TENGA’s 15th Anniversary: A celebration lead by renewal
This July, TENGA is celebrating our 15th Anniversary! Aside from a few special sales, we’re also commemorating the occasion with the renewal of some of the brand’s most beloved and recognized products.
The last 15 years have been a crazy rollercoaster for TENGA (you only need to read our summary blog from Eddie to get just a feel of what we’ve achieved!) and it doesn’t look like we’re stopping any time soon! Since 2005 we’ve been striving as a brand to not only revolutionize sexual pleasure, but to break down taboos surrounding sexuality and masturbation among other topics. It’s difficult to really pin down all the achievements over the years, but here, as a pair of new eyes, I’ll try to give you all a break down of TENGA since our launch. Plus the added bonus of a look at some new (or should I say ‘re’ newed) products coming soon!
Back in 2005 TENGA started off in a humble rented house. The first floor served as the work area, one of the rooms on the second floor became the combined development room and makeshift warehouse, while finally, the second room was where our CEO, Koichi Matsumoto lived.
Work started early every day at 7 am and development rarely stopped before midnight.
In the evening, our CEO cooked dinner for all employees. The menu ranged from curry to char siu rice. The whole environment was close like a family, and all that work paid off when TENGA released their first products on July 7, 2005. The same day Tanabata is celebrated in Japan… a pretty appropriate birthday!
At the time in Japan, it was commonly said that “Adult goods would be a hit if they sold 5,000 a month”. TENGA recorded 1 million sales in a year. Talk about an overachiever!
It only took a couple of years before TENGA started receiving international recognition, partly thanks to the editor-in-chief of the Asian edition of Forbes when he saw TENGA at a variety shop in Japan and contacted him saying “This is amazing!”. The original article can still be read online today!
It also marked the year that TENGA started selling their products outside of Japan to an overseas audience for the first time, a relatively large step at the time. This was only the beginning of the TENGA brand, however. Next came wave after wave of innovative products.
2008 saw the birth of TENGA’s first reusable product, the FLIP HOLE. Our CEO wanted to create a product with multiple functions, being able to be used, washed, dried and easily stored. High reusability over a long period of time was a must too.
After repeated trial and error, he couldn’t quite come up with a design that worked and so the idea was temporarily shelved. Until one day he stumbled upon an idea that worked while working on another prototype! It wasn’t long before the recognisable hinged product was developed.
The TENGA EGG was also first released this year with the idea of creating a product that would be super easy to use. This particular product was the combined efforts of ideas from employees and even prototypes developed by those outside the R&D team. All of which culminated in the popular EGG being born!
In 2010 TENGA launched their Respect Yourself Project. This project sold the Original Vacuum CUP in collaboration with various participating brands on World AIDS Day on December 1st. All proceeds were donated to the AIDS Prevention Foundation. Although this project wasn’t launched outside of Japan, it continued through 2011 and 2012. For the global markets, this eventually became our continued collaboration with the TENGA x Keith Haring products, with a portion of the sales also being donated to the Aids Prevention Foundation.
This type of project also was only the beginning of what would become a concerted effort to help support causes such as our later efforts with Pride and our continued advocating for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
A perhaps little known fact about TENGA is that employees will often test new products, and will choose the best from a wide variety of prototypes.
For the TENGA 3D, there were a staggering 48 prototypes listed as final candidates. From there, it needed to be narrowed down to just a selection of five for release. Of course, all 48 prototypes were seen as good enough, but how do you make such important decisions?
By holding a tournament, naturally. Starting from the 48 qualifying models, the selection was painstakingly reduced down to the 12 best forerunners, and the “TENGA Tournament” proper began. In the case of the 3D, the stakes were even higher as the deadline was the next day.
By the morning of the day after the tournament, five had been selected, and it’s rumoured the ‘lucky’ tester employee ascended to a higher plane of existence.
TENGA released the special TENGA COOL Edition in 2012. A fun fact about the promotional shot seen above is that actual ice was used! TENGA COOL products were taken to a special warehouse and frozen for ice sculpting. In fact, the shot seen here features the eventual chosen carving out of many attempts to get that perfect aesthetic! Pretty cool, right?
The previously mentioned TENGA x Keith Haring collaboration finally came into fruition as well, with a prerelease that featured commemorative events held in the famous Times Square alongside huge outdoor banners!
It was in 2013 that TENGA birthed a new brand with iroha. The concept behind iroha was simple. A belief that the pleasure our bodies seek is something to be valued as a key element of self-care.
It’s a brand created by women, for women, to provide a fun, safe way to treat your body to the luxurious sensations it seeks. Much like TENGA, it aims to be a new beginning in pleasure for women. Even today iroha seeks to innovate the world of self-pleasure items for women with their Japanese inspired designs and products safe for both beginners and frequent toy users.
It’s only natural that on the 10th Anniversary of TENGA a lot of equally important events happened! The release of the PREMIUM TENGA (US & Asia only currently!), the Vacuum Controller, the TENGA SVR and even the HOT TENGA!
Initially, the PREMIUM TENGA was meant to be a limited edition item, however, it proved so popular with the premium quality and sensations that it still remains a continued product even now!
As for the Vacuum Controller, what better way to celebrate a decade of your original, flagship product than to add an additional upgrade! The TENGA Vacuum Controller allows the user to manipulate vacuum pressure inside any of the TENGA CUP Series items through a simple button-press! If you’ve ever wanted to take your TENGA experience to a new level, it’s a must.
The SVR was an interesting case, as TENGA wanted to bring out not only men’s items, but also items that couples could enjoy together. Many prototypes were created from the idea of “what kind of items would make a great couple’s item,” and after much research and experimentation, the SVR was brought into being!
Interestingly, early prototypes were much heavier than the SVR you can purchase today. In fact, in the employee usage test, it was said it felt like muscle training… luckily the weight issue was solved before sale.
2016 saw the release of another of TENGA’s most well known and popular products, the FLIP 0. The biggest feature of the FLIP 0 is the seamless insertion hole. By designing the hinge to be on the insertion port side, a more cohesive insertion is achieved. Instead of molding and assembling the interior structure separately for each part, the whole product is molded together.
Since the molding is performed while the hinge is open, the insertion opening comes out in a pretty odd looking oval shape. It took quite a few prototypes to perfect this, but TENGA managed it. It’s probably one of the reasons the FLIP 0 is as popular as it is, a lot of love and care went into this difficult design!
TENGA Healthcare was also launched, a company that currently only really operates within Japan but may be moving into the global limelight soon! Created to use the knowledge and expertise gathered within TENGA to help with sexual problems. This concept remains the primary concern of TENGA Healthcare with items to help with erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation amongst other issues.
Who would have believed that the FLIP 0 could have been improved on so quickly? And yet, with 2017 the release of the FLIP 0 EV came, providing the innovation of vibrating sensations to the already sensational FLIP 0. An impressive fact to know about the FLIP 0 EV is that it endured a durability test of 100,000 strokes. If any of you out there are happy to test that out yourselves then... well, just make sure to take care of yourself before and after!
2017 also saw the first of the RAINBOW PRIDE CUPs being released to the market, albeit only domestically for the first couple of years. The RAINBOW CUPs were produced in limited numbers each year, with part of the proceeds of the sales being donated to organizations and causes working to support sexual minorities.
Two more amazing products spun onto the scene in 2018… almost literally! The amazing TENGA SPINNER and the GYRO ROLLER! The TENGA SPINNER has ended up being a favorite of fans both in Japan and internationally, but it was a difficult road coming up with the swirly wonder. The biggest feature is obviously the spiral interior that creates the twisting sensation, but the development staff had to go through a lot of trials and errors to find the perfection of the current structure. Luckily, our R&D team triumphed again and the SPINNER was released!
As for the GYRO ROLLER, this marvel isn’t currently available for our global audience, but who knows what the future holds? TENGA has always strived to “create pleasure that people have never experienced.” The GYRO ROLLER provides just that through continuous rotation that is impossible via hands alone. With the GYRO ROLLER equipped to your CUP, you can freely and intuitively control the rotation direction and speed depending on the tilt angle. Maybe one day our international fans might get to see what we’re talking about.
As a brief, but very important aside, 2018 also saw the release of some of our cutest items; the TENGA ROBOs.
If you’re a fan of our SNS channels such as our Instagram and especially our Twitter, you may have already seen these sweet lil guys featured in some of our posts.
They still continue to feature in our posts and occasionally in other mediums outside the realm of SNS posts even today!
In 2019 TENGA and iroha decided to get physical. Not in that way of course, but with the opening of both a TENGA and an iroha store in department stores in Japan. This was a big step for the company, with products being previously only available through specific retailers and via our online stores. Now both TENGA and iroha have their very own physical locations to sell their own dedicated lines of products, have events, and more!
Finally, we’ve reached the current year of 2020. Of course, there is a lot that has happened in terms of global events this year alone, but TENGA has still continued persevering. Firstly, the TENGA GEO was released, with a stunning product video that featured a foggy atmosphere that seems reminiscent of a fantastic cloudy mountainous landscape. Actually, no CG was used at all, it was in fact created with about 800 GEOs and dry ice. Pretty mind-boggling when you think about it, so be sure to check it out!
The TENGA crysta has also been set free to the global market this year, combining functional form and design into one stunning product. Plus of course, we couldn’t finish without mentioning the EGG SHINY PRIDE EDITION, our first year-long Pride supporting product in all its colorful glory!
As for the future… is that all that you can expect from us? Certainly not! Even this year we have a few more tricks up our sleeves for both the TENGA and iroha lovers out there. As for the years to come? There are big plans in the works, there always are. Ever since the humble beginnings of designing from a single house, our R&D members have never stopped dreaming, never stopped designing. Keep your eyes peeled and look forward to what comes next!
-S
