So: The American will-they-won’t-they tariffs have set in. There’s a couple bright spots of news on the horizon; Canada just secured another four years of liberal governance, Pierre Poilievre lost his seat entirely, and Severance has been confirmed for a third season. As consumers, we don’t have global pull, but we can focus on grassroots action, voting with our dollar, and supporting our communities. One action that’s easy to take is buying Canadian sex toys when the option is available. Canadian everything, really, and European/Asian/other-non-American when the option is there.
The best way to get around the tariffs is to simply not engage with them economically. We can shop local, support local, and opt for non-American products where we can. That means engaging with more farmers markets, locally-owned boutiques, local artisans, local restaurants—the options are often already there; we just have to know how to reach for them.
Not only will making local choices keep more money in your wallet, but it’ll keep more money in the local economy, too. And it’s surprisingly easy—a lot of your brands and boutiques have been Canadian, British, and European this whole time.
Skip the scrolling:
- Mojo Intimates: Canadian lube and personal products
- pjur: OG German lube
- Womanizer: German-designed sex toys
- We-Vibe: Canadian-designed sex toys
- ROMP: Budget-friendly British toys
- Sutil: Canadian lube and personal products
Shop Canadian from a small, woman-owned business: Mojo Intimates
Mojo Intimates is a brand new company on the Canadian scene. Founded by a friend of the blog with many years of experience in the sex toy industry, Mojo is all about ingredients. The brand makes beautiful, subtle products that work as beautifully as they look.
The entire line is free of parabens, PEGs, and phtalates. They’re PETA certified, cruelty-free, and free of animal byproducts. I really love the packaging design, too—it’s very, very recyclable. All of the Mojo bottles are made from aluminum or glass. Both materials can be rinsed out and infinitely recycled.
I recommend starting with the Mojo Intimates Classic Intimate Lube ($17 CAD), which is great for both solo and partnered play. It’s a small, delicately-designed bottle and the product works well for helping to insert menstrual cups, too.
To set the mood, there’s also the Mojo Intimates Candles ($30 CAD) and Massage Oil ($25 CAD). The price points on all of these products is fantastic, but I think the massage oil is a particularly good buy. It’s primarily sweet almond oil, which is great for dry skin, and it contains some macadamia and jojoba oils, too. Most massage oils are designed to smell nice and have good slip, but this one is an excellent moisturizer, too. (Dirty Vanilla smells like Voluspa’s Bourbon Vanille. It’s warm, sugary, and a little musky.)
A great alternative to Amazon: Mojo offers free standard shipping on all orders.
Opt for an OG German lube: pjur
Did you know that pjur (pronounced “pure”) brought the first-ever silicone lube to the market in 1995? This German brand (now headquartered in Luxembourg) has focused on quality and safety for 30 years and continues to produce all of its products in Germany.
Like other made-in-the-EU lubes, pjur products are regulated as medical devices. This is something that I learned about pretty recently: personal care products in North America aren’t classified as medical products or devices, so they’re regulated as cosmetics. In the EU, personal lubricants are regulated as medical devices. That means they’re held to the same manufacturing and sterility requirements as medical products.
These regulations (and pjur’s own choices) make the brand a great choice for people with sensitive skin. The brand is very careful with what they put into their products, and you’ll find that their lubes don’t contain fragrance, lidocaine, or benzocaine. Their silicone-based products and pjur Woman Nude ($29 CAD) are preservative-free.
Perfect for sensitive skin: pjur products are manufactured to meet EU medical use standards.
European sex toys: Womanizer air pulse toys
One of the great things about shopping non-American in the sex toy industry right now is that there isn’t a ton that you’re missing out on. When I was researching this post, I found out that almost every product I use on a regular basis was already designed, owned, and/or produced outside of the US.
Womanizer, founded and designed in Germany, makes one of those products. The Womanizer Premium 2 Pleasure Air Stimulator ($219 CAD) has been my go-to vibrator for 5+ years. I’ve gone through multiple models of the exact same toy. Every person I’ve recommended it to has stuck with it, too.
The Premium 2 is great for three reasons. First off, it’s an air pulse toy instead of a traditional vibrator, so it won’t numb or oversensitize the user. With 14 intensity levels, it’s a product that can be either super gentle or very strong.
Secondly, the Premium 2 can be incredibly quiet. Its Smart Silence technology turns the toy off when it’s not in contact with your body and the first two intensity levels of the Premium 2 are silent.
Thirdly, I really love the way that Womanizer has designed the Premium 2. It’s a beautiful product. It’s a pleasure to use and hold, and it feels like a treat every time you take it out. It holds a charge so well, works like a dream, and really does perform to its price point.
Pleasurable and discreet: The Womanizer Premium 2 works in silence and rarely needs to be charged. (Shop Canada/shop international).
Designed in Germany: Something new from Womanizer
While the Womanizer Premium 2 is my clear fave, I’ve been testing a new launch from the brand recently, too. The Womanizer Enhance ($179 CAD) is a 2-in-1 product that combines Womanizer’s air pulse technology with We-Vibe’s deep, rumbly vibrations. It’s a great choice if you’re used to vibration-based sex toys but want to try an air pulse product without making a risky investment.
The Enhance has a different tip from the Premium 2, so while it delivers a similar experience, it’s not the same. The performance difference is significant enough in the two products that I’d still opt for the Premium despite the difference in price point, but if you’re looking for a two-in-one product, the Enhance is great. Expect a broader, more vibrational experience from this one.
The best of both worlds: The Womanizer Enhance lets you try both vibrations and air pulses for an even more intense effect. (Shop Canada/shop international.)
Canadian sex toys and founders: We-Vibe
Here’s a fun sex toy fact that you may not have known: We-Vibe, another industry-leading brand, was actually founded in Canada by Canadians! Originally called Standard Innovation, Womanizer and We-Vibe combined in 2018 to form the German-based WOW Tech Group.
WOW Tech then merged with the British-owned Lovehoney group in 2021, keeping ownership of the brand outside of the US once again. We-Vibe products are now made in China, but they continue to be designed in Canada.
The We-Vibe Tango Bullet Vibrator ($99 CAD) was one of my first-ever sex toys. While I no longer use it, I do still think that it’s a great product. (I’m just very, very loyal to the Womanizer Premium 2, but I do occasionally use the We-Vibe Nova 2 and Wand 2, pictured here). The Tango X update came out in 2021. It added slightly stronger vibrations than the original model and improved the product’s magnetic charging contacts. I love that it’s Canadian-designed and updated, and sometimes you just need a bullet vibe. (Bullets are especially handy if you want something small or you’re using a separate, bullet-compatible toy.)
We-Vibe is also the brand behind the We-Vibe Sync ($219 CAD/international), which is possibly the most popular “couples vibrator” of all time. This clamp-style toy is designed to be worn internally within the vaginal canal, both during penetrative sex and outside of it.
Today’s Sync models are app-compatible and controllable at a distance, which makes them a great choice for long distance relationships… And short-distance dalliances.
Canadian designed: The We-Vibe Tango X. (Shop Canada/shop international.)
Budget-friendly British toys: ROMP
When it comes to non-American sex toy brands, a lot of the big ones are roped into the WOW Tech/Lovehoney group. ROMP is one of the group’s newest brands, and it’s one that I’m surprised isn’t more popular.
ROMP toys use the patented technologies developed by Womanizer and We-Vibe, like Pleasure Air Technology. However, each toy is built more affordably and passes those savings on to the consumer. Some models feature (for instance) AAA battery operation instead of a rechargeable battery, which helps lower the manufacturing cost significantly. The brand’s toys are still made from high-quality materials like silicone; they’re just not as rumbly, quiet, or sleek as something from a luxury brand.
As a result, ROMP toys feel less luxurious than something from Womanizer or We-Vibe. They perform very well for the price, and the price is a fraction of what you’d pay from a luxury sex toy brand. While the Womanizer Premium 2 retails for $219 CAD, the ROMP Switch X is $39.99 CAD, and the rechargeable Shine X is $64.99 CAD.
Budget-friendly faves: The ROMP Hype G-Spot Vibrator and ROMP Bass Vibrating Anal Plug.
Canadian lube and massage oils: Sutil
I want to finish this post with one of my favourite Canadian brands: Sutil.
Sutil is a female-owned, family-run business from BC that is just full of good vibes. I interviewed Mellta Swift, the brand’s founder, in 2020, and I have been lowkey obsessed with her ever since. She’s an excellent formulator with an incredible nose for fragrance—which is where this brand shines.
While most people know Sutil as a lube brand, I love them as a massage oil company. The Sutil Love Potion ($36 CAD) fragrances are rich, heady, and totally unique to the brand. Most small businesses use premixed fragrances for their personal care products, but not Sutil—these are hand-crafted, organic aphrodisiacs.
Canadian-made, organic olfactory feats: Sutil massage oils.
