For the absolute avoidance of doubt, all manufacturing of garments marketed by Latex Epicentre takes place in Krakow, Poland, and fulfillment of orders is from Krakow to everywhere in the world.
Epicentre’s day-to-day sales, marketing and admin operations, including customer service, are handled from London. But it’s just an office — there is no London showroom or studio that you can visit.
However, that wasn’t always the plan. Maciek and his uncle had first considered a ‘bricks and mortar’ London operation — specifically, an actual shop. But in the end they decided to launch Epicentre online first, to build clientèle.
“After the rollout of the new Epicentre site, we discovered that our UK-based clients — just like our European clients — are scattered far and wide. Some of our best customers are located hundreds of miles from London.
“For now, it makes sense to focus on the online business.”
However, he adds, clients continue to inquire about a store, and the company is investigating possibilities and actively looking for investors or partners.
“We hope that after establishing our marque in the UK, we will be in a better position to have a store in London.
“In summary, we’re not going to rush into it until we’re ready,” he says. “But we’re still very interested in having a store someday, and are happy to talk to any potential partners!”
When it comes to latex clothing, the UK is a crowded market, boasting many of the world’s best known and most highly respected producers just in London alone.
So, what does Maciek believe are the selling points that give Latex Epicentre, with its Future Fetish products, a chance of becoming a major player in this crowded market?
“One of our selling points is that all our garments come with Easy-On chlorination, a chemical treatment process for ease of wearing and latex preservation, as a standard feature,” he says.
“To our knowledge, no other firm in the UK offers this free of charge. Chlorinated latex is much easier to put on and take off than unchlorinated latex, and lasts longer.”
(Just on a point of fact, London designer Kim West has been including chlorination — which she calls Glyde-Tex — as standard in her garments for several years now. And Rugby-based Catalyst Latex has been doing the same thing for ages. But in the UK, these two are probably the exceptions that prove the rule.)
Also, says Maciek, Future Fetish is an engineering-driven firm that specialises in technical and design excellence.
“This includes our zipless neck-entry catsuits and dresses, our laser-cut designs such as our fishnet line, and our large range of two-colour and retro-inspired catsuit designs. We are pioneers in laser-cut tailoring for fetish design.”
The parent company’s engineering specialism also feeds directly into its pricing strategy, he says.
“As a new company on the UK market, it’s important to keep our pricing competitive; we use our focus on manufacturing innovation to save money in the process. Consequently, we can offer a high-quality catsuit at a very reasonable price.
“Our pricing is central to our business strategy,” he adds. “We want to be known for offering high-quality, competitively priced classic latex catsuits, designed and manufactured to the highest possible standards.
“Whether it’s for someone just getting into the world of fetish fashion, or someone who already owns 20 catsuits, we want them to be able to explore Future Fetish latex at a very reasonable price!”
‘We want to be known for high-quality, competitively priced classic latex catsuits, designed and manufactured to the highest possible standards’
That’s great to hear, of course. But I wanted Maciek to explain something I couldn’t immediately understand when I compared the Epicentre website with the Future Fetish site.
Which is: why does the Latex Epicentre online store only show about 20 percent of the range displayed on the parent company’s site, with some garment categories — leotards for example — not even represented?
“For the UK launch,” he replies, “we wanted to try a rebranding campaign and a new website, to attract different customers. My idea for the new Epicentre brand was that people should associate it with high-quality, affordable catsuits first and foremost.
“Catsuits have always been our best-selling item, and it made sense to focus on them for the launch. Epicentre may eventually offer more items, but for now, offering a limited line allows us to focus on fulfilment and customer service. It also creates a more streamlined and centralised website.
“Over two-thirds of Epicentre’s clients come to us for catsuits, and we think it makes sense, at the start of a new business, to target our efforts.
“Some of the pictures on the Epicentre site, and those we use in our marketing, show special-ordered and custom garments. We are happy to create those for our clients, at our same reasonable prices. However, the majority of our business continues to be in catsuits.”
The company’s pricing on catsuits is so good, in fact, that it competes well with prices from certain Chinese latex labels. This might incline more suspicious minds to speculate that one of the ways Future Fetish reduces its cost is to use cheaper latex than the industry-standard stuff sourced from 4D or Radical Rubber.
Maciek is quick to dispel any such speculation. “Our latex sheeting comes from Radical Rubber,” he says.
“We are able to offer our clients competitive prices because of Marek’s manufacturing innovations that make production faster and simpler. We are an engineering-driven firm, and we’re always looking to improve our processes.”
‘We are able to offer our clients competitive prices because of Marek’s manufacturing innovations that make production faster and simpler’
It is of course true that overhead costs, such as space rental, utilities and labour are less expensive in Poland than in the UK, and this does help to keep garment prices down. But, adds Maciek:
“Our employees are paid competitive fair market wages, and our factory operates according to European Union labour standards. Some of our tailors have been with Future Fetish for almost a decade.
“When we make a catsuit, we use both cutting-edge machining and experienced technicians. Every catsuit is hand-finished.
“We never compromise on quality; we offer all our clients the opportunity to return their garments for a full refund, if they are in any way dissatisfied.
“We hope to offer our clients a quality, European-made garment, manufactured to high standards and produced according to fair trade principles, at a good price.”
So who does the company see as its main competitors? “We hope to compete with any company who makes a classic catsuit!” is his reply.
My final questions for Maciek concerns the direction Latex Epicentre can be expected to take in terms of brand imagery, now a UK base has been established.
Both websites already feature good photography, shot mainly in-house by Marek and Maciek.
But with a couple of exceptions (Poland’s Heterandria and Holland’s Kiet Katharsis), the current imagery lacks the sort of ‘model recognition factor’ that can be really helpful in growing the popularity of your brand.
So, I ask, can we expect Epicentre’s arrival in the UK to lead to more collaborations with well-known models in the UK and Europe, and also with other fetish photographers, to help increase brand awareness?
And can we expect to see Epicentre and/or Future Fetish starting to exhibit at any of the fetish fairs or fetish weekends in the near future?
“Yes, we are planning to co-operate with more well-known models and photographers, as well as to participate in more events in the UK and European fetish community,” says Maciek.
“London is the centre of the world for latex fashion; there’s everything from Le Boutique Bazaar for high-fashion designs to shops that specialise in kinky and heavy gear. There’s no shortage of interesting activity in the UK fetish fashion world, and we’re excited to be part of this community.
“It’s been quite a busy year getting Epicentre off the ground. Now that the new website and brand are launched, and clients are coming in, it’s absolutely time to expand promotional efforts.
“As you mentioned, Marek and I are both photographers and have taken many of the Future Fetish and Epicentre pictures.
“Since we have both worked on the manufacturing side as well as the marketing side of the business, this allows us to express ourselves and creatively present the latex fashions.
“However, as we expand into the UK, we’re very interested in new promotional and branding strategies, and welcome the opportunity to work with new potential partners.”
So there you are: another invitation to collaborate with LatexEpicentre, a business that looks well-starred to carve out a substantial place in the hearts of latex lovers in the UK and beyond!
latexepicentre.co.uk
facebook.com/latexepicentre
facebook.com/kietkatharsis
facebook.com/sangria007
Tags: Clothing, Designers, Latex, Retail