Barcelona

I started interviewing for the role towards the end of 2006, just as I was waiting to get the keys to my first flat in London. After months of searching, I’d found finally found somewhere, and I couldn’t quite believe I was actually going to own my own place. Meanwhile, I’d had a call about a job I really, really wanted to go for… so the two stories were running side by side, and I had no idea where I was going to end up.

The interview process was pretty lengthy: first came a meeting with the recruitment agent, then another to show my portfolio to the Creative Director. After that came a design project; I remember putting the presentation together on the floor of my new bedroom, surrounded by boxes. The last interview came sometime in December - and I moved to Barcelona at the end of January 2007. 

My flatmate wasn’t massively impressed - we were supposed to be living together and suddenly she had to find someone new, fast, but 3 years out of college, I’d just got my first big design job working for Burberry Spain. I wasn’t going to miss that opportunity for anything, even if I did almost die from nerves before I left. I didn’t speak a word of Spanish back then, and even though I’d lived in Germany as a kid and did a year in Berlin as part of my first degree, the first few weeks were really tough. Not only did I not speak Spanish, I didn’t speak Catalan either, so I was doubly out of my depth.

The design team were a mix of locals and foreigners - English was our first language. But with the pattern cutters, technicians and support staff, we had to communicate using a few words in common, and a lot of sign language. I remember learning words on the metro in the morning - sleeve, seam, pocket. Lining, twin needle, button hole. There are some technical words for knit that I still don’t know in English, having learned them on the job, in Spanish. It was hard and often left me feeling isolated and a long way from home, but with time, I did find my feet and I grew to love living in the heat and intensity that is Barcelona.

Fast forward a few years to February 2024, and I was back again, seeing the suppliers and manufacturers who have helped to make elliot. a reality.

The area around Barcelona is similar to the north of England - once bustling with fabric mills, clothing manufacturers and finishers, it was hard hit by competition from China. Many businesses didn’t survive, but there are still some small, one and two person businesses, who, like me, are all about high quality and careful production. I was lucky enough to have an introduction into that world, and from an initial order of just 3 styles, elliot. is still growing and developing.

Using only organic cotton and GOTS certified dye processes (meaning they are free from harmful chemicals) we are developing a range that has the aim to be both kind to your skin and to the planet. But it hasn’t been easy! We have had lots of issues - dying the elastics for the new colours, for example, has been incredibly difficult; the natural dyes were hard to control and the results often were not up to standard. The dye process itself was hard on the elastic, and we have had to re-dye several batches.

So we are in a constant process of testing and developing, continually seeking to improve and grow the range. It’s far from perfect, but I look forward to showing you what we have created next, and sharing that story with you.

Alex x