Celebrating 20 Years of Lovehoney

So, where did it all start?

Born in Bath and established in 2002 by co-founders Richard Longhurst and Neil Slateford, what once started as a third-party online marketplace for all those intimate bedroom essentials, swiftly turned into a multi-million pound enterprise of sex toy innovation.

In 2005, Lovehoney acquired our first license and launched a line of our own brand products in collaboration with world renowned sex expert, Tracey Cox. For nine whole years, Lovehoney was predominantly a UK business alone, until we rebranded as the ‘Sexual Happiness People’, celebrating our success with the launch of our US retail site in 2011.

From there, we carried the Lovehoney Brand all the way to Australia in 2013, followed by France and Germany just one year later.

And it seems, we gained an accolade from Her Majesty, the Queen, too, collecting the Queen's award for enterprise in 2016.

Maybe that was just what we needed to stretch our ambitions even further, expanding our Lovehoney online presence to reach consumers across the world. In 2017, we officially unveiled our EU and NZ web domains and the rest they say, is history.

Today, as the Lovehoney Group, we’re the world’s leading sexual happiness company and now we ship thousands of discreetly packaged parcels right around the globe each week.

But as our journey has evolved, thankfully, so have our products…

Out with the old, in with the new

Back in the day, it was all about our Deluxe Silver Seducer Classic Bullet, and we were raving about Twist ‘n’ shake suction vibe with clitoral stimulator – a pearl-filled body with tingling vibrations, rotations and adjustable rhythm for extra kick. Unsurprisingly, neither of these two bad boys made it to our ‘Best-Sellers’ hall of fame, but many more since, have certainly earned their accolade.

We’ve got butt plugs and anal beads, prostate massagers, nipple clamps, penis pumps and so much more. Although, with a catalogue full to the brim with sex toys a-plenty, the challenge will be choosing which one to try first.

Care to take a look through our sex toy archives? Scroll to see some of our older Lovehoney classic sex toys!

A love for lingerie

It’s not all about sex toys at Lovehoney, we also have passionate love for lingerie. In 2014, we designed and launched our very first lingerie line, catering for a predominantly female consumer-market. Over the years, we’ve perfected the fine art of lingerie design and have customized many of our lines to be more inclusive.

We work around the clock crafting exciting collections in stunning new materials, as well as underwear for men, costumes for roleplay and so much more. In 2016, we picked up our first UK Lingerie Award and were named Britain’s Favourite Lingerie Retailer, reigning champion over some of our biggest competitors. Three cheers to us, please!

Earlier this year, we got closer to Lovehoney Lingerie to find out more about how we bring our lingerie collections from concept to creation.

What exactly do we hope to achieve from designing and manufacturing our award-winning lingerie? We’re glad you asked.

“Lovehoney Lingerie is designed to make the wearer feel confident and empowered, sexy and provocative. It’s about celebrating yourself, and knowing you are looking and feeling fierce.” – Head of Lingerie.

Let’s get chatty

With our Lovehoney customer base growing rapidly across the world, it made perfect sense to launch our infamous Lovehoney Forum. In 2008, we opened the door for you to get up close and personal with us. Over a mutual fondness for sexual wellness, intimacy, sex toys, bondage, lingerie and much more; the conversation has been flowing ever since.

Today, in 2022, our Lovehoney forum is a staple route for staying connected with our customers – and you guys are certainly a chatty bunch, keeping forum moderators busy with your personal stories and anecdotes.

"What once was a rather quiet discussion place for our frequent few is now an open platform bursting with incredible advice from people all across the globe, seeing an average 10,000 posts in any given day!" – Brenna, Forum Moderator.

But we love it too, using our popular forum as a way to collect sex toy reviews, opinions and feedback – so that we can keep on giving you the good stuff you love.

First position!

Ah, the infamous Position of the Week feature – there’s no denying that come the dawn of each new week, we’re mutually anticipating which acrobatics we’ll be trying out next.

If you’ve been following us a while, you may have already compiled a list of your favourites, but here’s a few of our own if you’re still looking for a little inspiration…

Read all about it...

Tell our content team that it’s time for a new blog release and you’ll see ‘em hyped up like a kid in a candy store. They just love it. The Lovehoney blog was initially founded in 2004, and only then the occasional post or news share, but as the years have passed by we’ve spread our wings and now publish regular content across all our sites.

But more than this, it’s what we publish that really matters, from keeping things light and fun with our festival-inspired look books, cringe confessions and sex toy history to our more educational pieces on the effects of menopause and endometriosis and how to be a better LGBTQ+ ally to our friends. Our advice guides are an evergreen staple for those thinking to venture into something new.

Looking for new reading material? Head to our blog page to enjoy our latest topics.

A fine partnership

What happens when two two hugely successful global sexual pleasure brands come together to create something truly exceptional? You get a Lovehoney X Wowtech Merger, of course! In August, 2021, we made global headlines when we announced our official collaboration, creating the world’s largest sexual wellness company.

Now, as the Lovehoney Group, we have operations across EMEA, APAC and North America with an employee count of well over 700. The Lovehoney Group also includes Amorana, a Swiss sexual well-being retailer acquired by Lovehoney in September 2020.

Home is… where the office is

With the Lovehoney Group growing at a fast steady pace, it makes perfect sense for us to have places where we can meet, create and collaborate, bringing together ideas, innovation and ambition for future projects.

In December, 2021, we moved our UK team into a fully modernized office space at Manver’s Street, Central Bath, putting our UK head office firmly on the global map. Today, the Lovehoney Group operates with offices in Berlin, Lyon, Nuremburg, Zurich, Ottawa, Atlanta Shanghai, Hong Kong and even Brisbane.

And so here’s to an incredible 20 years of Lovehoney history. Of course, there’s no way of knowing exactly what the future holds, but one thing we can be certain of is… it’s set to get better than ever!