Independent since
Brixton, 1999
Dresses, skirts and shirts designed in our London studio, fitted on real women and made to be worn for years. Women-led from the first day, and still listening.
Louche, summer
It began on Coldharbour Lane
JOY opened a few weeks before Christmas 1999, in what had once been the transport entrance to Woolworths, with no heating and a founder who had designed and produced for most of the British high street before deciding to build something of her own.
Brixton was a long way from polished then. The women who came in thanked her for opening, told her what they wanted on the rails, and became the shop's eyes and ears. They shaped JOY in ways nobody could have done alone, and they still do.
Known for the thing you hadn't seen elsewhere
For over twenty years JOY was the shop you went into for the label nobody else had found yet, for the gift chosen with the same eye as the clothes, and for windows people crossed the road for. Out of that shop floor came our own label, Louche, which customers began asking for by name.
This brand was built not just by me, but by a community of women who believed in it.
The website arrived in 2012. In 2022 JOY moved online for good, run from our London studio by the same people who ran the shops.
Louche, designed in south London
Louche is the reason most people come to JOY now. It is designed in our West Norwood studio by a team headed up by Maureen O'Brien, who have been cutting dresses for a long time, with prints drawn in-house rather than bought from a library, and every shape tried on real women before it goes anywhere near a factory.
It is built around shapes we keep returning to because you do: pockets where you want them, bodices that fit, fabrics chosen to be worn for years rather than a season. Many of the factories that make it have been partners for years; a factory that looks after its people makes a better dress.
Questions people ask
Where is JOY based?
Does JOY have shops?
Who designs JOY's clothes?
Are JOY and Louche the same company?
What does JOY sell?
What sizes does JOY make?
What do customers say about JOY?
Does JOY deliver outside the UK?
I spent what felt like a lifetime designing and producing for almost every high street brand in the UK and overseas before I realised I needed to start again and build something of my own. Coldharbour Lane in those days was not quite what it is now, but customers welcomed us with open arms, and many of those early customers became friends. It was the best possible introduction to what women actually wanted to wear.
We eventually opened more shops, probably too many in retrospect. When you grow too quickly it becomes difficult to give everyone the personal service that made the business special in the first place. What has never changed is the idea: finding clothes that women genuinely enjoy wearing, and making pieces that feel good, fit well and last far beyond a single season.
A while ago a long-standing customer came in with her daughter and said, "You remember that blouse you took from my wardrobe last week? I bought that in Joy 20 years ago." That, to me, is true sustainability.
What Forty Years in Fashion Has Taught Me About Cotton
Why I believe in recycled cotton, and the choices we make. There is no...
READ MORE →
What Makes a Great Trouser?
The three trouser shapes we're wearing on repeat right now: the Tilde straight leg,...
READ MORE →
What Makes a Fairytale?
Look closer. Hidden rabbits and squirrels woven into the cloth itself. The Fairytale jacquard...
READ MORE →