Visit any adult retailer and odds are you’ll find Blush Novelties products on the shelves. Founders and CEO and COO respectively, Verna Meng and Eric Lee have spent the last 15 years cultivating the brand’s focus on making consumer health, wellness and pleasure a top priority.
Early on, this husband-and-wife entrepreneurial duo vowed to stop at nothing less than perfection. Quickly recognizing that outsourcing manufacturing didn’t give them the control they needed, Meng and Lee revised their strategy. Lee recounted: “I said to myself, I'm going to go to China for the first time in my life and I'm going to open a factory with the help of some of my expat friends, and my business partner and wife, and we started our own factory.”
I immersed myself into ethical manufacturing, treating the people correctly, giving them a platform to learn and grow.
Lee continued, “I immersed myself into ethical manufacturing, treating the people correctly, giving them a platform to learn and grow. And it's been a 15-year journey, I learned everything about production, development, materials and electronics. I know that none of our Western peers has the understanding that I do. And it's helped propel our company.”
According to Lee, Blush’s two manufacturing facilities are what allows the company to keep MSRPs low.
“Since we’re cutting out one layer of middlemen, we're able to offer superior product quality at a better price at the end of the day,” he said. “I mean, why should things cost as much as they used to when this industry was a monopoly? It makes no sense to me. All right, so let's make it more affordable and of course make it safe, higher quality.”
Currently, Blush has over 1,200 products in 60-plus collections including the sustainable, eco-friendly Gaia line, and Noje, Aria and Luxe. Blush Sales Manager Nancy Cosimini notes that the internal mechanics in Blush’s vibrators have garnered recognition both within the industry and with consumers.
“One of the things I give Eric credit for are his motors that he created,” Cosimini said. “Whether it's battery-operated or rechargeable, they're powerful. And they have their unique, deep rumbly vibration. Like our Gaia Eco Bullet, it's strong. People are always like, ‘Oh, it's pretty, it’s eco-friendly and biodegradable.’ Then they turn it on and they're like, ‘Whoa!’”
Six years ago, Blush introduced Au Natural as the company's first realistic collection. Made from body-safe TPE, it features proprietary Sensa Feel dual-density technology. Cosimini explains, “They've got the firm inner core and they're soft and they feel good.”
According to the company, all Blush products go through independent lab testing to confirm that they meet international safety standards and contain only body-safe materials.
“Because we have the factory and are wanting to do it better, and wanting to offer a great quality product at a great competitive price, the demand continued to grow,” Cosimini said. “So in response, we started to build on the dildo collections.”
Blush’s dildo selection now includes Dr. Skin, Loverboy, Silicone Willy’s, Neo and the platinum-cured silicone Avant line. Blush says that currently dildo sales account for nearly 50 percent of the company's revenue. Looking to the future, Cosimini says, “We see this category continuing to grow. Between already offering body-safe material, which clearly is becoming more of a demand, and new, fun, different shapes, textures and looks to accommodate a wide array of people — we’re looking to that to add to the collection.”
Blush’s philosophy is “that all bodies are beautiful, worthy and deserving of celebration and pleasure.” The ultimate goal of providing safe tools for sexual liberation and empowerment is what drives Lee and Meng.
Summing up Blush’s company mission, Cosimini emphasizes that the passion she and the founders have for this business isn’t simply about setting sales records. While adhering to ethical business practices and providing body-safe products is non-negotiable, Blush’s true success is measured by its customers’ happiness.
“We're not just a sex toy company,” Cosimini said. “We've always been passionate about what we do and part of that passion is giving everybody the experience of having better pleasure in their life. We want to be known as one of those companies that helps achieve that and allows people to experience pleasure and feel good about themselves.”
Blush’s larger vision is to be a cultural change-maker by helping shift societal biases and stigma around pleasure. According to Cosimini, “Our legacy will be helping to contribute to the positive growth in healthy sexuality, helping to destigmatize great sex, self-pleasure and self-love. That's the foundation of a healthy person. Sex is a fundamental right, it’s another area that needs caring for and unfortunately, through the years, people have repressed that. We know what our industry is about — it's about recognizing what we need to take care of ourselves. And that's perfectly normal.”
