Stop by the store and save NOW!

Between then and now we are amid a storewide MOVING SALE at our current location with markdowns throughout the store plus an extra 15% off your entire order if you spend more than $150.

We will be closed from Monday June  24-Friday June 28.

The Grand Opening of the new location will be June 29 at Noon featuring lots of new ideas and styles to present!! More news soon!

I have a crushed velvet dress with no care instructions. It needs to be cleaned!

- Velveteen Bunny

Dear Bunny,

Lucky for you, crushed is the easiest velvet to care for. With most smooth velvets, you need to avoid folding or “crushing” it because you can break the pile and create permanent creases.

You will still need to figure out what your garment is made from, as there are many types of velvets made from cotton, silks or synthetic fabrics. Most types of velvet require dry cleaning, as water can discolor or wrinkle the pile (though the pile on crushed velvets is already wrinkled – do you want to risk discoloration?). If your dress is a stretchy velour-like velvet, it may be machine-washable.

If you can find another garment in a store that is similar to yours, you can check the care instructions. In the meantime, if you like the dress, play it safe and take it to the dry cleaner.

My concern is thus: In what ways can I strategically move through the world and employ a more radical fashion style without feeling like I’m somehow compromising my own political feminist and leftist ideals? In this particular time and place – a contestably postfeminist era, the assumption is  that feminist work is done and that it’s passe. That said, how am I as a self-identified genderqueer radical feminist supposed to select fashion styles that empower me, allow me to safely move through different spaces without feeling threatened, while still fucking with dualistic gender lines, having fun, and gaining pleasure from it in a third-wave feminist way?

What makes these styles radical or transgressive? Radical styles disrupt conservative or normative conceptions of gender performance. They showcase a queer subcultural distinction, display an alternative sexuality or bodily presentation, and/ or utilize fetishized materials such as leather, latex, or vinyl. These styles sexualize bodies with buyers selecting their styles with their own agency, which can empower and help people be well in their lives.

Once someone has developed a particular subversive, fetish, or kinky taste in style, where then does one find these particular radical styles?  At Passional Boutique, we make sure to supply customers with various alternative, fetish, kink, queer and gender subversive products from independent designers such as Baby Love and Polymorph latex, Unik and Northbound leather, Delicious corsetry, and various Coquette products among others! We cater to alternative fashion with plenty of products for different bodies to choose from that range from extra small to size five extra large (it’s five, right?). If you have ever been curious about what your body would look like cinched down four inches in a corset, a trans body in a binder or with foam or silicone breast forms, or lubed up and slipped into a latex product, please stop by and see what alternative fashion styles you find particularly uplifting, encouraging, and empowering!

Stop by the store and save NOW!

Markdowns throughout the store. Dozens of items have been marked down and are on our clearance rack or hung throughout the store- look for orange “SALE” Disks on the hangers of sale merchandise!

Additional Savings. Take  an additional 15% OFF your entire purchase if you spend $150 or more in-store (this is in addition to affiliate discounts )

Note for the guys: All of our men’s leather is in Chicago at IML for the weekend, so we have consolidated men’s and women’s (nonleather)  fashions into the front room with a big round SALE rack of markdowns for him and her and anybody!

Pardon our appearance. We are moving  our Sexploratorium store first, and will temporarily move many products into the back room of PASSIONAL while we renovate our new, exciting store!

Friday March 8, 7-9PM at William Way
Leather 101 with Toni Solenne
Coinciding with International Women’s Day on Friday March 8th, Mid-Atlantic Leatherwoman Toni Solenne will present a workshop at William Way Center from 7-9PM, Leather 101.  Suggested donation $5, free to members of any TNG organization.

Old Guard, New Leather, earning leather, bootblacking-what’s it all about? This workshop is an introductory look at the leather subculture within the larger kink community. Leather has a long history, traditions, values, and protocols. By looking at important pieces of leather, we will tell tales of our leather ancestors’ spirit, hotness, and traditions.

Toni Solenne is Mid Atlantic Leatherwoman 2012. This Pennsylvania Futch Leatherdyke has been travelling the country networking with and educating generations of leatherwomen and their leather-friends. She first discovered the intoxicating combination of kink and leather in 1991 and hasn’t stopped pursuing that first high. An active player in the Baltimore women’s community, Toni is coordinator of FIST and on staff at the Carter-Johnson Leather Library. Toni frequently attends events throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and has a passion for leather women’s history.

Invasion of The Bike Stop after the workshop… just a few short walking blocks away. Come out and raise a glass in support of Toni as we help to send her off to compete at International Ms Leather. We will have a keg, jello shots and other surprises. A portion of the proceeds of the bar night will go to Toni’s IMsL travel fund. So lets help send her off Philly style!

Suggested parking lot -1321 Locust Street – entrance on Locust (big green sign) or Juniper between Locust and Walnut. 5 story indoor parking garage 1 block to the William Way Center – 2 blocks to the Bike Stop

Friday March 8th 9pm to midnight
Philadelphia Leather Alliance bar night at The Bike Stop: Join members of the Philadelphia Leather Alliance and learn about our organization. We will have guest Mid-Atlantic Leatherwoman Toni Solenne visiting us for the night. We will have a keg, jello shots and other surprises. Come party!

April 12th   7pm to 9pm
Philadelphia Leather Women of Today: Women’s bar night at The Bike Stop
Looking to connect with Today’s Leather Women? Find out who they are, old and new? Well, so are we! Come out for a couple hours to meet, talk, dance and drink intThe Pit of the Bike Stop. No Gimmicks, No Commitments, Just for FUN!

At noon, join us for a toast  on the anniversary of our first moments of business at 704 S. 5th St.  From noon-10PM at PASSIONAL say “Happy Birthday” to get 17% off one item- and be sure to take home some back issues of classic PASSIONAL Magazine. Then join us later at Vortex Wednesdays- where your receipt from PASSIONAL or Sexploratorium will get you $1 off at the door!

Thank you for making 2012 an amazing journey of fashion, fantasy and family!

Looking Forward… out with the old and in with the NEW!

This was the last year we will be using our old-fashioned rewards system where you must cash in your rewards for the year every January. Thanks to an upgrade in our point- of-sale system, beginning January 1, 2103, your rewards will be issued monthly based upon the prior month’s purchases! All sales rung through our register will automatically generate and redeem rewards with each purchase – rewards become available 30 days after your purchase and are valid for 30 days after becoming available. This means that in addition to more immediate gratification, you will already be earning rewards on the money you spend when you come in to redeem 2012’s rewards this January! The only downside is that this is the last year we can offer double rewards to our affiliates, who will continue to enjoy a discount on every purchase!
If you would like to redeem your rewards on our websites simply state in the “comments” section that you want to apply your rewards to your purchase. Remember, our websites do not tally shipping and do not charge your card until we ship, so although it may appear that your discount has not been applied, we will apply it manually before we charge you. We will continue to manually apply your rewards on web orders until our website is updated (at which point it may become automatic).  Any ecommerce programmers reading this who might like to assist in our update are welcome to email us.

Note: We are currently in the process of searching for new locations for our stores.  Depending upon the outcome of our new location search, rewards for Sexploratorium and for PASSIONAL may be tallied separately. Click Sign Up to be notified of any and all news via email.

Redeem your rewards at MAL in Washington, DC. You only have until the end of the month to spend your 2012 rewards (we apologize for this but it is the last time!). If you are in the DC area, you can redeem your rewards at the PASSIONAL Booth!

New year, new location(s)? Help us make the right choices!

We are currently scouting for a new location or locations to better serve YOU.

PASSIONAL Boutique launched Sexploratorium in 2007 as its retail space dedicated to healthy sexuality & sex education products/resources. This year we will likely need to move Sexploratorium, possibly consolidating with PASSIONAL into a larger space.

The building that houses Sexploratorium has been sold and we are actively seeking a new location for one or both of our stores while we remain on “month-to-month” leases. We launched the “two store system” in 2007 to better serve two distinct customer types: sexuality shoppers and fashion shoppers. However, many of our customers roam from store to store so we are considering consolidation if we can find the right real estate! Please take a moment to complete our 5-question survey about what is important to you when you shop our retail stores. Also folks in the real estate business are welcome to contact us about potential new locations.

Diabolique 2013 – Save the Date – Noevmber 23!
Libertine Ball will be on hiatus this summer as we focus on readying a new location and forging a new path, but Diabolique is scheduled for November 23.  Spread the word!
Diabolique Ball 2012 was a blast thanks to Jean Bardot, Rev Bev and a host of amazing entertainers, celebrities and volunteers. We were thrilled to donate $4000 each to One Step Away and Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue as well as over $1000 split between GALEI, The Ali Forney Center and Mix Tape.

New year, new road trips!
Kali and Brooklyn and a few other amazing folks have full travel itineraries this year! Click the “calendar” link on our website for events of interest (cosplay, fetish, fashion @PASSIONAL). If you are planning your convention schedule for the first half of the year, here is where you will find your favorite PASSIONAL fashions :

January 2013:
Mid-Atlantic Leather, Washington DC

 February 2013
The Crucible LF&P, Washington CD
Providence FFF, Providence RI
Dark Odyssey Winter Fire, Washington DC
Colonial Kink, Norfolk VA

March 2013
Texas Latex Party, Houston TX
Frolicon, Atlanta GA
Kinkfest, Portland OR

April 2013:
CLAW, Cleveland, OH
Twisted World, Piscataway NJ

May 2013
Steampunk World’s Fair, Somerset NJ
International Mr. Leather, Chicago IL
Camp Crucible, Darlington MD
Shibaricon, Chicago IL

We will very likely be changing locations in the coming year, and we need your feedback! Please fill out our quick 5-question location survey and help us determine the best future for our business home!

Step out of 2012 in style- Buy one, take another item 20% OFF thru 8PM 12/31

PASSIONAL Boutique will be closed on January 1st and 2nd for storewide inventory. We expect rewards redemption, web order fulfillment and business as usual to resume by noon on Wednesday January 1.