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because the bottle is leaking. “Withpump dispensers, there often tend tobe drops coming out long after you’vepressed them. Therefore, we use patented ball-valve dispensers,” IngoSchantz explains. That means: no leaking, no dripping. And it is not onlyan advantage for the consumer, butalso for the producer. After all, some ofthe other companies in this segmenthave already been faced with lawsuitsbecause their lubricants leaked and theconsumers slipped on it. “What’s mostimportant to us, however, is that theconsumer has the product ready whenever he needs it. In the midst of heated love play, all the consumerneeds is a second or two to get thebottle out of their bedside cabinet anduse it. It’s love at first click, if you will.Everything else would not make sense.Not to us, at least.” What is equally important is that the user need not fearany negative side effects. Perfect safetyand the optimal lubricating effect arewhat Karch and Schantz are striving for.This means that only those proceduresand ingredients are used that can liveup to the latest standards of quality.“We do not use any kind of cyclic sili-cone. We want to ensure that it is abso-lutely safe for every consumer to useour products,” Karch explains. “Apartfrom the ethical obligation, this modusoperandi also has a positive side effectfor us. After all, if a consumer is per-fectly happy with a product, it is very likely that he will buy it again. Andagain.” But whether a product becomesa success or a failure is decided not inthe production facility, but in the stores.And it is actually of secondary impor-tance whether this store is down at thecorner or on the Internet, as Karch continues. “What it boils down to isthis: No matter where the customerbought it, our product will eventuallyend up in his home. Where he lives.Therefore, most people will not buycheap, trashy products that emanatethis air of shoddy pornography.” That isalso the reason why such great store isset by clever, classy designs, the imageof the brand, and the label. IngoSchantz agrees with his partner: “Pornographic labels and this back-alleyimage are remnants of the past decade,and although you still find them in

stores, they will eventually vanish altogether.” What customers want inthe 21st century, he adds, are strong,successful brands that distinguish them-selves through quality, brand recogni-tion, design, and image. Meaning that,the very moment the consumer seesthe product on the shelf – or on theweb page of an online shop –, he willknow that it is superior in quality anddefinitely worth its money. “Social andsocietal circumstances force many people to go with second-rate productssometimes. They have to make compro-mises, but we feel that they should nothave to, at least not when it comes toimportant issues such as their ownbody, their sexual independence andself-determination, the realisation oftheir sexual desires.”Schantz and Karch also have a sharedopinion of the lubricant market - andshared criticism for some of the marketplayers: people who are copying othercompanies’ products and then stretchtheir financial muscles to give these rip-off products a veneer of originality andquality by way of elaborate marketingcampaigns, who manipulate and bindtheir business partners through rigorous pricing. “And if they do notsucceed that way, if their usual array oftools to basically bind their businesspartners are not enough, they bringout the heavy ordnance: sending theirpartners on an exotic vacation or besto-wing upon them other amenities of

one sort or another. And, sadlyenough, it works, strengthening theweb they have woven around theirpartners, basically driving them intoa state of dependence,” Karch illu-strates. Would he ever resort to suchmeasures if push came to shove? No,he says, never. Not only would hissense of work ethics forbid any suchpractices, he is also convinced thatthis kind of strategy could never last.Before long, he predicts, these com-panies will have to rethink the waythey operate or otherwise they willfind themselves, their products, andtheir strategy becoming virtually ob-solete. “I have learned many thingsin all the years, and one of them isthat, in order to be successful, youhave to be absolutely honest and to-tally committed. And this includes anethical code of conduct. That is alsothe reason why we use not only ourminds, but also our hearts to guideus in our work. This has never beenas easy as it is today, but at the sametime it has never been as difficult.”Their success proves them right. Andeven in tough times such as these,when there is such a strain on themarket and the industry, they seemmore than prepared for the future.“As a matter of fact, we are kind oflooking forward to seeing the nextrip-offs appear on the market. We arenot scared. After all, in the end qua-lity will prevail!” •

”In order to be successful, you have tobe absolutely honest and totally committed.” Thomas Karch

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