The Oh Collective is a pleasure, intimate and lingerie brand on a mission to open up conversations about sexual health and intimacy taboos. I first heard about them during Emma-Louise Boynton’s Sex Talks at Shoreditch House, and was intrigued by their story and their products. As we started talking, they kindly gifted me one of their period proof underwear sets, which I am reviewing here as part of my Q&A with Simona Xu, one of the founders.
About The Oh Collective
The Oh Collective was founded by four friends – Winxi, Diana, Simona and Eden – who grew up on different continents (Canada, The US and The Netherlands) and who were the daughters of first-generation immigrants. This experience inspired the founders to address taboos not necessarily talked about by their families, from mental health and intimacy to intimate pleasure and wellness.
A fully vegan and cruelty-free brand which also gives 1% sales to a charity of their community’s choosing, The Oh Collective has indeed a community feel, designing and selling products they’d recommend to a friend.
The Oh Collective’s sex toy range includes a clitoral vibrator, a combo of internal + clitoral vibrator (my personal favourite), both coming in two colours, and a couples’ exploration set. Single sex toys cost from €52 to €65 (so roughly under £60) and look stylish AF.
Beyond sex toys, The Oh Collective also sell period proof undies and seamless underwear, and they are truly at the forefront of sex tech. Why? Because Simona, the founder, thinks that “sexual wellness is one of the core pillars of overall wellness and that it’s nothing to be ashamed about.”
Below, you can read both my Q&A with Simona and my review of The Oh Collective’s period proof underwear.
Q&A With The Oh Collective
Can you tell me a bit about your background?
I’m Simona from Amsterdam, Netherlands, and I’m a quarter of The Oh Collective that I founded with three sisters and colleagues from Nike whom I met in Shanghai – Diana, Winxi, and Eden. Our mission is to empower women globally by promoting intimate pleasure and wellness.
My parents are Chinese immigrants and came to the Netherlands in the ‘80s. I was born and grew up in the Netherlands and, like any other Chinese kid, I had to work at my parent’s Chinese restaurant while finishing my master’s degree in business. I gained professional working experience at Zalando and Nike in Berlin, Amsterdam, and Shanghai before starting The Oh Collective.
What made you want to start The Oh Collective?
I and the founders would have our weekly dinners and discuss love, life and relationships – we’d give each a nudge every week to get out of our comfort zones and try something new. One nudge was to include a sex toy in couples or solo play that week. When we ventured out to find something we’d like to buy for ourselves and our friends, we couldn’t find any brand or product that fit our needs: we wanted clear communications, safe materials and a brand we could identify with and not be ashamed to buy for ourselves or friends.
When we started to dig more into the industry, we discovered that (old) men run 99% of the brands, stores and factories. As feminists and first daughters, we viewed this as a challenge and decided to start our brand. One run by women, for women.
At Sex Talks, you mentioned that sex and pleasure aren’t discussed in China and Asia. That’s something I can relate with as Italy is very conservative too – how can people from conservative countries overcome this lack of information and communication?
Discussions about sex and pleasure are culturally bound and can be influenced by religious or societal norms. The first is to be open to hearing new ideas and have open and honest conversations about them. You may have to realise that what you have been taught might no longer be relevant today. Find ways to equip yourself with knowledge – through books, articles, workshops, podcasts or forums.
Engage in open and honest conversations with your partner, friends, and parents – and if this is not possible, find a trusted healthcare professional – often this might be easier as you’re not close to that person. Remember that pleasure and sexual health are important aspects of overall well-being.
I love how you combine period products with sex toys. Why have you decided to join something unpleasant with something sexy and pleasurable?
We see ourselves as (bigger) sisters to the females we serve – everything we communicate and offer we would give as tips or insights to our sisters and friends. This is also how we view the brand – we’re in the business of vulva wellness, and menstrual care is part of that.
At Sex Talks, you also mentioned that Chinese social media is even more conservative than Western social media platforms such as Instagram. Can you share how that’s affected your business?
I can’t count the number of times our content was blocked on WeChat (the Chinese form of Whatsapp x Instagram x Amazon), DouYin (Chinese TikTok) and Red (a Chinese mix between Instagram and TikTok). Also, when we try to sell our products on Taobao (Chinese Amazon), often our products are blocked, and we’re not allowed to advertise. Once we attempted relationship cards, the platforms blocked us because of “sorcery”.
We started in Shanghai, China, because we saw a need for our products, a female-led trusted brand and founders that women there could identify with. We are still active in the Chinese market but investing less heavily in marketing and more in our existing community.
You’ve mentioned you had to get creative to promote your brand and game the algorithm. Can you share links to some of those posts?
Those have been deleted already, haha! Our posts on WeChat are PG13 and more vanilla (you can find us on WeChat by scanning the below QR code).
For Meta advertising, our ads didn’t come through. We tried cat videos. They passed the Meta test. Horrible for conversion!
On TikTok and DouYin (Chinese TikTok), there are a lot of innuendos you can use (e.g. “seggs” for sex, misspelling of hashtags, mentioning “doing the deed”, strategic winks in your descriptions). Overall, it’s tiresome because you’re trying to bring education to your audience, and you’re just continually blocked.
Where can customers find The Oh Collective?
At www.theohcollective.com, at Selfridges in Oxford Street, at Ohne.com in the UK, and more lifestyle stockists across Europe.
What are The Oh Collective’s best-sellers, and why do you think they work so well?
Kit – our G-spot vibrator. It’s a modern twist to the rabbit vibrator. You can use it for penetrative play, while the “cat head” can be bent to your liking and stimulate the clitoris. It has a bendy body because all bodies are different. And it’s waterproof, perfect for bringing into the shower/bath!
I love how the period panties have a matching bra – as an obsessive matchy matcher, that is great! How did you come up with the idea?
We can thank our community for that. We conducted many interviews, and the feedback was that 1) most period underwear does not give you the confidence you need – especially during your period, and 2) most period underwear is underwear only, so you still need to match it with tops. Sometimes you just want to feel cute on your period, even if you might not like it. Our Co-founder Eden worked relentlessly with Emma from the underwear brand Relief to develop the beautiful design you have today.
Where is The Oh Collective going next?
We’re in the business of vulva care and breaking taboos – we want to serve women globally with our products, content and events, so we’re expanding across Europe and Asia. We’re bringing out more products this year, three new products in the coming three months, and we have a couple of very exciting partnerships in the works, so we’re super excited about that!
Flo Getter period proof underwear set review
I immediately loved the look of The Oh Collective’s Flo Getter period proof underwear because it looked joyful: not big and sad, but actually like something you’d wear even when you’re not on your period. Plus, one of my period proof underwear pet peeves is that in the very few occasions I do wanna wear a bra, I often struggle to match it to my undies.
Well, both problems solved: enter the Flo Getter set, a capsule collection for which The Oh Collective partnered up with Emma C., founder of period underwear brand Relief to bring functional, comfortable period underwear with upcycled fabrics without sacrificing style. Even the packaging the set arrived in was fun and colourful, which is always a good sign.
The Flo Getter panties absorb an amount equal to up to 4 tampons or 2 pads, and they are perfect for lighter days. They are made with three layers of leak-proof, moisture-wicking, and anti-odour patented Silverclear© technology.
Flo Getter panties come in Black, Sage and Berry shades, and I’ve gone for the gorgeous Berry, which adds colour to a usually miserable time of the month. Both the bra and the panties fit like a glove, and they were perfect both as a choice of underwear and even as a pole set to use while working out at home. The triangle shape bra is incredibly flattering and comfy, while the panties are the right level of skimpy and high-waisted that I feel like wearing during your period.
Priced at €27,95 (around £25), the Flo Getter undies are on the fancier end of period-proof underwear, but you can really understand why: high-waisted and skimpier than many other period panties designs, they really are slick and fun and designed for confidence, not just for ease of use. While it is true that the set works better for lighter days or lighter period, I found it great to wear on day 1 and day 4 and 5 (yes, I have long periods) of my cycle. While wearing it, I almost forgot I had my period. It was bliss!
How to keep in touch with The Oh Collective
Simona says:
Follow us on Instagram @theohcollective, and if you have any questions, send us a DM or mail to hi@theohcollective.com. And, of course – to let as many people know about The Oh Collective because Meta/TikTok/Reddit/LinkedIn keeps taking our advertisements down, and we just want to serve women globally ?.
Simona, The Oh Collective
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