Indie beauty conversation with Royal

16 Nov 2021 --- Sexual wellness and body care brand Royal is taking its body wash, body wipes, lubricant, lotion and condoms into US retail stores. We talked to the brand’s founder Neil Mehta on the lightbulb moment that led to the creation of the healthy intimacy company, the influences behind its range and the brand’s plans for the future.

What was your inspiration behind launching Royal?

The idea for Royal was planted long before it grew into a business. I was living in New York City, studying for my Master’s in Public Health and - like many other students in their 20s - dating. One night, my girlfriend pulled out an apple-flavored condom, the likes of which I had never seen or heard of before. 

Click to EnlargeSource: Royal.When we opened it, it had a nasty industrial and waxy artificial “apple” smell. It was appalling, but it was the only form of protection we had at that moment, so we used it anyway. Condoms are condoms, right? Wrong. My partner had an adverse reaction to the condom, which neither of us was expecting because she wasn’t allergic to latex. It blew my mind that condoms could be so terrible. Weren’t they supposed to keep us safe? So, it got me thinking, what do we really know about the products we’re using in such an intimate way?  

I couldn’t shake this question for years after this experience. While in school, I participated in projects related to evaluating and analyzing sexually transmitted disease (STD) and sexually transmitted infection (STI) outcomes among various demographics in New York. I researched and surveyed condom users, which gave me a deeper understanding of sexual health and allowed me to cross-reference my own struggles with condoms to identify better solutions for an industry that hadn’t changed in decades. 

Then, things clicked. I was at a family barbeque in Dayton, Ohio when I found out that someone I knew manufactured condoms. I thought back to the unfortunate incident in New York and knew that this was an opportunity to change the condom industry for good.

What was missing from the sexual hygiene market that you sought to fill with Royal?

There is no brand out there that provides healthy and inclusive products that cater to the entire sexual wellness spectrum. The purpose of Royal is to provide products for everyone that are healthy and made with your body’s health in mind. Our mission is to be your one-stop shop for everything sexual-health-related.

What are consumers demanding from their sexual hygiene products and brands in today's market?

Click to EnlargeSource: Royal.The customer has become much more knowledgeable and aware of what makes products healthy for them. Now more than ever, consumers are demanding sexual wellness brands be more transparent and body-conscious when it comes to products they develop. Most big brands in this category haven’t caught on whereas we are focused on providing full transparency with all the ingredients we use.

Secondly, consumers are demanding that products be more inclusive. Sexual hygiene and wellness cannot be a one size fits all approach. We focus on the entirety of how each person could use and benefit from our products. This has allowed us to innovate and design products that can outmatch the competition. 

How is Royal responding to these with its range?

From a health perspective, all of our products are made from all-natural ingredients and are vegan friendly. They do not include ingredients that are harmful to the body or environment. Additionally, everything we make from the ingredients, design and branding is non-binary so everyone feels comfortable using our products. 

What did the process of creating your range involve from conceptualization through to commercialization?

First, we had to get our Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in order to produce and sell our condoms. From there, we expanded to lubricant, body wipes, body wash, and lotion. 

We launched each product with the intention to cater to all different aspects of the sexual health experience in addition to being complementary to one another. 

What were the greatest challenges to achieving your vision for Royal?

Our biggest challenge was consumer trust. Consumers are risking their body health when it comes to sexual wellness products (i.e., STD/STIs, pregnancies, etc.,) so they usually stick to the brands they ‘think’ they know. So for us, it was important to not only advocate for better products but to educate the consumers on our products to develop that trust.  

What are the biggest opportunities that you foresee?

I see opportunities to continue to develop products that cater to the overall sexual experience and to educate consumers on sex and products they may know little about.

Can you tell me about your move into US stores? How did this opportunity come about and how do you hope to impact the sexual hygiene space?

We brought on a strategic investor to help guide us through the retail space. Shelf space in the ‘family planning’ section is very limited and dominated by a select few, so we needed someone who could help us pitch the retailers because we only had one chance to get placement. We hope to upgrade a category that has gone unchanged for decades. 

In most other retail categories, you are finding brands that are developing products for the before, during, and after experiences and presenting them to the customer in a cohesive way. We hope to do the same in order to impact the sexual hygiene category.

What are your short and long-term hopes and goals for Royal? Do you have any other exciting plans to share?

Short term we plan to integrate into more retail stores while also increasing our online presence. Long term we plan to launch more products and expand into digital content creation covering sexual wellness and body care, to educate consumers.

By Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe, BPC Insights Senior Journalist