Meet El: The Woman Behind Budgy Smuggler’s New Collection

We are so excited to be bringing to life a collaboration collection with El Mint (@elmint). El has been rocking Smugglettes for years and we've loved following her adventures in pools, oceans, lakes & rivers all around the world. We love El's message that every body is a Budgy body.

We sat down with El and talked all things from the design process to some exciting things shes working on in the future!

Heres what El had to say:

So, who is El?

In one sentence? “Hey, I’m El, I’m a fitness creator who focuses on inspiring women of all shapes and sizes to move their bodies and fall in love with exercise!”

It’s a pretty perfect introduction to the person behind the collection. El’s approach to fitness is all about making movement enjoyable and helping women feel good in their own skin, something that became a big part of the inspiration behind her Budgy Smuggler designs

The inspiration behind the designs:

When it came to creating her first print 'Els Shells' El didn’t have to look far for inspiration.

“I pretty much always have some kind of shell on me, whether that’s in my jewellery or somewhere in my outfit, so it just made sense to bring that into the design!”

Taking inspiration from one of her favourite costume styles, the Amalfi, El wanted to give it her own signature twist.

“I basically wanted to shell-ify it!”

The result is a playful print inspired by one of her favourite things, bringing a little slice of holiday energy wherever you wear it.

For her second print, 'Els Flowers' El went all in on colour.

“I just love anything bright and colourful!” she says. “I loved the idea of making the costume as bright as possible whilst also keeping it cute.”

And the florals do exactly that, fun, colourful and made for sunny days by the pool or beach.

What does a dream day look like?

If El could wake up anywhere in the world, she knows exactly where she’d be,

“Waking up on a yacht in the middle of the Maldives or somewhere in the Caribbean and spending the whole day snorkelling and scuba diving with my best friends!”

Honestly, we can’t think of a better setting for Smugglettes.

What’s on repeat?

When it comes to music, El’s current obsession is Noah Kahan.

"Literally ANYTHING Noah Kahan, I am obsessed with him,” she says.

But when she’s swimming? There’s a different soundtrack.

“I love a bit of Taylor Swift haha.”

The moment she’s most looking forward to

For El, one of the most exciting parts of launching the collection isn’t seeing the designs online, it’s seeing them out in the wild.

“Hopefully seeing other people wearing my collection in real life!!”

She says that heading to the pool and spotting someone wearing one of her designs would be

“the coolest thing ever.”

We’re hoping for plenty of El’s Shells and El’s Flowers sightings this summer.

Her favourite smuggling memory

El has been wearing Budgy Smuggler for years, so getting the opportunity to create her own collection was a pretty special full-circle moment.

Her favourite memory so far? Trying on the final designs for the first time.

“Realising how confident I felt in them!!” she says.

After spending so long working alongside the Budgy Smuggler team to create the perfect costumes, finally putting them on felt surreal. And confidence was at the heart of the whole collection.

“The whole idea behind the costumes was to create something that any woman, of any size, could wear and genuinely feel confident in.”

Her verdict?

“I honestly feel like we’ve absolutely nailed the brief!!”

We couldn’t agree more. From shell-inspired holiday vibes to bright and colourful florals, El’s new Budgy Smuggler collection is made to be worn boldly, confidently and obviously with a whole lot of fun.

So whether you’re heading to the beach, pool, yacht or just dreaming about your next tropical escape, there’s a little bit of El waiting to make a splash.