The French have long prided themselves on their sexual prowess, but
a new breed of entrepeneur offering goods and services from
ethically-sourced condoms to recycling services for worn out
vibrators wants to take the eco-conscious to new heights of organic
ecstasy.
When he launched the first 100 percent organic "erotic cosmetics"
line two years ago, Frederic Donnat saw a gap in the market that
was "more interesting than the usual organic beauty products".
The owner of French firm Divinextases has since seen sales triple
to 450,000 euros (600,000 dollars) after refocusing his online
business to "eco-erotic" products, earning him a quality label from
France's national organic federation.
With eight products today, he hopes to introduce four new items
next year and is seeking to start exporting to "mature markets" in
Sweden and Norway, the 45-year-old told AFP.
From balms for buttocks left sore by a spanking session to intimate
perfumes, all Donnat's products are made in France with sustainable
materials from reputable sources. They use beeswax and shea butter
rather than palm oil and all are wrapped in recyclable
packaging.
"Take care in love" is the attitude at Laboratoires Claude, a
manufacturer of organic pills to be used "as a one-off or as
regular therapy, half-an-hour or an hour before" sex for heightened
pleasure.
Still "the only player" on the domestic market -- whose pills are
sold in pharmacies, organic stores and sex shops -- the brand wants
to diversify into aphrodisiac-laced tea and sugar, and to develop
its distribution network, company director Fleur Phelipeau told
AFP.
For 2014, Phelipeau is projecting a 300 percent increase in sales
thanks to customers who may be worried about the contents of
offerings from more traditional competitors.
"Eighty percent of the products on the market contain Viagra, which
can be dangerous for older men," she said, while reassuring
potential buyers that only organic plants are used in Laboratoires
Claude's capsules.
With supplies struggling to match this increase in demand,
Phelipeau will have to use manufacturers outside France for the
kind of plant extracts required, such as Peruvian maca, long used
by men in the Andes to boost libido.
Other brands are drawing in eco-conscious consumers with
initiatives to help forests.
British company French Letter sells carbon-neutral condoms made
from natural latex produced in sustainably-run forests.
Meanwhile the promise of French website arbredesplaisirs.com
(Forest of pleasure) to plant a tree in the Amazon rainforest for
every sex toy purchased is the big attraction. That, and the
recycling service for worn-out vibrators, of course.