Cut from a different cloth
Ireland’s contemporary fashion brands are using fifth-generation processes and 70-year-old knitters to create sustainable styles that are both sexy and modern, explains Marie Kelly.
There’s a common thread among Ireland’s most successful contemporary fashion brands and it’s a reverence for the past. From stalwarts like Magee and Jack Murphy to relative newcomers such as Belfast-based Kindred of Ireland and Connemara’s Colin Burke, these internationally successful, locally-based brands are moving the country’s fashion narrative forward by looking backward, to traditional techniques, processes and approaches.
Aoife Rooney is founder of her namesake label Aoife, an accessories and clothing brand at the forefront of circular design. Innovative fabrics used in her collections include Tencel sourced from eucalyptus trees, ecovera viscose made using sustainable wood, banana yarn and, for the first time this season, a coffee fibre fabric made from ground coffee waste. Yet, the material Rooney is most excited about is the beetled linen created using a 120-year-old machine in a factory in Derry – the only factory of its kind in the world.
“I wanted to achieve a leather-look fabric that was biodegradable and I wanted to work with a manufacturer here in Ireland,” explains the Kildare-based mother of three, who describes her new collection as “a luxury Irish Arket”. Influenced by her background in architecture, the collection, which launches mid-August, is a dramatic but wearable edit of elevated separates defined by distinctive folds and ruffles, and while it may use progressive textiles and have an ultra-modern aesthetic, it is intentionally anchored in heritage fabrics and processes.
“If we don’t support local manufacturers and craftspeople, they’ll disappear,” says Rooney. So for the brand’s first foray into knitwear, she collaborated with Galway Wool, a farmer-owned-and-run co-operative supplying a rare heritage wool from Ireland’s only native breed of sheep. Rooney employs an eco-dyer and a knitter in Co Clare where the uniquely textured wool is transformed into couture-style knits in earthy shades of olive green and chocolate brown.
Keeping one eye firmly on the past has been a guiding principle of linen label Kindred of Ireland, explains Joel Anderson, husband of founder and designer Amy and now brand CEO. He explains that from the moment Amy discovered a photo of her grandmother spinning yarn at Moygashel mill in Dungannon during the Northern Irish capital’s linen manufacturing heyday, she decided to produce clothes as her ancestors had – “slowly, never taking more from the environment than we give back, using local resources and making clothes that last”.
Known for its romantic but contemporary designs, especially its metallic beetled linen coats – produced in the same Derry factory as Rooney’s – Kindred’s entire supply chain is on the island of Ireland. “This keeps our carbon footprint minimal, but more importantly to us, it means we have real relationships with our suppliers and seamstresses,” Joel explains. “We drop linen off at their houses, we know their names, we know their children and we feel deeply responsible to them. You get to know their hopes and dreams and there’s something really beautiful about that.”
Each new pattern devised by Burke took between two and three months to design and each sweater takes ten days to complete. For anybody who might think the term ‘slow fashion’ is some dreamy buzz word, this is the reality behind the romance.
With a background in mental health and anti-trafficking charities, Joel’s passion for local craftsmanship and sustainability is anchored by a fundamental belief that social justice can, and should be, applied across all industries and disciplines, including fashion. Amy, too, has experience in the sector, having spent time volunteering with a design company in China that employed survivors of trafficking before working with anti-trafficking charity Flourish in Northern Ireland. “We feel we’re building something of value; protecting and building a legacy, and that has meaning for people,” Joel adds.
Knitwear designer Colin Burke is also protecting a legacy. “I have always loved knitwear that is made by a pair of hands,” explains the Galway native, who employs 13 highly skilled knitters – ten in Donegal and three in Galway – to create his avante-garde designs. Burke explains, “What they can produce is incredible. Some of them can create a pattern simply by looking at one of my sketches.” Hand-knitters with this kind of knowledge and expertise are a rare breed but given that they range in age from early 40s to late 70s, Burke is beginning to grow concerned about the future. Knitting is no longer a day-to-day pastime for most people as it was a century ago. If the craft is permitted to die with these artisans, he’ll have no choice but to outsource beyond these shores.
But if anyone can inspire a younger generation to develop an interest in the ancient skills of hand-knitting and crochet, it’s Burke with his directional aesthetic. Bridgerton star, and fellow Galway native, Nicola Coughlan chose a couture piece hand-crocheted in Italian cotton by Burke for the Galway premiere of the Netflix show’s third season. Her co-star Luke Newton wore the brand’s Maureen sweater but with customized sleeves directly crocheted onto the body. Since then, customer inquiries have skyrocketed; so much so that for the first time, his new collection, which launches in September, will include two menswear designs. It will also feature four new womenswear styles, all of which will embody his signature Blackberry stitch – the only one that cannot be achieved using a sewing machine. It’s become Burke’s hallmark; his guarantee of authenticity.
Each new pattern devised by Burke took between two and three months to design and each sweater takes ten days to complete. For anybody who might think the term ‘slow fashion’ is some dreamy buzz word, this is the reality behind the romance and the reason we pay more for these products. For Sarah Murphy, CEO of sustainable brand Jack Murphy and granddaughter of its founder, there is simply no other approach but slow. She was raised with one foot in the family business, helping out at RDS showcases and Bloom and visiting the company’s warehouse with her dad. Quality clothing wasn’t just her father’s business, it was his passion; as a child he would carefully show his daughter exactly how to fold clothes. She was taught that if she cared for them they would last a lifetime.
Anna Guerin of contemporary outerwear brand The Landskein has done more than most to imbue our Irish heritage with the kind of magnetism and desirability once inspired only by global fashion houses.
This mentality remains the foundation of the Jack Murphy brand. “We make beautiful, purposeful clothing that lasts,” explains Murphy. “It can take between 12 and 13 months for an item to develop from prototype to point of sale but we’re not afraid of the long game,” says the 36-year-old, who joined the company in 2018. “It creates space for creativity and the payoff is really nice. I’ve met customers who still wear the Jack Murphy coats they bought 20 years ago.” She adds that her younger sister, who is 22, has friends who’ve sourced vintage Jack Murphy outerwear in secondhand shops. “It’s great to see that generation enjoying a heritage brand.”
Heritage style or ‘the cult of country house style’, as it’s been dubbed, has a fashion kudos today that it didn’t have a decade ago. Helped by dramas such as Netflix’s The Gentleman and by celebrity sightings like Shania Twain wearing a Jack Murphy wool tweed coat on stage at Malahide last month, heritage style now has sex appeal. Anna Guerin of contemporary outerwear brand The Landskein has done more than most to imbue our Irish heritage with the kind of magnetism and desirability once inspired only by global fashion houses and she’s achieved this by going back to basics: indigenous materials that have a connection to their place of origin, supporting local suppliers for a more sustainable business model and honouring traditional artisans and craftsmanship. “It’s about creating beauty but with integrity,” she explains. “Earlier this year, we presented a collection in New York, Paris and Hainan in China. Our aesthetic and personalised service resonated deeply with buyers, but it was the rich narrative behind the brand that truly captivated them,” Guerin explains. “Each piece has its own story and that enriches the wearer’s experience.”
All of The Landskein’s fabrics are woven exclusively by fifth-generation weavers Shaun and Kieran Molloy in Ardara, Donegal. “We collaborate really closely with them,” says Guerin. “For instance, we might blend four shades of blue to achieve a richly textured navy tweed and each fabric is meticulously sampled in various weights, patterns and finishes.” Coupled with Guerin’s keen eye for contemporary silhouettes and elevated detailing, it’s proved a winning formula and the brand is now stocked in some of the country’s most exclusive boutiques and worn by the likes of Glamour editor-in-chief Samantha Barry and comedian Katherine Ryan.
Magee1866 has also had the celebrity seal of approval, with Hollywood stars including Sarah Jessica Parker and Mel Gibson recognising the magic of pieces that speak of the people who made them and the places they were made in. The brand’s mill in Donegal town has been weaving textiles for 150 years and that’s a heritage story that’s hard to beat. It’s not simply the knowledge and skill set handed down from father to son and mother to daughter, it’s the archive of fabrics at the Temple family’s fingertips. “The kernel of the idea for each collection always starts with the fabric,” explains creative director Charlotte Temple. “These materials are part of Ireland’s textile heritage.”
Happily, they’re now an important part of the industry’s future thanks to a new generation of visionary creatives.
This article originally appeared in The Sunday Times Ireland, July 2024