9 minute read
ANME
If you didn’t make it to California for ANME in January, Tod Hunter is here to take you through some of the highlights, including details of the latest launches from some of your favourite industry names…
The normally flat landscape around the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport hotel is now punctuated by a plastic-covered nine-story geodesic dome: it’s a rehearsal hall for the Sphere in Las Vegas, a quick one-hour flight from Hollywood Burbank Airport across the street. The Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport hotel is the long time venue for the Adult Novelty Manufacturers Expo, a twice-yearly trade show for adult retailers to see and purchase wares. The January 2024 show is scaled down from years past, with only one tent installed next to the adjacent convention centre and the lobby-adjacent ballroom now functioning as the cafeteria and meeting area, with large round tables encouraging networking during meal breaks. The hotel’s elevator doors bear advertising signs for nearby Universal Studios, a family-friendly destination, so signs in the hotel’s public areas sternly warn ANME attendees that all business must be conducted on the exhibit floor.
An opening-night reception, sponsored by US adult news source XBIZ, had a pink theme, with attendees encouraged to wear pink, and pink food including salmon and a dessert fountain of pink chocolate for dipping fruit and marshmallows.
Meals are less elaborate and more snack-y than in years past, but they still serve the purpose of keeping attendees on-site and not leaving to eat elsewhere. Breakfast is pastries and coffee, or yogurt and fruit if you’re feeling healthy. It is California. One lunch featured submarine sandwiches and potato salad. Black-clad hotel employees cruise the lunchroom, on the lookout for abandoned plates and cups. Nothing gets past them.
California Dreaming
The main ballroom has its familiar layout, with CalExotics, Doc Johnson and Nasstoys occupying the centre and other companies arranged around the edges. CalExotics has added more than 160 new SKUs, including four new vibes to its California Dreaming silicone vibe line, director of marketing Nichole Grossman said. “This is the quintessential line for CalExotics. We also added a toy cleaner and a waterbased lubricant, so it’s good for cross-sells and upsells.”
The new vibes are petite styled: Sunset Beach Seducer has a suction feature; Manhattan Beach Marvel has a shallow thrust; Sacramento Sweetie has rotating beads; and Montecito Muse has an inflation feature. CalExotics Connect is a new line of six app-controlled toys including a cock ring, panty vibe, Venus Butterfly penetrative vibe, and G-spot and rabbit vibes. The Couture Body Wand kit has a powerful wand with a round head plus two attachments; Envy is a line of three hand-held massagers with finger rings to secure them to the hand; Charisma is a line of five deep-blue USB rechargeable wands; Mod is a line of five abstract shaped massagers in liquid silicone.
To commemorate the company’s 30th anniversary, CalExotics has made three new Jack Rabbit vibes, including one with a suction function. The Cheap Thrills line has added four new large strokers, and Girls Girls Girls are hand-held strokers, each with a moulded cavity like a female silhouette. Pop Sock is a line of four bright-coloured hand-held masturbators: two are reversible sleeves; two are ball-shaped, one open-ended, one closed.
Tantus has new silicone packers in three realistic skin tones and five jewel tones. New bondage ropes have tasselled ends and woven patterns “so they look good on any skin,” a company rep says.
Several people tell me “It’s good to see ETO is back.” Me too, pal. Me too.
Pastries and donuts
Lovehoney is doing tarot card readings at its booth. XR Brands has a shelf of BDSM teddy bears. XR is also offering pastries from local-favourite Porto’s Bakery, noted for its long queues and guava Danishes. This one-ups Satisfyer across the aisle, with its pink box from Randy’s Donuts, another local favourite that just opened a new shop nearby.
Satisfyer has added a new Penguin-shaped air pulse toy, and Orca, Cloud Dancer and Glowing Ghost air pulse/vibrators, as well as silicone, rose and rabbit vibes, vibrating rings, and tempered-glass insertables. Tenga now has plan-o-grams for its products, for easier merchandising for retailers.
The latest addition to the Magic Wand line, the Micro, became available in the US in October, Vibratex’s Eddie Romero said. Measuring 4” and weighing 3.5 ounces, it has seven speeds, is USB-C rechargeable and will run for 150 minutes when fully charged.
“Comparative to its size, it has great power and deep oscillation,” Romero added. “A really nice flexible neck. The head allows for broader coverage, unlike a more isolated bullet. It gives the user a little more coverage.” US MSRP is $64.95. European distribution is pending. Joey Teodoro, director of operations and sales at Shots Canada, points out a new point-of-sale dong display for the Real Rock line. “It educates the staff and also consumers going in the store.” The clear-plastic display holds five specimens so consumers unfamiliar with terms like ‘double density’ can compare and contrast the qualities of the different products. New packaging for high-ticket items from Shots sport clear windows under a flap that features informational text secured by a magnetic catch: “This is a vulva and breast pump. We actually put a lot of additional information in the packaging that allows the consumer to really be educated on the process, with instructions on how to use it. It’s easily accessible to anybody. It allows the consumer to be educated, it allows them to understand the actual use of the pump itself.”
What’s up, Doc?
Doc Johnson has set aside part of its area to look like a neighbourhood bodega for its cosmetic and edible products. There are two new iRide pleasure seats, Throb and Suck, named after their functions, with wireless remotes. Merci is a new electroplay rod, with a non-slip rubber grip. Doc Johnson is also distributing products from military gay line Fort Troff, including a metal ring covered in silicone with a magnetic segment that attaches for a solid fit, and a metal frame to hold a sex swing with a parabolic mirror so the person on the swing has a good view. Doc Johnson is also distributing products from OhMiBod, including Foxy, a Bluetooth-app controlled panty vibe, and Sphinx vibrating nipple clamps.
On the Doc Johnson display floor, performer Olivia Jay looks at the Signature Cock dildos moulded from male performers: “I worked with him, I worked with him, I worked with him... I’d like to work with him.”
The Doc Johnson swag bag — pink, with a pattern of sex toys in neat rows occasionally interrupted by a Doc Johnson logo — comes with a T-shirt and a collection of stimulation gummies, an energy drink, and enamel pins.
Several booths offer cannabis paraphernalia and products, reflecting the crossover in US adult retail to cannabis-oriented sales. Even Doc Johnson is offering CBD and THC-infused products.
Size matters
Milla Impola, marketing director at ONE Condoms, tells me that its My ONE line offers 52 different sizes, and has a handy paper measuring tape for users to determine their precise size: “Ten different lengths, nine different girths, in combinations.” She loads up my tote bag with condoms. At least one of them will fit precisely. Gay-oriented Oxballs has a new line of specialty jockstraps, with off-centre front seams for comfort and a loop in the back of the cup for support. A puppy-play jock comes with a selection of six different-coloured tags, and some have pockets in the waistband for a condom. A promo sign reads “If your dick is too big for this glory hole please contact Oxballs immediately,” epitomising the snarky and flirtatious Oxballs attitude. There are also new rings, and sheaths which come with plugs to fill the end if the wearer comes up short. I do a double-take as I see what appears to be a naked woman at the Sexual Desires booth. She’s a sex doll, 5’ 2” in height, with TPE skin over a stainless-steel skeleton. “It’s the perfect takeaway doll,” a company rep tells me. “It’s 65 pounds, just heavy enough that a single man can move her around and re-position her. The shops can sell her in three digits, $899, $999.” Not available in Europe yet, but distribution is planned before the end of 2024.
Nasstoys has new Glow Vibes, USB rechargeable 3.5-inch 10-function bullets with glow-in-the-dark designs: stars, hearts and marijuana leaves. The Erotic Play Kit has a rechargeable motor that plugs into three silicone attachments: a ring, a dual-prong clit teaser, and a G-spot insertable. All are in a sage green, with a matching blindfold. Anal Lovers Kit is a set of five small bright-coloured 3.25”-4” silicone probes; Clitastic is line of four silicone massagers, in stylised flower shapes; Cock Power is a line of 10-function USB rechargeable rings; one heats up, one is snap-adjustable, one has a scrotum ring, and one has vibrating textured wings that wrap around the scrotum.
QR codes are big on the display floor. You can scan a code and download a catalogue or register for the next ANME. CalExotics is offering its catalogue on paper, a book the size of a telephone directory, or on a miniature thumb drive smaller than a latchkey.
Doc Johnson has an all-purpose QR code that leads to a collection of links.
The next ANME Show is scheduled for 15th-17th July 2024. As with all ANME events, admission is restricted to professionals in the adult novelty field. For more information visit www.anmefounders.com
