For World AIDS Day this Saturday (1 Dec) the team at Clonezone have special items for sale and they are throwing a party at the Old Compton Street store, all to raise money for the National AIDS Trust. Dave Cross invited Topher Taylor to sit on his lap and tell him everything!
Hey Topher, so how is life in Clonezone Land at the moment?
It’s crazy as usual and lots of fun. Our office is like a school lunchroom with so much noise and chaos. Every time we have a visitor, I feel like we eat them alive. Do you remember those Spice Girl clips from the 90s where they’re all screaming and sitting on men’s lap? That’s us. Well, it may JUST be me… But, in all seriousness, we’ve had a really fabulous year with a newly regenerated team and I think after nine years here I can say that I am happier than ever. We’ve reached out to so many organisations and Pride events this year, I’ve never felt closer to our customers and that’s what it’s all about. We deal with people’s most personal and intimate wants and needs, so it’s vital they’re comfortable to shop and interact with us.
This Saturday is World AIDS Day, what do you have planned for Clonezone stores?
I’ve been working with National AIDS Trust for a couple of months to secure a way that we can support the charity. I hate superficial fundraising relationships and wanted to get something going which made sense.
We have the beautiful limited edition World AIDS Day pins from designers such as Jasper Conran and Lulu Guinness which are available online and in Clonezone Soho. Every single penny from the sales is going to NAT.
What’s happening in store on the day?
On Saturday 1 December we’ll be having a party during the day in Clonezone Soho. An official National AIDS Trust collector will be outside shaking their bucket (the one they’re holding – don’t be rude, this is for charity) and we’ll have gorgeous guys encouraging people to empty their pockets. If you’re in the area, swing by and say hello. It’ll be fun. It always is. I appreciate that times are hard, especially at Christmas, but even if you can spare just 10p, please do. Come and see us at 35 Old Compton Street from about 2pm.
Why did you choose National AIDS Trust?
I have a lot of respect for the team and see them working day in, day out. Each year they manage to spread the word with their campaign theme, with this year’s theme being ‘Rock the Ribbon’. I appreciate how hard they have worked over the years to affect social change and the attitudes towards those living with HIV. They are ballbusters who have quite simply changed the world for the better. I like people like that.
We are approaching Christmas, how are the plans going and is there anything you’re really excited about?
Christmas is always a fun time of year at Clonezone. It gets crazy busy, but I like working like that. We have so many new arrivals in terms of underwear, fashion, bondage and sex toys. It may not be comfortable unwrapping a butt plug in front of Mum and Aunt Linda, so lots of our customers use this time of year to treat themselves to pleasure products. We have ‘stand out’ new arrivals from Nasty Pig (fashion and underwear) as well as Tenga, Nexus, SquarePeg and Hankeys (sex toys) which I would put to the top of any XXXmas ‘wish list’.
clonezone.co.uk
Clonezone Soho, 35 Old Compton Street, Soho, W1.
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