Let’s set the mood. Swedish friends and former colleagues, Mattias Hulting and Peder Wikstrom are in Shanghai and Wikstrom is recounting the discomfort he felt when he entered a sex toy store in Sweden. They agree that existing sex toy establishments and their products do not accurately represent the respectable, strong women they know in their lives.
“The products were more for men to buy and use on women, rather than for women to buy for their personal pleasure,” said Hulting in conversation with The Peak.
So, he and Wikstrom formed Ramblin’ Brands to change the way women’s sexual wellness was approached and presented. Its first brand, Smile Makers, is a range of sexual wellness products made for women. The benchmark? “We have to feel comfortable showing [the products] to our mothers.”
Hulting also managed to pull off a coup: getting Watsons to stock Smile Makers’ products on its shelves. “It’s a combination of data and science. When you study the amazing effects orgasms have on mental wellness, and when the surveys show that women from their respective markets are open to trying the product, it is very hard to argue against it,” Hulting says.
At the same time, speaking as a male, he comments with a laugh, “the less we are involved the better.” Instead, Hulting and Wikstrom provide a platform for their team of passionate women to work on the products and concentrate on the business operations front. The mission is simple: normalising the female sexual wellness category in mainstream retail.
Grooming Rina Sim
Photography Tan Wei Te
Art direction Ashruddin Sani
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