US-based sextech company Dame has made its second business acquisition since the start of 2024, taking over ‘crystal-based’ sex toy company Chakrubs following Dame’s acquisition of the ‘Emojibator’ brand in 2024. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Dame’s expansion comes amid a brewing economic crisis for the sextech industry, with companies scrambling to respond to massive tariff hikes placed by US President Donald Trump on products imported from China. Dame is one of many US sextech firms currently reliant on China-made electronic components.
In February 2024 it was announced that Dame acquired Emojibator, known for its quirky, colorful, fruit and animal-styled vibrators and other sextech products. Now Dame has also acquired Chakrubs, which makes dildos, sex egg and plug products out of what it calls ‘healing crystals’. The terms of the deal have not been made public, but is understood to have been done based on both cash and equity.
Dame, which makes various vibrators and sextech devices including the recently-released Hug couples ring wearable, is a company and brand on the up. In 2023 in the US it got its products in Target stores, then in 2024 became stocked in Walmart. Alexandra Fine, Dame’s co-founder and chief executive, said that Emojibator’s sales doubled in 2024.
However, shockwaves were recently sent through the industry when Trump announced a 145 percent tariff charge on some products entering the US from China. Dame responded by adding a $15 ‘Trump Tariff Charge’ to customer orders. The company said: “Due to the latest round of tariffs affecting goods made in China (and other countries), our cost to make products just went up. A lot.”
The Chakrubs brand is unlikely to be as affected by the tariffs, as Chakrubs toys don’t have electronic parts. However, 80 percent of Dame-branded products are reportedly produced in China.
The bigger picture
The ongoing tariff chaos threatens to derail ambitious, expanding sextech companies such as Dame, with the sextech sector rising rapidly over the past decade as sex products gain more mainstream acceptance. Beyond the tariff charge itself, the unpredictability of the Trump administration has made it extremely difficult for sextech firms to plan to absorb the change longer-term.
Recently sextech company Unbound encouraged US customers to lobby local politicians to end the trade war. The company said: “We will continue to lobby for tariff relief. If you care about the survival of small businesses, help us in this fight.”
Trump has said that the tariff charge of 145 percent on goods from China will “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero”. Prior to that statement Autoblow, which makes AI-assisted stroker devices, warned that sextech products could rise in price by as much as four-times their current levels to absorb the tariff fees.
While it seems likely that price hikes won’t be so high as that, certainly if Trump goes ahead with reducing the huge China tariff charge, it seems likely that customers will still face significant price rises beyond quickfire pricing tactics such as Dame’s $15 ‘Trump Tariff Charge’.
Trump’s long-term goals with his tariffs on foreign goods is to encourage, some would say force, more companies to produce their goods in the US.
With so much of the US sextech industry reliant on China for production, it remains to be seen if any will end up accepting tariffs as a long-term economic tactic and plan to shift at least some production to the US. With many sextech companies being startups, the cost of doing so instead of using previously-affordable Chinese production services may be as out of reach as the new tariff-pumped prices.
What is perhaps more likely is that sextech companies will look to weather the storm for the remainder of the Trump administration, then reassess when a clearer picture about the US Presidency once the 2028 US election is in sight.
Trump could, of course, just cancel all the tariffs tomorrow and call it some kind of ‘art of the deal’ economic tactical win, regardless of the reality of the situation.
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