JANA LAM

The Freedom Tour- How it’s Going
In exactly one day less than one month we’ll be closing the doors to the . First and foremost I am grateful to have had the opportunity to try our hand in a shopping setting like South Shore Market. It was a challenge but honestly I didn’t flinch at the task of furnishing, decorating and filling a 1200 sq ft retail space- that was the easy part. We worked really hard on it and I’m proud of what we created. It’s a beautiful space filled with beautiful things. The truth is though, it was never really us. My heart wasn’t as invested in the space as it had been at Pohukaina. That’s not to say that if we were swimming in sales and customers that we wouldn’t keep it going, but the realization that it isn’t working has served the purpose of bringing me back to who we are as a brand. We’ve been hustling day in and day out to keep a large brick and mortar shop and an online shop filled. The constant burden of that kind of production has taken away from the guts and heart of our small boutique creative and design studio. That’s what we are…we’re a team of creators that design and (hand)make wearable art.
I’m the person on our team who tends to dream big and chase stars and get sidetracked by versions of success that aren’t necessarily true to my core. Though I still think World domination would be nice, if I can’t screen print and hand sew my way there, I’m not doing it.
So anyway, we’re sad to say goodbye to SSM but it’s time to move on and do things a different way. We’ve been having 3-6 hr meetings- planning and plotting our future moves. So stay tuned because, though the transition may be slow, things for the Jana Lam brand will be very different in the near future. In the meantime come visit us in our rainbow world before we close our doors. Our open hours will continue to be 11am to 6pm everyday through April 7th.
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Thank you all for your support over the years.  We love you and appreciate you. And we can’t wait to share what’s next ❤️
xx
Jana

The Freedom Tour 2024- How it Started
People told me it would be too hard- that retail square footage was too costly. So I put the dream aside. But in the summer of 2017 all it took was my grumpy neighbor calling with an unwarranted noise complaint to make my dream a reality. Nora from the state was so apologetic when she gave us 30 days to shut down my home operation (because we had 4? too many cooks in the kitchen) I’ll even hazard to say she was straight up sad for us. I was sad, and scared and I cried for a whole day, and then cried again at Jo’s desk as I feared she would tell me finding a location for production (and maybe retail) would be impossible under the circumstances. But I told my team, there’s no way we’re shutting down, and I think even that same day I made an SOS call to asking for help. The location options were bleak and I was about to settle for a notwhatwewanted spot when a miracle occurred and we found 851 Pohukaina. My heart was in my throat for months as we negotiated on the lease takeover. And then in the midst of moving, we took on a giant project (for us) furnishing not one, but two cabanas at the Four Seasons. If that wasn’t enough we were also dealing with a situation in which a company nottobenamed had copied one of my designs. My lawyer giggled with glee when boxes upon boxes of their pirated product were dropped in the loading dock of his office. It didn’t feel like a victory to me, but at least it was over. And by November we had set up our little studio and shop on Pohukaina; no one died transporting our enormous wash out and later putting the mural up on the wall (seriously the scariest moment of my life and I think Megan’s and Kellie’s), and we were in time for Christmas shopping ☺️🎄
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You show your strength in adversity right? That was a ridiculous time filled with anxiety and tons of work, but we pulled it off. And I am extremely grateful to have gone through that because it has set us up to tackle the things that are coming…

The Freedom Tour 2024: The Balancing Act
I’ve always thought that I am very transparent and authentic on Instagram. What you see is what you get. But the other day someone on my team told me, not that I’m totally wrong about that but that there’s a discrepancy between what I show and who I am and what things are really like for me and the Jana Lam Fam and the brand. I’ve played up the bougie side of myself because that IS a part of me, and I love more than anything to have fun and make people laugh. I’ve also been trying, in a sense to highlight the bougieness of our bags. Years ago I made a resolution to myself that because the cost of making our products, regardless of style or print or whatever (think of all the labor of and our Seam Team- , .m0n, and ) is so high, that I would make them look the part- look and feel as expensive as we can. If you’re going to spend the money I want you to have as much luxury as possible. But in all of this I’ve gotten caught up. I freak out on the regular about the image of our brand and who we are as a brand. I realize that I’ve gotten a little lost, and I haven’t really let people into my heart and the heart of what we do. Also at heart, I’m maybe a little bit of storyteller and a writer (my first undergrad degree was in English (with a concentration in gender studies yo!)). I want SO badly to tell my/our story, and for you to understand me/us. So I’m going to do my best and try. I know it won’t be easy but I’ve got my team alongside me to help. Behind all the bougie things (which are mostly from Target btw) and the lovely looking life, is the rest of the story that I haven’t done a good job of telling. It’s taken a big lightbulb moment to get me here (and I’ll get to that moment soon) but I’m ready, and though I’m scared and sad, as always I’m excited, and excited to share.

A bluesy, breezy Tuesday with lovely little things from the …find them there and only there, cause that’s how we roll 😊💙shoptheshop

Happy Girls’ Day to two of my favorite almost, almost 8 yr olds…notsolittle Pisces Monkeys ♓️ 🐒 that conquered Kaka‘ako today, and next the 🌎 .,
Happy Girls’ Day to all the lovies out there 💛
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North shore type things and adventures with Kaki Mochi and 🌈
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Vibing today, and dem cute little things always make me so 😁 Shop the for that girl who loves her tiddlywinks 😉 What are tiddlywinks btw?

This is hitting shelves tomorrow!! A bunch of artists did this thing for Foodland’s 75th anniversary- we each made a print first and then turned it into a product. They took our suggestions, and this is what I chose. Can you tell what it is by the colors?? Ya’ll be crazy about Tyvek, like the last bag and pouch in this print, and so was I, but I’m crazy about this technology too. Something about it tickles me pink. I’m so excited! And you’ll hear more to come soon! 😊

House shots with my bestie and the boss bar ladies at the awesome courtesy of my fave 🤗 They made us some really delicious drinks. If you haven’t been, you need to go!

Starting off the spooky 😂 Oh hey October, nice to see you, can’t believe you’re here already! 🖤

Sax: endless opportunities to add some cuteness to your space! (Baby not included) 🥰🌸

Get some brownie points! 😉🤎
Find them fudgey and pizza colors on janalam.com!
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Don’t miss our new x Collection: Hibiscus in Guava Breeze, hitting janalam.com at 10am HST (earlier for email subscribers) and the shop shelves at 11am tomorrow, Saturday, 9/23! We can’t wait!

Fresh, perfect papayas available daily in the 💛
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When you just want something classic…the OG JL Envelope Clutch in size Classic of course ☺️ Only a few of these left on janalam.com.

Oh you know, just hanging around the ready to be taken on an adventure!
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Classic denim zipper clutches are in the now 💙👖
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Breakfast of champions in the 💪🏼
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There’s only one of these classic envelope clutches left on janalam.com 💗
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We have a hard time keeping these in stock…which I totally understand because I’ve had a hard time finding stock of this size tissue boxes! Is it allergy season?? Whatever the case they are so fun to have. They turn a sort of irritatingly not cute thing into something lovely and eye catching ☺️
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It’s just classic. Whether you’re going on a trip to a foreign locale or a trip to the grocery store. The Jana Lam Duffel is all that and a bag of chips 😉 Find this lovely in the !
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Hope you’re having a hip hoppy, show stopping Monday!!
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Some lovely earthy color vibes from the our online shop!
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It’s raining again so I’m serving up
🌈🌈🌈 at the
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When black and white is just right alright alright alright 😉
Check the Half Moons…they’re coming soon soon soon.
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Sitting’ pretty. F***y + Crown in Matcha Latte 💚
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For the babies and the baby mommas! 💗 Our new x Collection- Luna’s Jungle is now available on janalam.com and in the !
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Today’s shoes and satchel combo 🤗
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Waiting for 🌈🌈🌈
Who’s with me???
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JANA LAM updated their business hours.