Kim Airs here, your intrepid pleasure products and sexuality specialist for over three decades and proud founding member of SWPA. As the Contributing Editor of Pleasure Products for the long running adult industry publication, AVN, here are my recent updates.
AVN puts on the world famous adult show held in Las Vegas every January. Yep. Itās one of the best jobs Iāve ever had, combining my skills of product knowledge and reviewing, a lifetime of retail, and networking, aka schmoozing. Iāve been sent around the world to adult product trade shows, meeting with exhibitors and international buyers to bring as guests to our show. I love it.
With every show, I see countless new products, meet new people, talk about how the global business is, and, of course, attend a bunch of parties.
Aside from having our amazing ANE show (our B2B show held concurrently with the large Adult Entertainment Expo), this year brought me to the API show in Shanghai, EroSpain in Barcelona, and most recently, EroFame, which moved this year from Hannover, Germany to the hoppinā spot of Amsterdam. The show was in early October and by all accounts, a success given the global economy, which was always an unavoidable subject of conversation.
Tariffs, sales, political climate ā three topics that no matter where you were from, always reared their ugly head. Of course, everyone mentioned the current US president and how he has single handedly impacted global trade, as well as where the tariffs land when it comes to determining shipping costs to anyone in the US.
Buyers were buying but more cautious before signing any purchase agreement, most likely doing the math for how much items would end up costing.
Yes, this was a constant topic but it still didnāt keep anyone from partying like it was 1999.
The general feedback was that the show was a cautious success, with many exhibitors and attendees hoping for stronger and better times ahead as the whole world faces the headwinds of the global business situation.
Letās all hope it changes soon to benefit us all in this crazy and always entertaining world of sexual health and wellness.
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Kim has been in this wacky business for over 30 years, opening New England’s first female and couples friendly sex toy store, Grand Opening! Kim has done everything in this business – sales at every level, product design, marketing, copywriting, consulting, training everyone from retailers to doctors and sex therapists to church ladies (true!) … you name it, she’s probably done it. Kim is passionate about this industry and dedicated to free speech, having served on the Board of Directors of the FSC (2003-05) and SWPA Board 2024-Present.
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