Lovability is a company that designs, manufactures, and markets condoms, personal lubricant, and other sexual health & wellness products. Based in Los Angeles, the company has the stated mission "to empower women to take responsibility for their sexual health." The company sells a variety of premium products, including male condoms approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that are packaged in small tins designed to blend in with cosmetics and other items a woman might carry in her purse.
History
Lovability was founded in New York City in 2014 by the mother-daughter team of Pam and Tiffany Gaines. Tiffany, a 2012 NYU graduate with a degree in Social Entrepreneurship, was the company's initial president and CEO. Gaines was also a graduate student in the Design for Social Innovation program at the School of Visual Arts. Prior to starting Lovability, Gaines was a Corporate Innovations Consultant for Hyatt Hotels. Her mother Pam has thirty years experience as an entrepreneur. Gaines credits inspiration for the company and its product as a result of a personal experience. She explained that she was purchasing tampons at a convenience store in front of a group of men and that the tampons were located high on a shelf behind the register, next to the condoms, and the clerk had to retrieve an "orange-picking" claw to get them. This led to the idea to change the perception of condoms as a male-oriented product and to destigmatize their purchase and carrying by women. The result of this idea was condoms in gold wrappers that come in small tins that are more aesthetically appealing than traditional condoms and ideally less awkward for women to carry. The tins are designed to blending in with other women's products, such as cosmetics. Lovability's early leadership team primarily consisted of Tiffany Gaines and Claire Courtney. Tiffany and Claire united through their passion for safe sex. Tiffany had already been running Lovability for about a year when Claire reached out to her while she was working on her college thesis paper, "Pleasure in the Condom Industry." After Tiffany competed her Master's degree in Design for Social Innovation at SVA and Claire finished her undergraduate degree in Sexual Politics at Scripps College, they united in New York City to further Lovability's mission of bringing male condoms into the hands of women.
Ownership Change
In February 2019, Lovability was led by sexual wellness pioneer and inventor of The WaterSlyde, Maureen Pollack, Co-owners Kamini Sharma and John Paul Basile are former sports and entertainment senior executives with global expertise in brand-building, marketing, fan engagement, partnerships and events. Together, the three are committed to championing Lovability's values of women-focused innovations and the use of body-safe materials— as well as introducing innovative new products and sustainable packaging, and expanding distribution to make Lovability's empowering, sex-positive products more accessible than ever before.
Operations
The company has a multiple marketing and operational objectives that were laid out in a 2013 Forbes article. An eight-point plan was presented that includes:
Making condoms available for purchase in places that condoms aren’t typically available such as beauty supply stores, lingerie stores, department stores, and accessory boutiques
The use of packaging that is "chic, discrete, and resembles a high-end cosmetic product".
Promotion of condoms on college campuses to educate others on the importance of safe sex and use the product to raise money for their designated philanthropy.
In 2015, Lovability started a funding campaign on the crowd funding website IndieGoGo. In an article about the company and the campaign, it was noted that the condoms are vegan and sustainably produced and that "they’re also 100 percent natural latex and free of weird chemicals and additives." The campaign met its goal and had attained 184% of its targeted amount. In conjunction with the campaign, they produced a video based on testimony from individuals found in New York's Union Square to show why women are resistant to carrying condoms.
Outreach & Philanthropy
In January 2014 the company announced a program for sororities called the "Lovability Lady" Brand Advocate Program. The program allows sororities to purchase Lovability condoms at wholesale prices and sell them to promote condom use and safer sex in Greek communities, while keeping the profits for their sorority or designated philanthropy. The program is also available to other non-profit organizations and individuals to encourage women to participate in direct social action by providing condoms to their social circles.
In October 2013, Gaines spoke at a TED event at the School of Visual Arts, TEDxSVA.
In December 2013, Gaines and her company were interviewed and profiled on Forbes magazine's website.
In April 2014, Gaines was a guest writer on the website XoJane.com where she detailed her experience with Chase bank's initial refusal to do business with her company.
In January 2015, Upworthy featured a post about Lovability condoms and their effort to make condoms more female friendly while using fair labor and sustainable practices in manufacturing the condoms. The post also featured a link to their IndieGoGo campaign, which surpassed their original fundraising goal.
In March 2015, a story in the New York Post highlighted the company's use of Fair Trade materials in the production of its products.
Chase bank
In 2014, the company was initially rejected by Chase Paymentech services "as processing sales for adult-oriented products is a prohibited vertical" and was told that it was a "reputational risk" to process payment for condoms. Gaines then started a petition to ask Chase to review and change its policy of classifying condoms as an "adult oriented product". The petition gained 3,400 signatures in its first week. The bank later reversed its decision and invited Gaines to submit an application citing that it was already doing business with a "wide variety of merchants, including grocers and drug stores, that sell similar products." Gaines stated that she does not plan to use Chase Paymentech's services until she feels confident that no other condom companies will face the resistance that she did.
