Have you been to The Jungle?
Ah, nothing like a day in The Jungle! The beauty that surrounds you, the fresh air, the soft breezes, the lush plants, the beautiful animals, and the bold, creative, distinctive designs. Wait. What? Distinctive designs? In the jungle? Yes, I said distinctive designs. That’s what I found at The Jungle sim.
As I wondered around this beautifully designed sim, mouth agape in awe at the rather luscious creations all around me, I ran into the king himself, Lion Valentino. Being the friendly king that he is, he said hello and we got a chance to talk.
Currently his sim, The Jungle, houses his stores each of which has it’s own theme. Amongst the stores located on the sim are Jungle Wear, Straps, Water Babies, The Lion’s Mane, Kruzerz, Identities, Novel T’s, and Glitz. As if that weren’t already enough to take care of, this brilliant designer/builder/entrepreneur is in the process of building yet another new store. It is going to be called “JWValentinos” for more of his “posh” clothing.
The Jungle SIM
In addition to having an entire sim dedicated to retail, he also has an online website: http://www.valentinossl.com/ which is a directory of his stores as well as latest releases and contact information.
His designs, which are primarily menswear, cover a wide range of tastes and styles and include casual wear, swimwear, formal wear, underwear, and even body hair! As Lion says, he has “something for every mood.”
There are items for the ladies at the sim, including this eye catching selection:
Water Babies Leopard Print Suit
Notice the excellent detail in the design as well as the fabric. The side tied sashes add a beautiful and unique finishing touch. This swimsuit, named Tied Sash One Piece, shown in leopard, comes in 10 colors and prints.
However, Lion primarily designs with the male in mind. Here is a picture from “The Sock” Swimsuit Collection. With 50 to choose from in different styles and colors, there is one sure to be right to suit every man.
The Sock Swimsuit Collection
Lion, who designs and runs his stores full time, loves what he does and would do it whether people were to buy from him or not. Though he does put a lot of time into it, he firmly believes fashion should be affordable, something this author really loves. In addition, all items in his stores, with the exception of body hair, are also transferrable so you can give them as gifts! Perfect for every fashion conscious partner who loves to dress their man.
Part of Lion’s current focus, in addition to opening a new store (as if that weren’t enough to keep a man busy), is to revamp the Jungle Wear store and organize the designs into outfits to help those who don’t quite know what to put together.
Something he definitely offers his customers: choice! He makes each design available in several colors. He states there is plenty of black and gray out there for guys and that he likes to change things up and offer “nomal” colors as well as a few colors that are “out there.”
Lion states one of the keys to his success is to keep the merchandise fresh by making frequent new releases. He says he has a lot of repeat customers who come back every week to see what’s new. He makes a new release each week for at least one of his many stores.
One of his latest releases is a convertable sweater. It has pushed up prim sleeves and a cowl neck collar. In addition, it is modifiable so you can remove the collar, lengthen the sleeves and have a whole new look!
When asked how he got into the business, he said it never was for the money, he just likes to challenge himself. When he first began SL ( there were only about 50 regions then), a friend entered him into a men’s beauty contest and he was trying to find a speedo for the swimsuit competition. He said back then no one made men’s clothing so he made his own, a leopard print (which he still has), and someone wanted it and so it went from there.
So, if you haven’t yet been to visit The Jungle, take a tp and check it out. And no more complaints that you can’t find awesome menswear!
Visit The Jungle Today! http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Jungle/111/63/26
