Sexual innovation is here. Fifty years after the start of the revolution that unshackled sex from 
matrimony, there is a product that is unshackling sex from sex. L., an environmentally conscious and female-friendly condom, is disconnecting sex from garish Greek battlefields and plugging it into love, female empowerment and awareness about AIDS in Africa.
Launched by California photojournalist Talia Frenkel in mid 2010, L. is among the first woman-run condom enterprise that sells all natural male condoms for women. “Stand in front of any condom display and all the packaged products are targeted for men,” the gregarious LA-based Frenkel says. And that, she says, “makes it an uncomfortable place for women to be.” Uncomfortable didn’t reflect her belief of “what sex is or should be.”
Interestingly, Frenkel’s idea was inspired, not in the condom aisle, but in the developing world where she spent time photographing HIV patients for various non-profits. Working for the Red Cross, people recognized the organization’s red symbol and often asked her if she had a condom. That’s when she learned that there was little access to condoms in places such as Haiti and much of Africa. Given the tremendous emphasis about using condoms to prevent the spread of disease, this shocked her. “The people I came across understood that they should use it.”
To close this condom gap, in which, according to the U.S. office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, nine out of 10 African countries goes without condom supplies for more than two months, Frenkel reached out to Direct Relief, a global health non-profit, to arrange for the delivery of condom, starting in Uganda. Though Uganda has a high prevalence rate of HIV infections, it is also a beacon in the fight to prevent AIDS. But the more she learned about the condoms she was eager to get into African hands, the more she was disturbed.
Condoms, Frenkel discovered, are mostly treated with harsh and toxic chemical that are harmful to women. “Most were not natural,” she says. To fix that, she contacted various manufacturers to see if any would be willing to use raw materials that were glycerin and paraben-free. A company in Thailand agreed. Then she set out to build an enterprise that would sell these natural condoms while also ensuring its availability in Africa.
“My boyfriend and I were driving down Wilshire Blvd (in Los Angeles). I was telling him about my frustration,” she says. Somehow the one-for-one model got mentioned. “We started laughing at the idea that you could buy a condom here (in the States) and someone in Africa would get one. It’s the TOMS shoes model.” The more Frenkel thought about it, however, the more it made sense. There was huge opportunity to recreate how condoms were produced, branded and sold in the United States and, at the same time, close the condom gap in the developing world.
L., Frenkel believes, is that opportunity. Packaged in a sleek-design with bold and classy Helvetica typeface, it is a condom by subscription. For the time being that is the way Frenkel is able to launch the enterprise that has been bootstrapped with over forty thousand dollars of personal finances and the generosity of family and friends. “I’m in the process of talking to investors in order to expand operations,” she says. That will be key. Manufacturing condoms from natural ingredients and sold in smartly designed packaging that can compete with the large-scale producers such as Durex and Trojan will require capital. Frenkel is confident.
Her condoms went on pre-sale over her website, Love Begins With L. last month. Already she’s received orders from all corners of the country. Her first order run is half a million condoms. She’s expected to ship her first packages in spring 2011. “I expect 1.7 million condoms to be sold this year,” Frenkel says. Her projection is based on the high-level of interest from women eager for skin-sensitive condom options, couples attracted to her subscription model and socially-conscious American college campuses who have rallied behind her one-for-one socially-conscious message “the more love you make the more lives we save.”
While saving lives in Africa is Frenkel’s guiding principle, she hopes that L. condoms will finally catch up to reflect what she believes is today’s view of sex. ”We’re appealing to the modern consumer – both men and women- who want a product that aligns with their values: sexually, socially and environmentally.” Happy Valentine’s Day.
