EVERYONE'S A GARDENER WITH BRAM'S FRUIT

Since 2021, Bram's Fruit has been building one of the more charming propositions in menswear. Founded by Dutch designer Bram Korsten, who grew up surrounded by the greenery of the southern Netherlands, the label bills itself as your favourite luxury fruit boutique. Soft palettes and clean, classic silhouettes are cut with bold prints defined by a sense of humour that has produced everything from hand-drawn fruit motifs to the now-familiar "F*ck Off I'm Gardening" cap. That philosophy is arguably at its absolute peak in the brand's latest collection which just landed at END. 

The premise is pretty simple: the world is shaped by gardeners. Some grow flowers, others grow connections, communities or ideas, but all of them leave things more beautiful than they found them. The collection is a celebration of those people, putting gardening (whether it’s symbolic or genuine hands-in-the-soil gardening) at the centre as a vehicle for community interaction.

The collection comes to life in The Gardening Wagon Tour which takes the concept across Europe and the Middle East. A Mercedes G-Wagen kitted out with installations and all the tools needed for hands-on gardening will be making its way through a range of cities to introduce fans to the collection and hopefully get some hands dirty: Retail and soil in the same place.

We caught up with Bram himself to discuss the joys of gardening, whether you actually need a garden, and why planting a seed goes way beyond growing plants.

What inspired you to start Bram’s Fruit?

When I was a kid, I was always obsessed with clothing, and I wanted to look fresh every day. I always wanted to newest football and drove my parents kind of crazy. So, they taught me at a young age that it’s nice to cherish product, but it’s also super important to understand the value of nature and personal relationships.

So I learned this quite early in my life and I wanted to pass this lesson forward. I think it’s a pretty cool way to do it with a brand like Bram’s Fruit, leading by example rather than just preaching it.

What kickstarted your interest in gardening?

So, I actually have a confession to make. I’m not the best gardener out there. I love to be in the garden. I love to smell the plants and to lie in the garden but for me, that idea of gardening is more symbolic. Sometimes you have to nourish your plants, to give them water and then leave them alone to grow in the best way possible. I think that you can apply that mindset really well across everything else in life. It’s the same for entrepreneurship, for example, running Bram’s Fruit. When you follow your heart and create something that you genuinely care about, that’s gardening to me. That’s why the idea of gardening is so central to the brand.

What makes a gardener? Do you actually need a garden?

No, you don’t need a garden of your own to be a gardener. Actually, sometimes it’s best to start off small: buy your first plant for your home, a window ledge or a balcony. Give it some water, watch it grow. Sometimes it won’t work, but again, that’s a kind of metaphor. Figure out what’s gone wrong and try again, eventually you’ll get it.

What makes a gardener? You don’t even need plants. You can look at gardening in a more conceptual way. If you have a really cool business idea or some stuff on your bucket list, plant the seed and nurture it. I bet it will start to grow. That’s really the philosophy at the heart of Bram’s Fruit. Everyone’s a gardener. 

How does this collection translate your love of nature?

What really ties this collection to nature is the way that we’re introducing our community to it. We’re literally going to go gardening in loads of cities and we’re super excited to see the collection in context, in different gardens and different cultures. We’re hopefully going to meet a lot of people, using the collection as a chance to bring gardening a bit closer to the communities in the cities we love across Europe and the Middle East. It feels like a major full-circle moment for the brand.