The Xgen Factor: Boutique-centric Distributor Turns 10

This article originally ran in the spring 2019 issue of Intimate magazine. See the digital edition here. Above, the Xgen booth at the January ANME; photo by Rick Garcia. If you frequent trade shows for the pleasure products industry, you most likely know Andy Green. The president of Xgen Products recently took time amid his evening commute, post-work treadmill session and nightly check-in with overseas manufacturers to talk about the tenth anniversary of his baby—a boutique manufacturer, distributor and brand manager of all things sexy—and he made it clear that he loves his work. “Overall the last 10 years have been the most enjoyable of my working professional career. There’s not a day I dread going to work.” But it’s the time on the road that he treasures most. On top of visiting key accounts and showing off the current lingerie, accessory and toy collections, there are the shows. “Nothing gets my blood going like a trade show,” he says. Why? “It’s a unique industry with great people—I’ve been able to foster great relationships in the last 22 years.” Aside from the decade he’s spent building Xgen from the bottom up, Green also spent 11 years with leading entrepreneurs Frank and Michael K. at Pleasure Productions and International Video Distributors, better known as IVD. And those relationships later became key to the Xgen story. After his time at IVD, Green headed for the mainstream for a gig with a high-end watch and jewelry retailer. Then came the 2008 financial debacle—not the best environment for selling luxury goods. So he started making calls to his former colleagues and soon was back in business—this time for himself. “When I came back I wanted to start something that wasn’t DVDs or toys … the original premise was to create something that could bring in more couples and women into the stores, and definitely more female-friendly,” Green recollects. He started selling just two brands: Seven ’til Midnight lingerie and K-Y lubricants. “I was renting a warehouse and had two employees,” he recalled. “We would get an order and it would be so exciting—I’d run in the back and we’d pack it and ship it.” His first show was in the spring of 2009. And bit by bit, accessory by accessory, he built up a business that offers everything a couple might need to spend a sexy night at home. He started with “two simple brands”—a line of wigs and a small collection of sex positioning pillow—to get his feet wet with manufacturing. “One thing led to another,” Green recalls. First came Lapdance Lingerie, then a pasties line, sexy shoes and stripper poles for consumers—all items powered by a wave of popularity for pole-dancing classes. “We took over some brands and then started to dabble in the toy business about seven years ago with Bodywand,” Green explains. “Again, really on the periphery of the adult business—it was a non-phallic looking item. ... That started going well for us. And then other brands came to us.” Xgen got a big boost came when the company began distributing Baci Lingerie and Envy Menswear for Frank K., and later the Zolo line of men’s pleasure toys for Michael K. Xgen also now handles the Rabbit Company, while still continuing to distribute Bodywand. “Frank and Michael are out of brands for me to take over,” Green jokes. “I don’t want it to get any more fragmented, not only for our customers but also our salespeople to manage.” He has, however, continued to pursue licensing deals, including one for toys branded with the Frederick’s of Hollywood name. The line is “really gaining traction and year and a half in.” He believes it took a while for retailers to stop seeing the brand as competition and understand that their own stores can benefit from bringing in such a high-profile name. “Actually, in the last six months it’s one of our fastest-growing brands,” he says with pride. Keeping his collections compact is a priority for Green. “I’m not going to be the guy with a telephone-book catalogue with a forty percent fill rate. I’d rather have six or eight styles and have a hundred percent fill rate.” He adds, “There’s so much competition out there as we all know. There’s no need for me to go head-to-head with the big boys and have thousands of products. ... That’s not my M.O. The idea is keep it boutiquey—we only release one or two Bodywands every year, we only release one or two new Rabbits.” But that doesn’t mean he won’t keep changing things up. “In the last releases for Lapdance I’ve got more colors—a purple, a neon green, a blue. I’m trying to vary the colors. I think that’s important. … “Bodystockings have gotten more adventurous—more interesting geometric patterns. The equipment that makes these have evolved … it used to just be fence net and fishnet, and now it can be cooler shapes and patterns,” he says. But the most important trend is to stock plus-size options. “We make sure almost 100 percent of every collection we do is available in plus size. If I feel strongly about a style that’s only in one size, I’ll do it. But generally I try to keep everything available in both sizes.” The Xgen president also feels strongly about the importance of creating shop-in-shop displays that give shoppers a comfortable space to interact with the goods—especially if they’re sold at a higher price point. The “coolest display” is for Frederick’s of Hollywood. In addition to testers, black slatwall and an inviting carpet, the display comes with festive shopping bags complete with gold foil and tissue paper. “Stores really bought into that,” he says, adding that the Rabbit Company also has had very successful shop-in-shop displays. Whether he’s at a trade show or visiting clients on the road, Green says he keeps his ears open. “When I’m designing something, and I want to go out on a limb, I’m getting somebody’s input. I do not profess to be the expert on everything. I will show them some things and get feedback, and also on existing products when I’m out.” Sometimes it takes a while to integrate feedback, though. Green recounts how clients complained about the LR44 watch batteries in one of his most popular products, the Mini Bodywand. Customers told him, “We hate the little watch batteries.” But to replace them with more common triple-A batteries, the vibe had to be re-engineered. “We went back to the drawing board, and a year later we came out with all of them with triple-A instead of the six LR 44 batteries. … We’re happy to listen and implement and even change a winner.” Green admits, “We’ve come out with some lines that have not been winners. In the same vein, I’m willing to take a shot—nothing is life or death.” Asked about which successful line has surprised him the most, he mentions Zolo. “We’ve taken Zolo from a disposable line, with the Pool Balls and the Cups and things that wholesale for three and five dollars, to things that wholesale from sixty to seventy dollars in a matter of a year. … “That’s my biggest surprise overall: how well the men’s category is doing in the industry. It’s not unique to me. It’s a tribute to our retailers, too, who have been able to pivot and see this trend coming along and not being afraid to buy into it.” When asked about his biggest surprise on the flip side of the success scale, Green mentions his attempt to add a teddy to Xgen’s successful Secrets line of vibrating panties. “Probably one of my biggest losers in all my ten years. I thought it would be really unique because no one has it,” he said. And then there was the short-lived Pothead Panties—an attempt to leverage a popular marijuana leaf pasties design to underwear. “A lot of stores were not ready to take that leap of faith into marijuana-related stuff even though some carry glass and obviously what we’re selling is 100 percent legal. … But again, small line, wasn’t a huge hit. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. At the end of the 10 years I’ve been surprised more on the positive side than the negative side.” Green is absolutely adamant about one more thing regarding his company. “I’m not a religious man, but I’m blessed. The staff I have—I know everyone says they have the best, and I think so too. When we’re all together at a show, other vendors say, ‘You have such great camaraderie.’ And on the flip side, I don’t have to babysit anybody so we can divide and conquer. I am fully confident in any of their decisions.” “I could talk for hours about the staff,” he asserts. “Everybody’s young and aggressive and they all get it.” In addition to his four in-house sales folks, a manufacturers’ rep, a warehouse manager and “a great admin who handles all of our stuff so we can focus on the bigger picture,” Green also added another team member who spends 80 percent of his time visiting clients. By adding this new position, Green can keep tabs on whether a store needs some special service, whether it’s signage, fresh testers, catalogues. “Can we design a window with a store? Can we do something in the community with a store? … That’s a big investment on our part, but I felt it was necessary to get through the maze out there and get through all the noise. A lot of these stores don’t get to go to a trade show—they can’t leave. So we try to get the trade show to them.” As a longtime industry vet, he knows what it’s like to work in the trenches for both sales reps and retailers. It’s a war zone out there, especially in the Age of Amazon. He tries to keep an eye out for anything on Amazon that claims to be one of Xgen’s brands. “I only want to support our stores. I don’t want to be in competition with them. … We fight the fight all the time with MAP pricing. Admitting that it’s virtually “impossible,” he says Xgen tries its best. “We do not have any Amazon stores. If you see a Bodywand being sold on Amazon, it’s not us,” he promises. “I just want to help preserve the amount of stores that we have left.”