The Story of Caramel by Eva Karayiannis
I've always loved children's clothes, even before i had children myself. They look so intricate and beautiful.
I began to want to change peoples's minds about children's wear.They can spend thousands on clothes for themselves, but their children either have to wear mass-produced clothing covered in logos or expensive glitzy things, which are often impractical or anachronistic or both – and none of these is what real childhood is about.
I wanted to find a modern style, which could be individual – even luxurious – but which was also relaxed and understated, with no logos, and conferring no spurious status, but as useful and beautiful as I could make it. I wanted to create a sanctuary from big fashion: somewhere for clothes you couldn’t find in any of the high street chains.
I trained as a lawyer, so nothing in my background really prepared me for starting Caramel. I spent two years tracking down hand-crafted knitwear from Peru or artisan clothes from small designers in London or the Cotswolds. It was enormous fun, running the company from my front room and then my kitchen, and I eventually opened a little shop near the Michelin Building, hidden away at Brompton Cross.
But I didn’t really know how to sell, and it was soon clear that many of my sources just moved on to something else, or they couldn’t provide the vast range of sizes people need for children’s clothes. So I took the big step of starting to design the clothes myself.
It meant I could break out of some of the old categories. Just because children’s clothes had the relaxed quality of a country house, there was no reason why they shouldn’t also feel up to date. Just because they had some of the formality of continental Europe, why shouldn’t they also have a little laid back Englishness?
They are not just based on fantasy. They’re functional – I’ve tried to design them for going to the park or going to school. They try to go beyond trends, and they don’t advertise themselves with logos or fake extras. I like experimenting with colours that are not traditionally used for children’s clothes.
When I opened, I wondered whether anyone would come at all – whether it was just my own taste which nobody else would share. But people did share it and they did come.
And that’s the point, because it is a very personal company – it’s me and people I know. It’s a business like one of those big family meals they have in Italy, intimate and real. It feels human to me, and I believe our customers feel so too, because there is no advertising, no PR hype or celebrities. People usually hear about my clothes by word of mouth.
I believe that whilst we live in a corporate world, it is possible to run a commercially successful business, driven by intuition, creativity and passion. Caramel has proven this over the past seven years without following conventional business models. We create our own adventure. It is nice not to know where the journey ends.