This post is dedicated to all latex designers that suck at web design, but make awesome latex clothing! Just because your website looks totally 1993, doesn’t mean that it can’t be featured here on Lust, Love & Latex!
So with no further delay, give it up for these amazing latex designers:
Please leave a comment, if you know a latex designer that should be posted here!
They should really update their websites though… Me, an uninformed buyer, would never buy stuff from a website like that. They might have the best latex in the world. If I’d stumble upon their sites on a google search, I’d give them a glance and move on.
It might chance now that they’re mentioned here, I’ll give them a more thorough look, but still. Update it! :)
“Just because your website looks totally 1990…”
That would be a blank screen. There was no World Wide Web in 1990.
The “DeMask” Web Site is also terrible.
And then, maybe I shouldn’t say this, cause I visit their physical shop, and beautiful Heidi, quite a lot and have spent a fortune there too, but the “Latexa Fashion” Web Site is also really bad.
Have a look at the Regulation of London website! It is dire.
@Nyckname: Ok you super geek! 1993 then!
@Ray: Regulation of London has a cool site, they are too good to be on this list.
@Nils: Demask is bad to navigate, but it’s not hopeless and has a designed look.
Interesting post. I would not even consider buying anything from those companies (I have never even heard of them). If a company can’t keep its website up to date with HTML 5, how am I supposed to trust that they know their latex?
Sorry “Cocoon” and “Demask” (whatever you are), no sale!
@3xL: I agree that DeMask has a designed look. Unfortunately, this design hasn’t changed the last 10, or so, years. Their frame set within frame set setup is so 90’s. The way you have to click a thumbnail, to get a slightly larger size pic and then click this pic to get a bigger sized pic (in a pop-up, which often does not fit the pic), that is borderline hopeless, in my book ;-). And their basket is also a pop-up, which at times seems to have it’s own life, so to speak, grrr…
@Swedish Rubberboy: I’ve bought items from both shops, and have bee very satisfied!
There’s a lot of fetish site’s that have crappy design or rather none. Especially Cocoon, i would never buy something from a website which doesn’t even have a webshop.
All they have is you can send them an email with your order, i wouldn’t be surprise if their sales numbers are going down.
I think a lot of these sites would be able to boost their sales with getting a new website AND a webshop. It’s not like it’s that expensive today as it used to be.
The reverse can be a trap – all sizzle and no steak. Web design can market expectations which can’t or are not delivered.
This is really a double edged sword and probably the best approach is to find the item you want, and chances are many companies make it or some very similar and then compare terms of the sale, and then go to some web sites and see what their reputation is and finally how responsive are they to email inquiry. Use as many things as you can to make your decision.
It appears that despite all the great designs we are seeing – many vendors are making them… that is aside from the really one off stuff.
And then not every business is trying to grow by leaps and bounds and may be content with the repeat biz and rely on their reputation.
Having said all the above, a snappy web site is very seductive (and appropriate for fetish).
This topic is great, I have been thinking the same about Cocoon’s site for years. It hearkens back to the private BBS (Bulletin Board System)days, so 3xL’s 1990 date is vindicated!
Nothing like an old geek who remembers the good old days of 300 baud rate uploads!!
When I was learning web design I nearly offered to redo Cocoon’s for them in return for merchandise, but never got around to it. I thought they went out of business recently, or was that just their shop?
And I agree, I wouldn’t buy from shops that can’t even get good photos of their products or set up a web shop.
My view may be slightly biased as I’m involved in web design, but I do find that most latex shops tend to have pretty bad design, from a usability and visual point of view. I’m really not fond of the Demask site, brings back a lot of bad memories from the early website days :P
I know that a site design and development is a cost that most small companies will baulk at, especially in these times, so you get a lot if terrible looking sites based on free software.
I think times are changing though, and there’s a lot of new, good looking sites and systems out there. I think most vendors have gone from “I have a website!” to “I have a website that works and looks good!”
Whenever I come across sites like these, I think either its a poorly conceived scam site or the webstore’s sales suck so bad they can’t afford to update the site/server/etc.
Another possibility is that most in the community are just fiscally tighter than the clothing they wear. ;) Sales are good, but they don’t see the need to invest in what they have created.
Another is that some newer websites are such a nightmare to navigate, and these folks have seen them, they decide just to keep the site simple, therefore the shopping experience interactively simple. They might not be fluent in the codes and new software out there, but sometimes the experiences are what determine the website simplicity.
SELF NOMINATION. http://www.kinkengineering.com and http://www.sheetlatex.com
I spend so much time building things for my customers, and on designing the next generation of stuff that I almost never get time to focus on our online presence like I want it to be.
Pretty much every young latex company has the same problem of not having enough staff/capital to afford the hundreds of hours or thousands of dollars for website overhauls.
I try to make up for lack of content with a realistic view of who we are and what we do. Seems to be going well so far as our customers are happy and we are growing.
I’m starting to realize that I need to spend my time making great latex and therefore trust my web-design needs to a pro… but even then, content has to be written by us to go on the website, photos of new work needs to be taken, web store needs to be updated, taxes need to be done, the cats need to be fed, and the dishes need to be done… aaaaaahahhhh!!!
Matt – Owner of Kink Engineering custom latex.
Yep, ABLatex is kinda world champion… I know them well, told them about it, about the “Xtra” poor quality of the shots, but they told me “what the fuck? We sell more and more, and even in UK! We know it’s awful, but it works!”.
So…
Best regards!
Bennett, from Polizei Klub