Trigg Laboratories Celebrates 20 'Wet' Years
XBIZ.com
Tod Hunter, 1.20.09

Trigg Laboratories Inc., makers of Wet personal lubricant products, celebrates its 20th anniversary with an updated look, a new catalog, and bold plans for the future.

“The 20th anniversary called for us to give a little nip and tuck to our packaging features,” said Jennifer Martsolf, vice president of marketing. "We’ve updated the highly recognizable 'Wet splash' logo and added new backgrounds in eye-catching colors, while still retaining the tried and true sexy bottle shape our customers have come to rely on."

In 1989, Michael Trygstad, a designer of POP displays and marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies, founded Trigg Laboratories in a 1,000-square-foot facility.

“I began the company by maxing out $150,000 on my credit cards and selling off real estate investments I made throughout the '80s," Trygstad said. "And you thought Donald Trump was the only one highly leveraged in the '90s.”

Wet began with one water-based lubricant, now called Wet Original, and has grown to over 80 different packages including the Wet Flavored lubricants and Wet Platinum premium silicone lubricant. In 2003, the company launched a spa-quality romance line, Inttimo by Wet, including aromatherapy, massage and bath oils using all natural oils and a total body shave cream.

“In the late '80s everyone was very concerned about the transfer of HIV," Trygstad said. "We saw the sales of condoms skyrocket. Because condoms are more likely to break without the use of a lubricant the timing was right to hit the market with a 'fun' packaged lubricant.”

Trygstad points out that the packaging is only part of the appeal of Wet.

“Colorful, clean packaging gets a consumer to buy your product once, but it's the Wet quality inside that keeps them loyal," Trygstad said. "Our team takes great care to research our market and hone our ingredients and formulations to the highest quality standards. We are constantly improving our products as better ingredients and formulating processes come along. Products, like life, are always changing. Adapt and improve and you will always remain on top.”

The company reports annual growth of 20-30 percent, even through this downturn in the economy. Wet now formulates, fills, labels and packs all its products in its 52,000-square-foot facility in Valencia, Calif. Each batch goes through stringent FDA quality assessment protocols before it is released for shipping.

"We try to offer the best value for the consumer and Wet offers the highest quality at a median price point, making sure that there is plenty of profit margin for the distributor and the retailer," Trygstad said.

Wet also promotes consumer education by providing thousands of Wet Safe Sex Kits worldwide, and donates to more than 300 nonprofit organizations each year.

“Companies have their own karma," Trygstad said. "We have fostered ours from the beginning. Anything we can do to help people have fun sex throughout life will be our focus and our legacy.”