Pieces of The (Style) Puzzle >> Meet Jigsaw London

Today's post is a special interview with this month's featured sponsor, Jigsaw London.  The whole team at Jigsaw's California headquarters chipped in to answer my questions, which I thought was pretty rad.  I became quite a fan of Jigsaw's apparel when they first contacted me about sponsoring a few months ago, and have since become one of their official "Pieces of the Puzzle" bloggers.  Oh and P.S., Kate Middleton used to work for them!  True story!  I'm so excited to be able to share this behind the scenes look at Jigsaw London with you guys today...

Hello Jigsaw Team!  Tell us a little bit about the story behind Jigsaw London.  When and where was the brand founded?  Where are you located?

As a family owned British company, we have been designing, manufacturing, and retailing women's clothing and accessories for 40 years. Since opening our first store in Hampstead, England in 1972, the company has expanded to operate over 40 boutiques in the UK, and 4 in America with more to come (as well as the online shop).  We're based in Beverly Hills, California, and our goal is to introduce our distinct British heritage to the American woman with wit, charm and a dash of British panache!

What is Jigsaw London's focus/mission?

Our deep British roots are reflected in our love of color, obsession with knitwear and eccentric mix of patterns, color and shapes.  We have loyal customers who return season after season for our unique mix of wardrobe classics and of-the-moment silhouettes. We're also frequently described as 'the design house where Kate Middleton worked' - the Duchess of Windsor’s classic yet updated style is quintessentially Jigsaw London. We strive to give that effortlessly chic style to all women in the US.

How would you describe the Jigsaw Style?

We commonly describe our style as casually chic and "on trend," but never "trendy."  We're all about classic pieces for every woman's wardrobe, with a pinch of cheekiness thrown in for good measure!  We carry a large array of flattering cuts, fun prints and elegant styles, so we find that our clothes work for a diverse range of women. From young professionals to stay at home mom's, from established fashionistas to vintage-loving hipsters - Jigsaw has a little something for everyone!

I've noticed that you guys have a 'green' label.  As an eco-fashion designer myself, I think this is awesome.  Can you tell tell us a little about the label and Jigsaw's commitment to the environment?

Being a trans-Atlantic brand, we are very aware of our carbon footprint and we try to do everything we can to offset our contribution. One such method is through our American produced Green Label Line.  Every year, the apparel industry produces millions of yards of fabric and what isn't used in production gets forgotten in warehouses, sometimes for years. We love finding these "hidden gems" of fabric and giving them new life as Jigsaw London’s Green Label. We add no additional chemicals to the environment and up-cycle this fabric to product limited run designs. As such, we are able to support local artisans and create unique pieces all while reducing our carbon footprint through limited shipments and local production. Green Label currently makes up about 30% of our product offerings and due to the limited fabric, all the pieces are unique and limited - once a style is gone, it's gone for good! Plus, for extra fun, all our Green Label hang-tags are printed on biodegradable seed paper. So once you cut off the tags, you can plant them and flowers will grow!

I love that!  The Bubby and Bean blog focuses on living a creative lifestyle.  Aside from designing and producing your gorgeous clothing and accessories, in what other ways does Jigsaw London live creatively?

Living creatively is a huge part of the Jigsaw Brand.   Pretty much all of our US office is passionate about the arts - film, theater, dance, music, photography, painting, writing - we indulge all these passions and enjoy living inspired, creative lives! We share a lot of our inspirations and interests on our blog, Jigsaw Says, and we are striving to do even more through the blogging medium to share fun DIY's, recipes, spotlight indie-artists and of course, share fashion and styling tips! We are also inspired by so many of the creative women out there in the blogisphere, which is why we started our Pieces of the Jigsaw Puzzle Bloggers program. This fairly new project is our way to highlight all the bloggers we adore, share ideas and build a community of like-minded women interested in a creative, chic and healthy lifestyle. We also participate in several charities through the year, as we believe giving back to the community goes hand in hand with living a fulfilled life.   Last year we participated in the "Knit a Square" program for South Africa and managed to donate hundreds of knitted squares from our customers and friends to be used for blankets for children orphaned by AIDS. We felt it was a wonderful way to marry our interest in crafts and creativity with helping children in need. 

If you had to pick one Jigsaw London design that was your personal favorite right now, what would it be?

Personally, I adore our Studio 54 Dress from our Green Label Line. I have it in black and it is so comfortable and flattering.  Every time I wear it I get so many compliments!  But it is hard to pick just one... We have so many pretty pieces at the moment, and many just went on sale which makes them even more appealing!

Tell me a little more about your boutique locations.  Where can Bubby and Bean readers find Jigsaw London goods in person?

We have 4 brick and mortar boutiques on the West Coast. One in Beverly Hills, where our head office is located, and then 3 up north in San Francisco, Berkeley and Burlingame. We are very hopeful to open more shops on the east coast in the near future and we'd love to set up shop in the south as well!

One of our most popular series on Bubby and Bean is 'Friday is For Favorites.' Tell us your favorite of each of the following: color, movie, food, band.

COLOR: At the moment, collectively in our office, our favorite color is definitely Colbalt Blue! It's a big player in our Autumn/Winter line which should be hitting stores in August.
MOVIE: Lots of debate on this one as there are quite a lot of movie buffs here at Jigsaw London, but we've narrowed it down to Blow Up. It's a British film from 1966 about a photographer and we love it for the fashion and retro-styling. The clothes are simply the epitome of swinging sixties fashion and we just adore it! (Pssst... Jigsaw sent along the image above to demonstrate!)  Other contenders for our favorite films are Wonderland and Like Crazy, but we could probably come up with dozens more!
FOOD: Sticking to our British Roots, we'll go with Fish and Chips!
BAND: Belle & Sebastian

Big thanks to Heather and the Jigsaw London team for taking the time to share this behind the scenes glimpse into their amazing brand!  Make sure you guys take a minute to check out all of the super chic clothing, accessories, and shoes that they have to offer over at their online shop.  You'll be glad you did - not only because their clothing and accessories are to die for, but also because they have a massive sale going on right now (like up to 65% off!).

You can also can stay up to date on all of Jigsaw's products, projects, sales and summer activities by following them on their blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.