Artworks: Plainfield boutique owner launches her own brand of jeans

On March 30, a Plainfield boutique will release its own brand of jeans, designed by its owner.

Each tag on the jeans contains the letter “J” and a butterfly.

And each tag reads: “Wear these jeans with a smile, may you carry a piece of my angel with you.”

“That represents my mom,” Jennifer Joho, owner, said. “And how good of a person she was and how she raised four of us kids to be very strong. I just had to put that out there.”

Janet M. Palmisano, Joho’s mother, died in 2013 from cancer.

Jennifer Joho held a grand opening celebration for J.Joho Boutique last September. She offers women’s and some men’s clothing, accessories and jewelry. But Joho’s biggest challenge was finding jeans she truly loved.

So Joho, a hair stylist for 15 years, decided to explore another side of her creativity and design her own.

“I’m a mom and I’m hippy and I like to find jeans that fit,” Joho said. “I don’t have a designer background. But just being in the industry and meeting with other sourcing companies, I just knew what I wanted to create.”

Joho played with designs and worked with a company who created a pattern for the brand she’s calling J.Joho Denim. The jeans will come in a dark, medium and light wash.

But the main features Joho wanted was versatility and a comfortable fit.

For instance, an active woman can wear her “regular size” and feel comfortable and stylish, Joho said. But if she purchases a pair in the next size down, the jeans become more of a body-shaping wear, she added.

“They have great stretch to them,” Soho said. “You can be a size 7 and look good in them and you can be a size 1 and look good in them.”

Soho, a mother of two children, said other mothers will especially like them, who may have trouble finding jeans with the right fit.

“We’re always bending; we’re always running,” Soho said. “We want to look good everyday but we also want to be comfortable. "

But go down a size and add a “cute top” and the same woman is ready to go out to dinner, Soho said.

Being artistic by nature, Soho incorporates that creative sense in her store.

“I’ve taught my employees that if a top washes a woman out, be honest with them and show them a different color,” Joho said. “Let them know what looks best on them, Encourage them to go outside their comfort zone.”

Joho, who also has interior design experience, did the same after Palmisano died. Grief led to a buildup of nervous energy, which Joho finally decided to channel into J.Joho Boutique.

“I didn’t go into this business to make money,” Joho said.

For instance past events on the J.Joho Boutique Facebook page show Joho has hosted a Moms Night Out and a Ladies Night Out.

Designing her own brand of jeans is a “work of love and much passion,” Joho wrote in an email, a “creative way of sharing” her mother’s own creativity and inner strength.

“My mom was a terrific person,” Joho said. “She just lit up a room when she walked into it.”

For more photos, visit this story at theherald-news.com/lifestyle/a-and-e.

Read An Extraordinary Life story about Janet M. Palmisano on April 1 in The Herald-News.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: J.Joho Boutique

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Closed on Mondays

WHERE: 24402 Lockport St. Unit 110, Plainfield

INFORMATION: Call 815-715-5351 or visit jjohoboutique.com