Fruit Face
An interview with Alec huth
I made this because… I wanted to create a really comfy, high quality and size inclusive baby tee. Quality was really important to me when we started manufacturing. I sourced fair-trade 100% organic cotton that is so soft it feels like a hug on your skin. I wanted to create a tee that would be someone's new favorite shirt. The shirt they reach for when they want to look stylish but also be comfortable.
Creative Inspiration: Some of the people I really look up to are Betsy Johnson and Susan Alexandra. They have both created such vibrant brands that are so unique and original. I am personally a fan of bright and colorful pieces.
To find more:
You can shop on our website: https://www.fruitfacesf.com/
Instagram:@fruitfacesf
Tik Tok: @fruitfacesf
Interviewed by Alex Kanter and edited for clarity.
For Alec Huth, founder of San Francisco based clothing brand Fruit Face, the vision for the brand is clear and welcoming. A fusion of child like nostalgia with the bright colors and vibrance of the city. To design, establish, and grow a clothing brand was all part of the plan.
Take us back to your hometown of Porterville, CA. Growing up, was creativity or entrepreneurship valued in your family?
Totally. My dad has his own business, and from a young age, I was always working for him, doing random things, shredding his paperwork, just anything that I could help with. I had that entrepreneurial mindset from a young age, and was always doing things like your classic lemonade stand. In middle school, I went to a private [Catholic] school, so I had to wear a uniform. I started a headband business where I would cut up our plaid skorts, and make them into cute, little, headband accessories. I started this little business by selling to my classmates and teachers. Even then, I feel like I always had a very competitive mindset and liked making money. I thought it was very interesting and very fun. In terms of creativity, my brother and my mom definitely play a role there. My brother is the most creative person I know, and my mom is also very artistic. So I feel like I grew up in a very crafty household.
Was the headband business driven by an early interest in fashion or simply a way to start another small business?
Both, I guess. At that time, I was just trying to find random ways to make money, and I think I had made them for myself, and then I had friends at school who were like, “Whoa, those are really cool. Where'd you get that?” And that's kind of how it started.
Was that your first real interest in clothing design and fashion?
I was in Catholic school from kindergarten to eighth grade, so all those years, I didn't have any sort of flexibility with what I wore and I feel like I didn't really know how to express myself. Going to high school, I was kind of freaking out because I'm like, “I don't really know what my style is. I don't really have a style. It's been uniform my whole life.”
Out of Catholic School and uniforms eventually came a more serious interest in clothing and fashion as a career,how did that happen?
About two and a half years ago, I didn't really know what I was going to do. I knew I wanted to do something in fashion, and it wasn't until I took this class called Designing Your Life, and our teacher had us all sit down and write out our dream job. That was when I first started planning everything. I pretty much created a five year plan of two different life trajectories in the fashion industry: starting my own business or working for someone else. That class was the place that pushed me to start thinking about it, and thinking that I can do whatever I want. From there, I taught myself screen printing, and it was such a process to learn, but it was really fun. I was screen printing random things I would draw, and my brother was also helping with designs, because I'm not the most artistic person. When I was getting closer to graduating, I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I also didn't want to get a job. That sounds so dumb, but I really didn't want to get a job and I didn't want to work for someone else.
What was the idea that ultimately became Fruit Face?
When I was starting Fruit Face, I wanted it to be a body positive brand. I kept the body positivity focus with being size inclusive, and currently extending my sizes even more now. The first design that I ever did was a body positive design that said “Eat All Body Shamers,” which totally flopped. I did two other ones after that that also flopped, and it wasn't until I screen printed the “I Heart SF” for me that it clicked. I made that shirt just because I wanted it. I thought “No one else is gonna want this.” As soon as I made it and I posted it, I got so many people DMing me and being like, “Can I buy this shirt?” which I was not expecting at all. When I designed the strawberry wearing the cowgirl hat, it was just a funny thing that I didn't expect people to like as much as they did.
The shirt design and the logo obviously show this connection to San Francisco and the western iconography from Porterville. How do you find inspiration from these places in your designs?
The town I grew up in was very western, it was very country. I had a lot of friends that had ranches, so I grew up riding horses, and was in 4-H. So growing up, I was in such a country town, and it’s funny now, because I live in such a different place. I obviously love it here so much and I wanted to bring that western feel from my town up to San Francisco. I feel like SF is a very fruity, colorful city, so it's fun combining what feels like two opposites together in a way. I feel if you talk to most country people, they would think a strawberry wearing cowgirl boots is weird. It's funny to post our shirt that says Yippee Ki - Gay, because I know people back home hate it so much. I just love the country theme, and it’s become our theme in most of our designs.
You describe Fruit Face as evoking nostalgia. What does that mean to you to have that feeling in your clothing?
Our designs have a sort of vintage feel to them. They're also very playful and fun. What I've gotten from a lot of people is that certain designs remind them of their childhood, or they'll be like, “Wasn't this in that one show?” and I'm thinking “No, but I'm glad you feel that way.” It's something that's familiar. As I'm creating things, I'm trying to be intentional. Following trends can be dangerous, in the sense that things are going to go out of style and I always try to create something that has more of a classic touch. I don’t think that's true for all of my designs, but it’s something that I try to follow when I'm designing clothing.
Without following trends, how do you strike that balance between trusting people will like and buy what you make, while also making the items you want to?
From the beginning, I wanted to make sure [Fruit Face] was something that I like and something that I'm going to wear and wear regularly. As I've been creating different designs and things, it's really based on what I would want. I feel like I have good taste. Everyone has their own opinions, but I've found my group of consumers that agree and like my style. I do try to get opinions from other people, and I have a pretty close pool of people that I'll run designs by. I think that’s so useful. It's important to make people feel like they're a part of the design process, so that you’re bringing more people together, and they see the changes that they would want to see in a design. I send designs to my mom and she tells me she hates them sometimes, but then I'll launch it and then it'll go really well. So at the end of the day, you have to listen to yourself, but getting multiple opinions is really necessary.
Walk us through your design process.
Most of the time, the designs come from random ideas. I'll see something on the street or in a store, and it will spark an idea in my head. I have a super long list of ideas, and I'll throw it on the list, even if I'm not thinking about using it now. For the most part, when I have an idea, I have a clear vision of what I want. I'm not the most artistic person, but I will outline literally everything, exactly how I want it. I work with an artist, and she'll bring that vision to life for me, which has been so helpful and so useful. I'm creative, but not artistic.
In a world of brand collaborations, who would be your dream collaborator?
Probably Betsy Johnson. She's insane. She was my style icon growing up. If you look up pictures of her, she just looks crazy, but in the best way. She has this brand named after her, and she does clothing, jewelry, and everything is so colorful and so unique. Most people might say it's too out there, too crazy and ugly, but I love her stuff so much. This last year, I was thinking, “How can I reach out to her? How can I make this happen?” I still don't know, but that would be a dream come true.
Did you have a clear vision of what you want Fruit Face to become?
My class [Designing Your Life] really helped me sketch out what I wanted the next five years of my life to be, but when I was doing that, I didn't actually think that that was gonna happen. It's funny, I looked back at my life plan today, just to see how accurate it is. I had one year, two years, three years detailed. In the second year, which is currently where I'm at right now, my goal was to be hiring people and expanding the team, which is so crazy because I finally just hired my first part time assistant that comes to my house and helps me pack stuff. That's been a crazy milestone. Year three on my plan is opening a store, which I don't know if that's going to happen. It's really scary the thought of opening a store, and at my current state, I'm not ready for that yet. So I guess I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do, but I wasn't writing this down seriously when I was doing it.
How do you find the confidence to release your work and really put yourself out there?
I think of it as I don't have a choice. I'm a very introverted person, so looking back at my first pop up, it was so scary for me, but I was like, “If this is actually something I want to do, I have to get over that and become good at talking to people and selling what I'm making.” That's where my confidence comes from. I don't have a choice otherwise. I just have to fake it until I make it sort of thing. I've definitely gotten more extroverted, but it comes from knowing I don't have a choice. I have to do it. I feel like I've grown to love it.
If you go back to the Alec in the Designing Your Life class, what would you tell her to add to the plan?
It wasn't until my senior year that I realized the control that I had over my life. People are always telling you the path you need to be on, and I thought I needed to be on that traditional path. The best thing I could have done was to take that risk to full send what I really wanted to do. I didn't want to go to a random nine to five. Obviously, I feel like I work way more than a normal nine to five now, but I love it. I’d go back and tell her to take as many risks as possible. When I started out, I had already taken the risk, but I think there definitely were more risks I could have taken along the way, in terms of trying to pump out more designs and seeing what stuck. Just try as many things as possible
Does the strawberry have a name?
She doesn't have a name, but I feel like her name is Fruit Face. She is Fruit Face. She's a whimsical strawberry cowgirl that lives in San Francisco. She's living the dream.