Our Intentions

As a business, we've been in quite a few sociopolitical situations that have given us pause. Do we speak up or hold our tongue on this one? I mean, just posting asking people to vote was somehow polarizing and had us under attack 2 years in a row.

Making the decision to post where we stand on any given social justice topic is not based on whether it will affect our bottom line. We know who our ideal customers are, and we've made that pretty clear with our branding, our products, and how we engage with you. (Especially in our Facebook group.)

Genuinely, it's been based on whether or not I have the spoons to engage with the comments and trolls that come with it. The last two years of unmanaged anxiety have been a bitch. And I'm getting it under control now (see my very personal post here). Most of the time I haven't had the emotional bandwidth to engage with trolls and angry comments and also keep the business going, take care of my household, and sleep at night.

This week, we crossed the line into social justice on our social media accounts and in the Back Room on Facebook, because staying silent caused us more pain than not, and we've decided that there's no going back.

Starting today, you'll see our regular content, new product previews, gorgeous pics of what we make and who is wearing and using it, and you'll also see us speak up when silence is not acceptable. We will no longer bite our tongue for any reason.

We'll give boosts to causes that deserve it, share our stance as a small business and two women who care a great deal about this planet and everyone on it, share resources for those in need, and most importantly to us, we will have multiple product lines at any given moment that raise money for non-profits close to our hearts.

Our For Good collection page will always feature whatever products we're offering that give back to our communities. Currently it's full of print-to-order products that give 100% of the proceeds to Feeding America. And we are working on what we can offer to raise money for bail funds.

Later this year, we are planning to release the Kate Collection, inspired by Kate Spade, which will support NAMI.org, as well as additions to our Pride collection which will support The Trevor Project.

We have always been as transparent as possible about who we are, and what our business stands for, and that won't change. You'll just be seeing more about it.

The first rule of the Back Room on Facebook is "Don't be a Dick":

Be kind. No bullying or hate speech. No personal attacks.

Bullying of any kind isn't allowed, and degrading comments about things like race, religion, culture, body-type, sexual orientation, gender or identity will not be tolerated. Healthy debates are natural, but kindness is required.

And what comes with that is assuming that others are not trying to be a dick, as well.

If you can’t be kind, be quiet.

We'll be applying this rule to our social media accounts as well. That means we'll delete harmful rhetoric and block people at our discretion. These are our spaces, and as such we're entitled to keep them as safe as possible for marginalized folks of all kinds, including ourselves. We don't owe you a debate.

And if our policies and our values don't align with yours, and you'd rather not shop with us, we're fine with that. There are plenty of small businesses offering kink gear. We are but one. And we know who we are, and we refuse to water ourselves and those values down any longer.