Tits London is next up in our Local Heroes series, where we big up the people, small businesses and neighbourhood spots that make London great. Founded by Jess and Sophie, Tits London is a platform that showcases female makers and designers and raises money for charity via an Instagram account and physical pop-ups, where you can shop from the brands in person.
The pair, who have a background in the gift and buying world (Jess runs Rumble Cards and Sophie works in the lip balm biz), came up with the idea for Tits London back in 2018 when they were on the way to a festival. “The idea came about very naturally whilst we were talking about Bulletin (a feminist store in New York that was heavily involved in activism and stocked funny and interesting products) we felt there was nothing like that in London, and wanted to create a platform to promote independent female makers,” the pair say. “There are so many businesses that are created for women, but are run and owned by men, so we wanted to be part of this change.”
Jess and Sophie aim for one pop-up a year, finding most of the brands they stock through call outs on Instagram, but unsurprisingly the pandemic has made the logistics difficult. As they say, “during 2020 we had one pop up cancelled and our 2021 pop up just about made it before new restrictions were put in place. We have a lot of artists that we don’t want to let down, so that’s something we need to be cautious of when planning at the moment.” They’re definitely planning another Christmas one but they reckon a summer pop-up would be a fun one to do and give them an opportunity to showcase a different range of products.
The planning may be tricky but the pair certainly don’t struggle when it comes to items to stock, thanks in part to the rise in women starting their own businesses during lockdown. Candles were a big winner in 2021 – Tits London only stocked one candle brand, Pott Candles, but “she did amazingly, each pot is hand thrown and she also sells candle re-fills as a more sustainable way to burn candles,” say Jess and Sophie. “A brand we also LOVE is Eat Mielies. She is our only brand based outside of the UK, we are obsessed with her willy and bum socks, so they always make an appearance at our pop-ups.”
The Tits London pop-ups have been getting bigger and better each time and they’ve managed to build a loyal customer base, “we love the community we have created through Tits, it’s so great to see other artists connecting through us and watching everyone promote each other’s work. Also with our loyal following we have created on Instagram, we now have followers who come to every pop-up and that’s really exciting for us.” The charity element of Tits, where 5% of all sales get donated to Refuge to both raise awareness of and directly contribute to their work helping survivors of domestic abuse, is also something the pair are really proud of.
Jess and Sophie want to keep sharing the love amongst the community they’ve had a hand in creating, so they’re shouting out, “Limpet Store who has been with us since the beginning, Kam Creates for always bringing the fun energy to our pop ups & Eat Mielies.”