Made By You: How Community Shapes JPoL

3 minute read

One of the newsletters that I subscribe to is written by Shaun, a fellow LAM trader and founder of Alternative Artisans. A recent email was titled “Tell them what it's made of” and, as I stood at my cutting table working on a couple of corsets, I was pondering this topic when a slightly tangential thought crossed my mind… Tell them what my business has been made by. That is, awesome customers!

I have so many fabulous interactions with people, both in person at pop-up shops and online. Whilst I'm naturally rather introverted and often shy away from lots of socialising, I love seeing how people engage with my creations, and I gain so much from what they say. Customers help shape JPoL; they are the lifeblood of my work. It's often through you that I get ideas for new designs.

A prime example is the corsetwaistcoat. James bought a pair of pinstripe bondage trousers from me at the London Fetish Fair in the mid-2000s and came to see me again at London Alternative Market just after the pandemic, wanting something to go with them. He liked the corset with detachable waistcoat panels, but he asked if I could integrate the panels so that it would all be one piece. My mind lit up at the prospect, and James was thrilled with the result. I made myself one, too, within a couple of months, and they quickly became a staple—and very popular—part of the JPoL collection.

Customers don't just inspire new designs, however. There have been times when I've tweaked the way that I sew an existing piece in the range based on your feedback. Constructive criticism is always welcome because it means I can improve the longevity of a product. Hearing from one customer about how she found the stitching wasn't quite strong enough to cope with the movement on the pinstripe bustle skirt, for instance, led to me using a smaller, reinforcing stitch on the strip of D-rings on the back of the skirt. There have also been times when I've upgraded hardware—like the trigger hooks on the corsets—based on customer feedback.

I grew up in the 1970s, before the days when built-in obsolescence was so ubiquitous, and in a family with a hand-me-down, make-do-and-mend, recycling ethos. The sustainability principles that I still hold today urge me to make things that last. A side benefit of that is that customers know Jed Phoenix of London products are well-made with care, and they often return to buy more. There's even quite an active resale market for back-catalogue pieces (on Vinted and on eBay).

But it's not only JPoL's designs that have been shaped by customers: I have been as well. Being a neurodivergent introvert, having the bridge of my brand to help me connect with others has widened my circle of friends and colleagues. It's given me a safe space to flourish in and a community of like-minded people to feel part of. It seems that there are a lot of neurodivergent people on the goth, alternative, and kink scenes—both customers and fellow traders or event organisers alike! These are spaces where you can be authentic and open about how you express yourself; where people often share their delight in having found something that lifts their confidence a little more; where you see people's transformations and hear their stories. And those things add so much to life.

There have been customers who express how excited they are, knowing that they've just received a piece of clothing that was made specifically for them by someone they had a person-to-person interaction with. There have been customers who, a number of years after buying a leather kilt at an event in Germany, send a photo of themselves still wearing and loving it.

If you're a JPoL customer, thank you! You've supported a solopreneur and helped keep an independent, UK-based, bootstrapped business going for almost three decades. I'd love to hear your favourite memory linked to Jed Phoenix of London—leave a comment below