Manufacturer News


Update 6/27/09WOW. I mean…wow.  With this email response (MissKissThis has affirmed it is genuine and offered to forward it to yours truly) DW just managed to cram their other foot in their mouth. Right now, to use an easily visualized parlance, they are potentially like a marketing snake that has unhinged their jaw to make room for all the feet in it.

Timeline:

Oh, Don Wands…

I love you guys – your glass is great, and I’m even willing to overlook the fact every single one of your plush glass dil bags has uber shitty draw strings and smells like it was used to mop up the floor of a head shop*.  Moreover, your glass is AFFORDABLE, which is a big plus.

However, all my DW luv just made reading this harder to bear. Courtesy of Epiphora of “Hey Epiphora” sextoyblogfame: Girl tries vibe, girl dislikes vibe. Girl writes about dislike of said vibe. Vibe makers then post a comment of the variety that can only be described as facepalm marketing.

*Don Wands is a part of Glow Industries, which sell incense, posters, “tobacco” pipes, and other stoner necessities. These share a warehouse, which leads to the plush glass dildo bags always smelling distractingly like cheap patchouli.

One of the things I noticed when I first got into the industry was that there were a lot of awesome companies that didn’t get the exposure they deserved. A company shouldn’t be punished for devoting more time to the product than the website, so I’d like to even the balance a bit. I’ve had the pleasure of working personally with some of the companies below, in one way or another.

If you’re a buyer, a writer, or even a blogger, you owe it to yourself to check out some of these places and see what they have to offer. If you’re looking for the “big guys”, I’ll mention them at the very end, but only for the sake of being thorough. They get more than enough exposure!

Guide: When “***” appears after a name, it means they only have a few products made out of that material, but that those are of enough quality to have the company make the list.

***If you are a retailer and end up using any of these manufacturers, I would GREATLY APPRECIATE if you mentioned that you found out about their company through my blog.***

Ceramic and Stone:

  • Goldfrau – “Exclamation Point” shaped ceramic dils with gorgeous art-nouveau and solid color designs.
  • JT’s Stockroom *** – A few noteworthy large black stone offerings.
  • Lovemoiselle – Ceramic dils with simple, pretty floral patterns, as well as some with vibrating cores.
  • Luxotiq – Semiprecious stone dildos, cockrings, and anal beads.

Glass:

  • Don Wands – Inexpensive basic designs. (Caveat: Their pouches always smell like incense/head shop)
  • Phallix – One of the higher priced companies, has all sorts of designs, including dichroic and 24k fumed.
  • Pyrexions – USA made company with attractive hand-made designs.
  • RubyGlass21 – USA made, very inexpensive, some 24k gold fumed designs, amazing customer support.
  • Xhale Glass – Mid-price range, 24k gold designs, good customer support.

Leather

  • Achella – Full range of USA handmade leather items – crops, canes, whips, floggers, etc.
  • Aslan – Canadian company with fantastic harnesses. GLBT and Vegan-friendly offerings. Great customer service.
  • Axovus – Raver light up/techno themed BDSM offerings that go from club to bedroom play with ease.
  • JT’s Stockroom – The definitive source for all things kinky. In-house kinklab line is sleek and attractive.
  • Leatherbeaten – Canadian company with great quality offerings, including a great belt-into-cuffs design.
  • Oubliette Leathercraft – USA based ETSY store with pretty stamped and printed leather.
  • Outlaw – Seattle based company, long considered a go-to for quality leather harnesses.
  • Ruff Doggie Styles – NY based company, cute and playful designs for light and beginner bdsm-ers.
  • Spartacus – USA company, nipple clamps out the wazoo, along with anything else you can imagine.

Metal:

  • Big Teaze – Makers of, most famously, the “I rub my duckie”, their new daido metal line is well-liked.
  • Elemental Pleasures – Made by two former aircraft-makers, titanium toys that come with cases.
  • Gear Essentials – High quality stainless steel cock rings, packaged in nice tins. Various engraved patterns.
  • Jimmyjane – Pioneers of the metal vibrator, their cigar-shaped $$$ flagship product has a replaceable motor.
  • Luxotiq*** – Their wavy aluminum dildo and butt plug come in a pretty satin-lined box.
  • Miko *** – Their teardrop-shaped pretty plugs feature a large sparkling faux gem in the base.
  • Njoy – Synonomous with metal sex toys, often imitated but never duplicated. Must have for any store.
  • Steel Vineyards – Famous for “G-Pops” – spheres of metal or semiprecious stone on long rods for insertion.
  • Vergenza – Spun aluminum toys, made in the USA.

Positioning Toys

Sex Toy Storage

Silicone:

Vegan Friendly BDSM

Wood:

The Big Guys (Corporations that collectively make most of the mass-produced toys)

Condom Manufacturers

Lubricants


Pardon me while I finish hyperventilating into a paper bag.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am something of a crazed ferret when it comes to new toys, and anything thusly related. New concepts are my addiction, doubly so in the sex toy industry universe. I scour the trade mags, keep one ear to the ground, and gab with anybody who will stand still long enough about the latest and greatest to hit the scene.

Vixen Creations has ever so kindly allowed me to tap directly in to one of the neatest silicone manufacturers out there. They send me amazing little boxes o’ new stuff, stuff that hasn’t hit the market yet, that I mount on my desk with all the pride of a cheetah that just bagged a gazelle.

‘cept I never have to leave my desk, the gazelle is a rather disinterested UPS man, and I’m wearing sweatpants no cheetah would be caught dead in.

ANYhoo. The latest box of joy landed on my doorstep this afternoon, and I’m starting to get a pavlovian vagina-twinging response to Vixen’s return address on package labels. Mmm. I carefully cut open the box (Silicone has no natural enemies in the wild, save for other silicone and sharp knives) and immediately pulled out a hefty fistful of shimmering teal and deep navy squishy goodness. I puzzled for a second, then the lightbulb went off…this was THE concept toy I had been so thoughtfully informed of awhile back. The JESTER!

The basic gist of it? Hitachi = good. Double Dildos = awesome. Silicone = OMGyes. Put them together and your TTC here is trying not to physically ricochet off the walls with joy. I held it up, hummed the triforce theme from zelda, and was rewarded with a rather annoyed and quizzical look from my cats. The rabbit, to her credit, continued to eat hay and avoided eye contact with the increasingly erratic tall-thing-that-brings-lettuce.

The Jester is 11 1/2″ long, unbent, and about 4″ tall. The shorter dildo is 4 1/2″ long when bent straight, 4 1/2″ in circumference at the widest insertable point, and is pleasantly textured into three sections. The longer dildo is, I believe, based on the Raquel model (a favorite, incidentally, of Ms. Essin Em’), and is 6″ long when bent straight, 5 1/4″ in circumference at the widest insertable point, and has a nice bulbous head.

The center takes a hint from the super-sexy Off With Your Head cap, incorporating three pronounced ridges for all sorts of fun applications. The main idea, if I’m guessing right, is to turn the hitachi head side down, slide on the cap (with a little water-based lube around the inside edges for easy on and off!) and insert one or both stems in willing partner(s). Vixen Creations has even thoughtfully shaped in a protruding nubs on the base at each side for clitoral stimulation during penetration!

Tipping the scales at just over a pound of luscious, boilable, body-friendly silicone, this super sweet hitachi cap resembles it’s namesake, and is just full of shimmery beauty. I love it. A lot. Like, a whole lot.

-TTC

So I discovered an AWESOME silicone company that manufactures here in the US.

Thankfully, I rooted them out *after* I left youknowwhere, so they will be deprived of the bitchin’ toys this company puts out. Would it be vindictive to make exclusion of the aforementioned a qualification of becoming this company’s liaison to the industry? Hmmm. Have to think on that.

ANYhoo – think f-l-e-s-h-l-i-g-h-t, but in silicone. Think of a pure silicone double dildo. Think of amazing penisy shapes made in dual density. Mmm. I know I do.

-TTC

Looking for a good silicone company? Here are the ones that I, personally, think are tres bitchin and worth a looksee.

For Dildos and “removable bullet” style vibrators:

Vixen Creations
Tantus Silicone
Jollies
Happy Valley
Whipspider RubberWorks
Rocks Off
Downunder Toys

For “regular” vibrators:

Fun Factory
Feelztoys

For caps for the hitachi:

Nexus (Update 6/2009 – Sadly, it looks like Nexus discontinued both their G-Pod & Tri-Pod Caps. Boo!)
Downunder Toys
Vixen Creations

-TTC