Pop Culture Not a Stretch For Condoms

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Pop Culture Not a Stretch For Condoms
Graphic Armor's Darth Vador parody line.

It’s not uncommon to see “Star Wars” fans sporting Darth Vader T-shirts, but now the famous villain is popping up on a new accessory: latex condoms.

That’s thanks to condom maker Graphic Armor Inc., which launched an equity crowdfunding campaign last month to raise money for marketing and to purchase its own manufacturing facility in China. The firm, which has headquarters in Hancock Park and Boca Raton, Fla., manufactures custom-printed condoms such as its parody “Star Wars” line that includes an image of Vader with the phrase: “I will not be your father.”

Graphic Armor also allows customers to upload designs to its website for personalized orders, though buyers must certify they are the owner of the image or allowed to use it. A minimum custom order of 33 condoms costs $99. Preprinted condoms start at $2.99 for a pair.

Adam Glickman, chief executive of Graphic Armor, said the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules allowing nonaccredited investors to contribute capital in exchange for equity timed perfectly with its plans to raise additional funds.

“There’s an interesting opportunity for founders to go out to the crowd and preserve more equity and maintain more control and spend a bit longer in the driver’s seat,” Glickman said.

Graphic Armor is offering 1 million shares at $1 each with a minimum purchase of $250. Glickman, who founded condom shop Condomania in West Hollywood in 1991 then sold it in 2012, launched Graphic Armor 18 months ago with Christopher Panucci and William Kurtzner.

“When we took condoms from behind the drugstore … we made the product more approachable,” he said of his old business. “The same is operating here. By adorning latex condoms with fun and familiar graphics, the dynamics change instantly between the consumer and product.”

– Subrina Hudson

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