We just got back from Erofame, the largest international b2b trade fair for the erotic industry in Europe, where every year manufacturers and distributors present their masterpieces and the latest news in terms of sex toys, lubricants, erotic cosmetics, condoms, lingerie and fetish clothing.
For us, it was another lovely overdose of hugs, chats and greetings, and an occasion to meet new and old friends in the industry.
This year’s edition opened one day in advance to welcome some selected invitees at the Wow Tech group’s coveted event. The company was born recently from the coming together of two industry leaders, Womanizer and We-Vibe, who respectively gave the world what the pleasure experts know as the “clit sucker” – which in spite of the infamous label doesn’t act as a vacuum cleaner for genitals but actually stimulates the female erectile organ with massaging air waves – and the C-shaped “couple vibrator” designed to fit inside the vagina and around the clitoris and to be used during couple sex leaving room for the penis. After successfully focusing on female pleasure for long, the group is now ready to innovate male masturbation with the announced launch of a new collection of penis sex toys that combine design, functionality and technology.
Wow Tech group drew all the attention also during the three days of EroFame, where a life-size clitoris puppet and its loyal friend clit-sucker in the iconic shape of the Womanizer Premium – the most refined among the pioneers of the gentle clitoris suction – were wandering around the pavilion collecting selfies with visitors.
Unlike the previous editions, the innovation showcased at the fair was not really of technological nature but instead lies on a cultural level.
It looks like the mission is not just churn out phallic gizmos or mind-blowing orgasm machines: a lot of brands are making efforts to make a more reasoned use of the existing technologies in order to rethink the sexual experience beyond the limits of merely penetrative sex and to shift the focus on pleasure in all its forms.
Obviously, products like the top-sellers’ cheap copycats of dubious quality continue to exist, alongside the sex dolls’ lifeless bodies, still technologically light-years away from the much-feared and discussed cyborg sexbots threatening to replace flesh-and-blood lovers that, to date, remain only prototypes, or the products promising miraculous astringent effects on the vagina and the feeling of “being virgin again”, perpetuating the sick idea that pandering to an empty ideal of perfect genital is more important than embracing your uniqueness and researching pleasure by listening to your body and desires.
But just on the other side of the careless production, there’s a whole array of enlightened brands and entrepreneurs trying to revolutionize the pursuit of pleasure and think beyond stereotypes, contributing to a real cultural and sexual revolution.
Fun Factory, the German brand beyond the well-known cute caterpillar-shaped vibrator, presented Be One, a mini vibrator that nestles between fingers working as an additional vibrating sixth finger for massaging the body and stimulating the more extended sexual organ we have: the skin.
Lelo, the luxury sex toys brand that needs no introduction, showcased the redesigned version of Sona, the clitoral stimulator using sonic waves and pulses to give unprecedented orgasms. The Sona 2 has an aesthetic similar to its predecessor but a wider nozzle to better diffuse the stimulation and a softer and more bearable starting intensity, introduced after listening to feedback from the users of Lelo’s bestseller.
The penis-owners market is finally flourishing beyond the flesh-coloured plastic vaginas replicating pornstars’ genitalia. Tenga proves itself as the leading and most innovative brand which first turned the genital holes surrogates into beautiful objects designed to deliver a whole new experience of pleasure. Among the new players in this field, there’s the American Svakom that launched Alex, a textured penis sleeve that settles in what looks like a blender, which consists in a transparent tube and a base with the motor that simulates manual masturbation generating a back and forth motion.
In the field of cosmetics and lubes, companies are choosing natural, vegan, organic ingredients that respect the human body and also the environment. An honourable mention goes to Exsens, young brand using ingredients sourced from organic farms and Ultra-Pure Water to offer a playful and mouth-watering sensorial experience with organic glittering massage oils, Sex on the Beach-flavoured gourmet edible oils, cherry nipple arousal creams.
Sullo stand di Bijoux Indiscrets, Spanish brand renowned for the amazing bondage-inspired vegan latex body harnesses, housed a SLOW SEX neon sign launching the homonymous line of cosmetics: a warming gel, an oral sex balm, a mouthwatering spray to make the mouth wetter, a finger play gel among others. Coming with a gender-neutral minimal packaging, the new products invite all the bodies of all genders to explore themselves and interact, and to think of what we’re used to calling “foreplay” as the main meal on the menu of sexual exploration possibilities instead of just a fleeting appetizer.
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In the clothing area, the more interesting news come from Ledapold – Polish brand producing 3D printed latex, and Spitzenjunge and its German-made lingerie challenging aesthetic standards and gender stereotypes by bringing the typical female underwear aesthetic into the male one, manufacturing briefs, boxers and tank tops with laces and satin fabric. The latter also launched the couple matching lingerie.
If there’s a moral to all this, it’s that the sexual experience origins in our head and from the listening of our needs and desires, and it’s a profoundly human experience; and that sex toys and all the products for erotic use are just objects that we can bring into our pursuit of pleasure to make the journey more exciting and fun.
