About Us
Our story
Froot in the Room: A Gay Geek's DIY Project
More than a store, a sense of belonging
The glowing rectangle in Ray's hands was a portal to a world of endless frustration. He scrolled through page after page of online stores, the same anemic or copy and pasted designs blurring into a sea of commodified rainbows. There were the ubiquitous, generic "Love is Love" designs, the usual rage-bait or anthemic sayings, and the merch clearly designed by someone who'd seen a single episode of a gay TV show and thought, "yeah, I get it now."
As a self-proclaimed, chronically online gay nerd, Ray's sense of humor was a niche within a niche. He wanted a shirt that referenced D&D and being fabulous. He wanted a hoodie that made a pun about Zelda games and being gay. He wanted clothes and merch that said, "I'm a geek, I'm queer, and I'm tired of having to choose which part of me to showcase today." Most of all, he was sick of seeing designs made by people who clearly weren't part of the community and were just trying to make a quick buck off of it.
So on one faithful night, the idea struck him with the force of a perfectly executed dad joke. He thought about the brand's name, then the old slang term for a gay person, and a smile spread across his face.
"Froot in the Room," he muttered to himself. The name was perfect. It was a little bit cheeky, a little bit nerdy, and it immediately signaled that not only was this was a space for us, we are the froots in the room and we're here to take up space everywhere we go.
He spent the next few weeks sketching out designs that folks like him would truly appreciate. He launched the little shop as a passion project. It was not about making a profit (and still isn't). It was a creative outlet, a small act of defiance against the commodification of his identities.Â
More About Ray
Ray lives in Southern California and has been involved in the local LGBTQ+ community for years. He was the President for Riverside Pride for four years, spending hundreds of volunteer hours organize events and safer spaces for thousands of folks local and beyond.
Giving Back
A portion of all profits from this site goes right back to our LGBTQ+ communities.
Our use of mockup tools
Because we use a print-on-demand service, it's not financially feasible for us to order every product and variant we design (we do order some because we want them ourselves). Instead, we generally use mockup tools to showcase our designs. We do our best to vet the models used that they are real people with their photos taken. The final product will be based on the design you see, but there might be slight variations in color or placement due to the printing process.
Our art and design are created exclusively by human artists. Every design is original and thoughtfully composed by Ray. Some parts of the art are licensed from real artists.