An interview with maker Fruit Salad as part of our 'Get to Know...' series.
Tell us a little about yourself and your business…
Fruit Salad is a sustainable fashion and lifestyle brand founded by Emma Gorton-Ellicott, who creates fun and colourful and unique sweatshirts and face pads for Prior Shop, with a fuller sustainable range also available.
Fruit Salad Rework collection is handmade and repurposed entirely from pre-loved clothing and homewares at her studio in Easton, Bristol. Emma also reuses as much fabric waste from the sustainable collections as possible creating the unique Fruit Salad patchwork fabrics (which become sweatshirts) & the reusable face pads are also made from these fabric remnants.
The reusable face pads are a bi-product of my collections with an aim to bring an end to use once products (like cotton wool and make-up wipes) reducing waste and replacing it with a sustainable item that you can use again and again.
Each item is lovingly handmade by Emma and are completely unique.
Where are you based?
Each item is lovingly handmade in Easton, Bristol.
Tell us a secret about you?
I have an extensive collection of vintage My Little Ponies
How do you make your work?
All the garments are created from pre-loved fabrics, each piece is lovingly sourced and curated by me. I love the element of surprise when using and sourcing pre-loved fabrics/ clothing as you never know what you are going to find!
I have certain pattern shapes that I always use but each piece is as unique and unpredictable as the next, which i find exciting.
I can't ever plan a collection ahead of time as I never know what pre-loved fabrics I am going to find & I really enjoy the spontaneity of this process.
Obviously I will choose fabrics that work well together but this random way of working continues into my patchworking. I use fabric remnants of all shapes and sizes, carefully jigsaw the pieces together (which can take a whole day) & sew them together to make large panels, using an overlocker. I then cut my (hand drafted) pattern pieces from these panels -I basically make my own patterns and unique patchwork fabric - & make the garment.
Although people like to think I have curated the whole patchwork designs, I have to admit, they are also completely random. I have an idea of what the finished garment will look like but its always an exciting reveal to me, which I absolutely love. This process actually suits my whole personality so I like to think there's a piece of me in each piece and I feel happy that I have reused existing pre-loved fabrics and helped reduce waste in support of slow, sustainable fashion.
Describe your studio…
My studio is super fun and friendly, I share with six other artists, creatives and makers. We are based at Garage Studios in the heart of Easton which is a real cool, laid back multi cultural area with lots more studios and indie businesses surrounding us.
I have a cute snug in the studios filled with colours, pre-loved fabrics, sewing machines and Fruit Salad garms! There's a big shared cutting table in the middle of the space where we all chat and work. I have been based there since 2020.
Tell us about your materials - where do you source them from and are they important to you?
Materials are REALLY important to me as I use only pre-loved fabrics and clothing. All these fabrics are sourced from charity shops, car boot sales and donated by friends, family and sometimes customers!
I decided going fully sustainable on my handmade pieces was the only way!
I decided to try to reuse my own waste by as possible by creating a bi-product (the reusable facepads) from my fabric remnants and my own unique patchwork fabrics.
I also have a small collection of organic t-shirts and beanies which are not handmade but are sourced, printed and embroidered locally in Bristol by independent businesses on small runs to reduce waste, this also keeps my carbon footprint to a minimum. My Fruit Salad labels are even embroidered by a local designer!
Why is it important to you that your work is made as responsibly and sustainably as possible?
Fashion is one of the third highest polluting industry in the world. From fashion waste to toxic chemicals polluting our waters and atmosphere not to mention the terrible conditions fast fashion workers have to deal with. Its a toxic and throwaway industry that needs to change!
I decided to boycott the high street and fast fashion and become a full supporter of slow, sustainable fashion processes.
Fruit Salad aims to be as sustainable as possible, using fabrics and clothing already in circulation to create unique pieces that will last and are made with care and love. Trends are also a massive problem in the fast fashion industry, I stopped following trends and it changed the way I dress and the way I design, for the better! It is important for me to stay as transparent as possible in the knowledge that you can always do more.
How and why did you start your small business?
I have a background in fashion design working for both my own sustainable fashion business and fast fashion businesses (yes fast fashion) as a fashion graduate. Then I had my lovely kids who took up a lot of my time so I worked as a fashion blogger and journalist, where I became very aware of the fast fashion crisis, I was also interviewing many amazing independent makers. I missed designing so much so when my kids got older I started to dip my toe in.
I started a small collection of fleeces and organic t-shirts which was successful (despite being launched in 2020 just as lockdown hit) but decided I needed to become fully sustainable and use only pre-loved fabrics for my collections.
During lockdown I couldn't get my hands on any fabric so I repurposed some of my own pre-loved sweatshirts and scraps of fabric I had at home. This was when I created my first ever REWORK sweatshirt. It took a while to build up a customer base and to sell at the coolest shops but I haven't looked back.
I started selling my Reusable Face pads at the original Prior Shop in 2021 and the sweatshirts joined them when the amazing current store opened. Fruit Salad loves Prior Shop!
Any fun facts about your business, or achievements you want to shout about?
I have sold over 150 sweatshirts alone! I am so proud of this!
I listen to the Blindboy Podcast nearly every day whilst in the studio, I have nearly listened to them all but I'm gonna go back and re listen, he's amazing!
I call all my customers Fruitties.
What do you love most about your small business and do you have a favourite piece of work?
I love working for myself and hanging out in the studio with my buddy & textile artist Aly Dalrymple, we are both over excited one minute and full on productive the next, we make each other laugh and encourage and inspire each other, which is a great working environment. I love going to the studio its an escapism.
Meeting my customers at markets is also totally amazing. It gives you a buzz to know you are both supporting sustainability and that they get you as a creative!
My fave pieces have to be the best selling patchwork sweatshirts, I love each and every one of them! The latest frilly collection is coming up a close second place!
What do you think are the benefits of people supporting independent business?
Supporting independent shops means the money is staying local, creating a circular economy. An independent gift shop will usually be supporting local and independent makers and artists who create unique (often sustainable) items that you will not find mass produced on the high street. Each creation is carefully designed and/ or handmade by these makers and artists, often on very small runs or unique one of a kind pieces. The care and process that goes into creating these items is very personal to each maker who each has their own style of working. It is so great to be able give a unique indie made gift over a mass produced gift.
An indie made gift is more likely to be a keeper, they are just so much more precious and unique, made from better materials that will last a lifetime. All these items are often made locally creating a very small carbon footprint, more like a carbon tip-toe!
Independent shops are often filled with other creatives, most of them have artists and makers helping out and working in their shops. This means all staff understand and absorb the idea behind an independent shop and understand the passion behind all the makers who are sold there. They are like fun and friendly little communities!
Support local!
In contrast, regular shops on the high street sell products that are mass produced and more often then not made by underpaid and over worked labourers. These products are then exported from other countries creating a shocking carbon foot print on our planet, these items are often sold cheaply which makes them more likely to become disposable and thrown in the waste.
What are your favourite things about PRIOR - both as a customer and a supplier?
I LOVE being part of such an awesome community of sustainable indie makers and artists! The shop looks amazing, I love the way Beck has curated the space right down to the earthy colour scheme. As a maker I am usually drawn to brights and pastel colour ways but the earthy colour way at prior inspired me to get into the earthy tones and I seriously love the pieces I make for Prior Shop.
Sometimes I create an item and just say 'ooohh that's deffo a Prior piece' I love that, it happens so organically!
As a customer I love The Prior plug in lights, Hairy Jayne hair products, VerdeKin Rose oil and all the new plants!!! I just want to live the whole Prior Shop lifestyle and its items are always on my Christmas list!
Tell us about your favourite purchase from a fellow maker. What is it and who made it?
My most favourite piece atm is a sustainable and unique smock dress made from vintage fabrics. It was a commission piece and I got to choose my fabrics and style from the makers collections of shapes and vintage fabrics. The maker is I Love Your Outfit. She makes the best vintage / smock dresses ever! I already own two dresses! I wear them all year round, loose in the summer and layered up in the colder months!
Do you have a goal for where you’d love your business to be in the future?
Firstly I would love to be able to sustain myself solely by running Fruit Salad, (I also work part time in an independent gift shop). I would like my business to grow, spreading the word for sustainability with as little help as possible. I want my business to stay organic, local and to become fully sustainable. Staying true to myself and Fruit Salad's sustainable ethos.Despite wanting to grow, I would always want to create small, unique runs - which is the nature of working with pre-loved fabrics - to mass produce would go against my beliefs as a sustainable creator and supporter. A couple of local machinists / cutters and maybe a social media and marketing assistant would probably do for me! Id love a bigger studio space and maybe a little shop? One step at a time.....I'm getting over-excited!
View Fruit Salad's handmade collection at Prior Shop here.
