Business

Lap of luxury: $56 for a box of condoms?

Size matters.

I refer to the size of your wallet, when it comes to Naked condoms.

Naked is one of the most upscale brands in the growing business of luxury prophylactics.

The global condom market is estimated to generate $3 billion annually, with Americans responsible for roughly $500 million of that total, which sounds like a lot but really isn’t considering that only 1 in 3 sex acts among single Americans involves a condom.

Ideally, that means in both public health and pure business terms there’s a lot of room to grow.

In the last few years, a number of companies have sprouted up seeking to cater to the luxury condom buyer, among them The Original Condom Company, Sir Richard’s Condom Company and Proper Attire.

But Naked is by far the most luxe — or costly depending on your point of view. A 12-pack of Naked condoms retails for a whopping $56, or just less than $5 per condom.

By comparison, a 12-pack of Trojans retails for $12 on average, or $1 per condom.

Using data from a Kinsey Institute study that estimates that 18-to 29-year-olds have sex on average 112 times per year, that means it would cost $520 to protect yourself with Naked condoms, as opposed to roughly $112 for the same number of Trojans.

While the majority of condom buyers are married women with children, which in practical terms means suburban moms looking to not get pregnant again, Naked’s target consumers are, in the words of CEO Jud Ireland, “edgy, hip, and rich” men and women.

Think hedge-funders and fashionistas who meet over cocktails at the Soho House in New York, which not coincidentally is one of the places where Naked condoms are sold.

When Ireland is asked why people should buy Naked condoms over Trojans, he hands the phone to his sister, Marie, who responds on cue, “Because I’d rather have sex with someone who has a Naked condom than a Trojan. The guy looks better, I think.”

Ireland’s sister’s aesthetic preferences notwithstanding, there are actual design aspects that set Naked condoms apart.

Naked condoms use latex that is thinner and softer than the latex used in other brands’ “ultra thin” condoms. They feature a hypoallergenic lubrication that is 10 times slicker and more expensive than the standard lube and an easy-tear wrapper with six layers of foil that took the company three years to develop.

And the packaging, Ireland says, is elegant enough to double as nightstand décor.

The biggest difference, however, is in Naked’s patented “pleasure fit” design. Around 85 percent of males have a penile width of roughly 52 millimeters. In order to get a custom fit for each user, Naked condoms come in widths between 47-57 millimeters and lengths of between 170-210 millimeters.

Knowing that, Ireland deftly massages the male psyche by only having three sizes. There’s standard, large and extra-large.

If that eponymous egotistical flourish sounds off-putting, Naked compensates for it — or overcompensates — by not only donating one condom for every one purchased, but also pledging 20 percent of its profits to a health, education, or human services charity.