About Purple Passion

Purple Passion/DV8 strives to provide the most knowledgeable staff, highest quality products, greatest selection, and lowest price to all our customers in the New York City metro area and beyond.

History

I started Purple Passion in 1992. I first started out doing shows and mainly carried art work. I had a few friends who were fetish artists and I hoped to sell and promote them. I also had a number of friends who made leather toys and who insisted that I take their stuff and if it did not sell I could return it.

Anyway to make a long story short, I would have two tables, one for toys and one for art. I would end up selling the toys but rarely sell any artwork. I finally cut down on the artwork and expanded the toys. In 1993, I started carrying clothing, at this time I was still working as a computer hacker so I had two jobs. I then started doing ‘by appointment only’ in my apartment, selling clothing and toys . This lasted for nearly two years, I also rented a theater once a month in the East Village and with a bunch of friends and had monthly ‘Fetish Flea Markets’. Finally, I came to a point where I ran out of time. I could do my computer job and the shows ‘okay’ or have one job/career and devote all my time to it.
So that was how I took a chance, and gave up my computer career for fetish and fashion!

My first store was a quaint little shop in Chelsea, Manhattan.
We opened April, 1st 1995. Moved everything from my apartment to the store.
One of the advantages I have is that I used to make toys for a hobby so I know good from bad quality which has helped me tremendously when working with people that make toys. After the toys I then expanded into clothing, including corsets. We currently stock over 300 corsets. We then added boots and shoes, and finally expanded to carry books  and magazines.All the toys we carry are well made and are made for playing. I don’t carry novelties as I try to focus on the Fetish S/M lifestyles. There are many stores in New York that carry novelties. We also expanded our clothing line to include clothing from sizes Petite to 6X, also dresses from size 02 to 26 and corsets from 18″ to 44″ and sometimes even larger, We also have boots and shoes to size 14 and occasionally to size 16.

In general I am always looking to expand the “plus” size clothing line as I believe there’s a real need for it.
In 2001 we merged with DV8 a predominantly Gay Leather fetish store.
We moved into a much larger store, nearly 5 times the size of our old store.
The store has two floors,  we currently use the upstairs for retail
and the downstairs for boots and shoes. We also have  a class room for workshops  in the basement.
We are still in Chelsea, in the heart of New York City.
In April 2021 we will have been in business 29 years.

We want to thank all our customers for their continued support.
Wishing you much health, happiness and lots of kinkiness,
Hilton & the Folks at Purple Passion