maude
A gender-neutral line of intimacy and personal health products bringing inclusivity to an outdated industry.
About maude
Whether you’re young, old, straight, queer, single, coupled, or anywhere in between, maude offers sexual-wellness products that’ll work for you. Éva Goichochea, founder & CEO, didn’t understand why intimacy products always looked outdated and confusing, so she got to work building a company that reimagined the category, eventually welcoming Dakota Johnson to her team as Co-Creative Director. Heralded as a line that represents all genders and sexualities, maude uses classic packaging that lets the quality of its products speak for itself: from body oil and bath salts, to natural condoms and personal massagers. Maude’s website also provides comprehensive guides to using each product and thought-provoking articles about sexual health.
Why We Love It
Maude’s core belief is that sexual wellness and intimacy is a crucial component of self-care. We love how their pleasure-positive messaging and gender-neutral marketing take the raunchiness out of sex products. To get started, we recommend maude’s multipurpose body and massage oil, Oil No. 0, since there’s something undeniably intimate about giving someone a massage. There’s something for everyone, whether you want to add a pH-balanced body wash to your shower regimen or try the Essentials Bundle to revamp your sex life in just one purchase.
Meet Éva Goicochea
For founder Éva Goicochea, maude sits at the crux of her seemingly disparate interests and career paths. In 2015, Goicochea harnessed her experiences as a legislative aide in healthcare and as a brand strategist for mission-driven companies to reimagine sex products as no one had before. She’s now one of just 10 Latinas to have ever raised over $10 million in funding for a consumer goods company, and maude is well on its way to making pleasure and intimacy more accessible to people across ages, genders, and sexual orientations. Below, Goicochea spoke to KCM about her path to founding maude, the impact the company’s innovative approach is making on its industry and beyond, and what she’s learned along the way.
In Conversation with Éva
KCM: You’ve said before that growing up in spaces where sex was a taboo topic had an impact on your decision to start maude. What eventually pushed you to take the leap into entrepreneurship?
Éva: I was born in New Mexico, which is disparate in access and education in healthcare. My mom was an arts educator, and from an early age, I knew that I wanted to do something in the design world that also made a difference for people. Back then, I thought perhaps I’d end up an architect.
Having been interested in public health in college and, later, coming from a product background as a brand and social media strategist for mission-driven companies like Everlane, I decided to create a consumer goods company that served everyday wellness.
To me, sexual health was such a critically overlooked foundation for how we feel about ourselves and others. Realizing that the industry was the last frontier in personal care, I decided to start building maude as an inclusive modern intimacy company.
Have you seen maude have an influence on the rest of the sexual wellness market?
Absolutely. Before maude, the sexual wellness industry had been dominated by legacy brands who have focused so heavily on how to sell “sex” (to young men, typically) via condoms and lubricant, that they overlooked intimacy and customers across age and gender. Since our launch in 2018, we’ve seen both large and small brands start to focus on intimacy and inclusivity, often using similar language to maude and creating like products or even knock-offs across categories.
Beyond our own market, maude became one of the first sexual wellness brands in Sephora and other beauty retailers, which ultimately destigmatizes the category.
Maude toes the line of being open about sex and sexuality while making discreet, subtle products. Can you explain that balancing act?
Our take at maude is that sex is human and few brands have inclusively spoken to people in their adult lives in a smart, factual way. By rethinking the approach through universal design and marketing with inclusive content that’s less about just sex and more about overall intimacy and health, we’ve found that we resonate across audiences and have made in-roads into retailers and press where sexual wellness wasn’t previously covered.
Now, our audience is 57 percent female, 43 percent male, and 43 percent over age 44. We’re so proud to have such a wide range of customers, and it comes down to our subtle design and unwavering commitment to keeping a clear voice.
