Each year, promising new indie brands enter the pleasure industry with fresh, creative designs meant to enhance intimacy, wellness and self-discovery. Some are embraced by retailers and shoppers, while others fade quietly.
What makes the difference?
The brands that leave a lasting mark do so by balancing creativity with discipline, excitement with responsibility, and ambition with patience.
The first two years of a company’s life are formative. That’s when ambition and hard work collide with the industry’s operational and strategic realities. When a brand fails to gain traction, it usually isn’t because the idea behind the brand lacks value. More often, it is because those realities caught the entrepreneurs off guard during that crucial period.
This article will outline some of those key realities, along with strategies for how new brands can navigate them.
Clarity: Why Are You Here?
One of the first misconceptions many founders have is that success hinges on a single big moment that brings quick visibility, such as a viral social post, a celebrity endorsement, or an influencer campaign. The truth is, while social media can accelerate awareness, just being noticed doesn’t lead to lasting success.
In the pleasure industry, making a memorable first impression rarely depends on volume or spectacle. It comes from clarity.
Retailers and distributors receive hundreds of product pitches each year. The brands that stand out quickly communicate three things: what problems they solve, whom they are built for, and why they belong in the “now.”
At trade shows and distributor previews, where new brands compete for attention amid busy show floors and tight schedules, clarity becomes even more crucial. Some of the most successful launches I’ve seen weren’t the loudest but the most focused, featuring a well-designed product with a clear target audience, thoughtful packaging and a genuine brand story.
Channel Surfing: DTC or B2B?
Another area where new brands often face a learning curve is understanding the distinct roles that direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels play in shaping a business. DTC and B2B operate very differently.
DTC can be incredibly powerful in the early days of a brand. It allows founders to tell their story directly, experiment with messaging, and connect with their audience without intermediaries. However, DTC also requires ongoing marketing investment, continuous content creation, and customer acquisition strategies that can quickly become costly if not carefully managed.
Wholesale, meanwhile, generally requires operational discipline, reliable inventory, transparent pricing structures, retail training and the ability to consistently support partners across multiple markets, often at the local level.
Both channels are important, but they deliver different returns on investment and create distinct operational pressures for a young company. Brands that recognize these differences early are often better positioned to balance growth with sustainability.
The Power of Retail Partnerships
Retail partnerships continue to be a powerful force shaping the pleasure industry. Specialty retailers, in particular, occupy a unique position in the market. For many shoppers, these stores are where curiosity turns into confidence. Knowledgeable staff help people navigate questions about products, bodies and experiences in ways few other settings can.
For a new brand, gaining space in that environment is about much more than shelf placement. It is an opportunity to support and benefit from the retailer’s relationship with their customers — your end users.
Companies that succeed in retail understand this dynamic. They invest in product education and ensure staff can clearly explain what makes their products unique. They communicate regularly with buyers and sales teams and act as partners rather than mere vendors.
That level of collaboration often determines whether a brand becomes a long-term fixture in a retailer’s selection or a short-lived experiment.
The Devil in the Details
Unsurprisingly, product development is the most visible expression of a brand. After all, design, materials and functionality are what users experience most directly.
Behind every successful product, however, lies an entire framework of operational details that are often overlooked in the early stages. Manufacturing standards, regulatory compliance, logistics, packaging design and requirements, and pricing structures all influence whether a product can move smoothly through distribution and onto retail shelves.
Over the years, I’ve seen beautifully designed items struggle simply because the operational side of the business wasn’t prepared to support or adapt to growth. Shoppers may never see those layers, but retailers and distributors definitely do. That readiness often comes down to having the right partners in place, realistic production timelines, a clear understanding of the regulatory landscape, and the internal discipline to scale without compromising consistency.
Pacing Innovation
In the excitement of launching a company, it can be tempting to release product after product in hopes of capturing attention and quickly increasing visibility. But introducing too much newness too soon can weaken an emerging brand’s identity and overextend operational capacity.
A thoughtful approach to innovation is often more effective. When each new release builds on the brand’s existing story, retailers have time to understand the product line, and shoppers develop familiarity. Depth often matters more than sheer volume.
Sharing Knowledge, Building Trust
Opportunity in this space relies on trust: from shoppers, retailers and the partners who help bring products to market.
In a sector where shoppers are often curious yet hesitant, brands can build deeper trust by investing in education. Pleasure products are part of a broader conversation about bodies, relationships and personal well-being. Whether through retailer training, thoughtful content, or collaboration with advocates, educators and influencers, education remains one of the most powerful ways a brand can stand out in sexual wellness.
Building that kind of trust with both shoppers and retail partners often outlasts any single marketing campaign.
Listen and Learn
Today, owners and operators can go from concept to market more quickly than ever — thanks in part to the growing accessibility of private-label manufacturing. For some, private label can be a practical starting point, offering a way to test positioning, build relationships with retailers, and learn the mechanics of the industry.
Achieving long-term brand equity, however, usually requires that founders spend a brand’s formative first years intensely listening, learning and refining their approach. Ultimately, this is the most important lesson a new brand can learn.
Those first two years are when the foundation is laid. That is when owners begin to understand the nuances of distribution. They learn how retailers approach category placement and pricing. They hear directly from consumers about what resonates and what needs improvement.
Companies that succeed are those that approach this stage with patience and curiosity rather than urgency.
Launching a product is a significant milestone. Building a lasting brand requires a completely different mindset. The brands that leave a lasting mark do so by balancing creativity with discipline, excitement with responsibility, and ambition with patience. Those are the companies that move beyond a promising launch and become part of the long-term fabric of the industry. They become the brands retailers trust, customers return to, and the next generation of founders quietly study as they begin their own journey.
Ian Kulp is Je Joue’s head of global wholesale and brand.
