Meet Emily Egan | Founder & Textile Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily Egan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
I never wanted to start a business unless I was going to be doing something different and benneficial for our community and world. wildflower wurld was created as a reaction to the current world of mass-production and meaningless consumption. I wanted to create a new world, a “wurld” of low-impact, like-new up-cycled products that inspire my community to express their unique style through sustainably produced fashion. I find unique vintage items, restore, sometimes rework and always hand-embroider them with my signature free-hand stitched designs. I only source items that are comfortable, durable, and able to be restored to like-new condition, but sometimes the items I find have small holes or stains. Most thrifters would pass on the item, or sell it damaged at a lower price, but I want to save these items from the landfill and make sure they stay out of the garbage. So, I make sure to restore the items I source to like-new condition, and visually mend the imperfections by hand-embroidering designs all over. I am passionate about creating the best quality products for my community, ensuring their new-to-them piece has a long new life. It’s the mission of wildflower wurld to “decorate the wurld with wildflowers”, to spread positivity through sustainable fashion and leave our home better than we found it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
In the past 10 years that I’ve worked as a designer and artist in fashion, I’ve learned a lot about how toxic the industry currently is, but that’s what motivates me to want to create positive change. There are new problems every day, and the more I grow wildflower wurld, the more challenges arise. But this forces me to learn faster, and get better at facing issues. Also, my customers and the people I meet through my small business make it a worthwhile experience. Although it’s always a struggle to convert customers who are used to fast fashion brands and Amazon pricing, I’m really proud of the community I’ve created through wildflower wurld. It’s cool to connect with people who also want to create a more positive impact, and I see more and more of these folks every day. Hosting local events and pop-up shops has been an awesome way to meet more like-minded friends and share my brand with people IRL. When I see or hear about people wearing one of our hand-embroidered t-shirts, or reworked sweat shorts in the community, it makes all of this worth the effort.

Something I’d like folks to know about wildflower wurld is that the up-cycled collections I create are unique from other up-cycle designers and resellers. While shopping other vintage shops, I noticed many were selling damaged goods, poor quality fashion-fashion, or very expensive up-cycled pieces. I wanted to offer something different to my community: a place to shop where everything is up-cycled without machines, restored to like-new quality, always one-of-a-kind and at an approachable price-point. I try to have something for everyone, at various prices that people can afford.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Ooh this is a fun question! I love everything Phoenix, so it’s hard to choose, but if I had a week to show my BFF all the best places and people around the Valley, this would be the list:

– Paddleboard along the Salt River
– Sunrise hike at Camelback Mountain
– Goldfield Ghost Town
– Nash Vintage Collective in DT Mesa
– Mindful workout classes at Desert Mvmt
– Local antique shopping at Brass Armadillo
– Downtown PHX Farmer’s Market
– shop at Bunky Boutique DTPHX
– Ollie Vaughn’s breakfast
– Luci’s at the Orchard patio brunch
– Nitro coffee at Moxie
– Vietnamese coffee with boba at Cafe Mollie’s
– Coffee and vegan treats at Dark Hall
– Glai Baan
– Ingo’s Tasty Food
– AZ Wilderness patio
– Churchill for late night drinks
– Monsoon Market for snacks and natural wine
– Breakfast burritos at Habenero’s in North PHX
– Kid Sister Wine Bar
– Sunset Rooftop Yoga with April Denning
– Pool day at Lylo Swim Club
– Stick and poke tattoos from Jaci Kaelinn (@44raspberrypokes)
– Boating at Lake Pleasant

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate this Shoutout to everyone in the world doing something different and scary. There isn’t always a lot of encouragement to forge a new path, especially one that is not motivated by money, but I’ve always been inspired by creatives who go against the grain to share their authentically-unique vision through their unapologetic art.

Website: https://wildflowerwurld.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildflowerwurld/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildflowerwurld

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@wildflowerwurld