the Bluetooth space, which can improve the experience of teledildonics (high-tech sex toys that allow users to physically stimulate one another remotely) to become even more seamless, high-speed, and customizable to preferences.
There’s been an increased interest in sex products in recent years thanks to the popularity of entertainment such as Fifty Shades of Grey and Orange is the New Black. Which specific products have received the healthiest boost from these films/shows?
Ron: The “Fifty Shades of Grey Effect” is not a hyperbole—I can’t overstress how powerful of an impact the books have had on the sex toy market. Not so long ago, BDSM and fetish products were considered very niche, but since the massive popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey, more and more consumers are asking for products like whips, restraints, and masks.
Anal products have also enjoyed a significant boost, particularly among heterosexual men and couples; and this is due in large part to the media and popular culture. We’re seeing more and more articles with headlines about the benefits of prostate massage, or trend pieces asserting that ‘anal is the new’ fill-in-the-blank. Most notably, pegging was recently celebrated on TV’s Broad City and in 2016’s blockbuster Deadpool.
Susan Colvin: When the Fifty Shades of Grey book began to gain popularity we saw an uptick in sales for many of the items featured in the popular series. This included Kegel balls, restraints, riding crops and other BDSM items. In fact, we sold out of every style of Kegel ball we manufacture!
On the BDSM front, we saw a huge increase in the entire category of products. Our most popular BDSM collection, Scandal, and been a favorite of Fifty Shades of Grey lovers. Everything from the sultry packaging to the sensual products give users the ability to enter into a fantasy world where domination and control take over and leads to hot and steamy sex.
How do you feel the perception of sex has changed in the mainstream media (TV, film etc.) over the years?Was there a pivotal turning point where you each realized that adult novelty items were beginning to transform from a taboo product, into something that was becoming much more accepted by a mainstream audience?
If I could point to one specific turning point that represented a change of course in the perception of our industry, it would be the Sex and the City episode where the girls shop for a Rabbit. The episode portrayed the four main characters (who were, at the time, heavily watched and referenced as cultural symbols for the modern female) sitting around and talking about sex toys in a way that was both powerful and empowering.
This episode not only led to a huge spike in our vibrator sales that hasn’t ever really died down, it also represented a major shift in how the media portrayed sex and sexuality.
Everything the industry has seen since that moment, in terms of the destigmatization of sex toys, has been generated from there and there alone. A modern day example would be the ‘50 Shades of Grey’ phenomenon which came into play years later, and took an even lesser known part of the pleasure products industry into the mainstream.
What’s the process behind creating a successful adult novelty product?
Nick: Finding the white space in the market, offering great quality products at an affordable price, and being able to ship to customers on time with high fill rates. A product not on the shelves is not a product at all.
Ron: Today, the main thing is trying to take a look at what is missing in the market. We pour a lot of energy and resources into listening to our customers, what their needs are or what they would like to see improved, and we try to spot patterns or notice where there’s a gap, and then develop the product with the right material and the right functions to fill that gap correctly.
We’re hearing a lot about sex dolls and potential robotic sexual companions in the news lately, with it even being projected by experts that humanoid robots could replace men for many women as early as the year 2025. What do you think the likelihood of this happening is? Do you think A.I. could ever replace humans in this regard?
In our view, sex toys are meant to enhance pleasure. We’re not here to replace real human connection. If anything, we’re here to improve it.
Susan: When creating a successful adult novelty product we look to consumers for a need. We read blogs, articles and speak directly to consumers to find what they are searching for when it comes to pleasure enhancement. Once we’ve compiled the data our product development team takes over and begins the process of creating the items. Everything from material, functionality, look and feel are accounted for in the product creation, which results in a successful product
Virtual reality is making a big impact on the sex industry, with VR porn proving to be highly popular among early adopters of VR headsets. Could you foresee a time when the VR porn market overtakes the “traditional” adult novelty business? Do any of you have plans to enter into this market?
Susan: Novelties and porn are two, very different market segments. They do have some cross over, but the overwhelming majority is made up of different consumer profiles. Within CalExotics, our target market in women and couples. VR capabilities do come into play within this segment, but I do not see it taking over.
Ron: VR is an extremely interesting development, and it’s something we’re looking at seriously. Anything that takes the fantasy and connectivity of our items to the next level is something we’re going to be extremely interested in.
Nick: Novelties and porn are two, very different market segments. They do have some cross over, but the overwhelming majority is made up of different consumer profiles. Within CalExotics, our target market in women and couples. VR capabilities do come into play within this segment, but I do not see it taking over.
We’re hearing a lot about sex dolls and potential robotic sexual companions in the news lately, with it even being projected by experts that humanoid robots could replace men for many women as early as the year 2025. What do you think the likelihood of this happening is? Do you think A.I. could ever replace humans in this regard?
Nick: We’ll have to let the marketplace decide. We’ve been waiting for the technological-sexual divide to be bridged since the movie Barbarella. Some tech works with sex toys, some doesn’t. It depends very much on the consumer’s desire. There will always be appetites in the marketplace for anything and everything that can be conceived. So we have to gauge demand in the future and see how significant the need actually is from the consumer. We sell $20 strokers all day long. Who’s the adult consumer that will spend big for this kind of technology? And how many are there? We shall see.
Finally, what should we be most excited about seeing at ANME this year?
Susan: We are excited to introduce new items within our sexual health and wellness focused collection Inspire. Inspire is a collection of female-centric products with some of the proceeds benefiting the non-profit organization Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC). Our new products are designed to heighten the users sexual experience and also support a worthy cause. The combination is a win, win for everyone involved!
We are also excited to unveil some technically advanced products with in Embrace and Luxe. Embrace features dual stimulation massagers with a twist. These new items feature our pleasure ball technology, that is unique in is maneuverability. It moves up and down to create a phenomenal sensation not found in most pleasure products.
Luxe combines superior design with innovative technology that responds to the body’s touch. This new technology allows the speed of penetration to control the journey, the deeper the user strokes the stronger the intensity. This feature alone makes Luxe a must-see product at ANME.
Ron: To celebrate our 40th anniversary, we will be unveiling almost 200 new products at ANME, including many new lines that expand upon some of our top-selling brands of the past 40 years. This will include some fresh takes on our signature molds, an entirely new Doc Johnson silicone brand, and an assortment of innovative ‘experience-focused’ kits that we think will really wow the crowd.
Earlier this year, we also announced an exclusive partnership and collaboration with Kink.com, the world’s largest producer of BDSM entertainment—and we’re particularly excited to debut our signature Kink by Doc Johnson collection at this upcoming ANME show. We’ve worked closely with Kink.com to develop and manufacture these products, and we anticipate that our customers are going to be as thrilled as we are with the results.
Image Credit: sakkmesterke / Getty Images.
