ABOUT

THE GREEN CONDOM STORY

In the summer of 2015, Gabrielle had a conversation with some friends about all the toxic chemicals contained in tampons and pads and the dramatic effect they have on womens' bodies. Then we stopped and wondered about men. Is there a product that men are exposed to regularly that may have a harmful effect on their bodies? The answer was, unfortunately, yes. Which product, you ask? Condoms. It turns out that condoms manufacturers do not report their ingredients, potentially harming people with allergies and encouraging a lack of transparency. We were horrified, so we set out to change that!

We began by distributing Ultra Glyde condoms through a subscription model, adding more sizes and the option to buy packs of 3 or 10 as the Green Condom Club grew in popularity. After several large B2B orders, we decided to find a manufacturer for our own brand! We went to visit a potential factory in February 2017. We officially started production of Green Condom Club branded condoms after we carefully vetted the manufacturer. It is important to us that we work with a supplier who shares our commitment to transparency with ingredients, manufacturing conditions, professionalism and strict respect of the international norms.

During the following 3 years, we grew the brand internationally and distributed the condoms in over 300 shops. We communicated both in the press and online about the importance of contraception and sexual health. However, it was hard to increase our reach because our social media accounts, ads and content repeatedly got banned, despite respecting the published guidelines around sexual information. This is unfortunately a common problem for products & services related to sexual health.

Then, the pandemic hit and condoms sales went down -40% across the industry. We were also affected. The remainder of the original Green Condoms production expired end of February 2022. For a while, we tried to produce another batch but with the significant shipping delays and manufacturing constraints, we didn’t manage to do it. In the meantime, we also started seeing other brands listing their ingredients, offering vegan options, and even using FSC-certified latex. We concluded our raising awareness about toxic chemicals in condoms worked and that this mission can now be carried by other actors in the industry. The blog and information about the brand remain and maybe we will pick this project up again one day!

We are proud to HAVE brought you the Green Condoms!