Made In Ireland: Fashion & Textiles Move Forward in 2015

Produced since medieval times, woolen cloth was one of Ireland’s first manufactured textiles. Then linen soon exploded with arrival of the French Huguenots and flax cultivation in the late 1700s. Lace was produced next, and lace-making schools were set up teaching women how to weave the delicate cloth, turning the fabric into a prominent Irish export. From Carrickmacross to Limerick to Kenmare, even Queen Victoria ordered her seamstresses to make Her Majesty's gowns in Irish linen and lace. The First Garment Factory Following the hardships of the Great Famine between 1845-1852, a man named Peter Tait launched the world’s first ready-made clothing factory in Ireland. Incredibly, Tait was able to train unskilled workers to do just one or two simple tasks repeatedly instead of learning every step in the making of garments. He applied this new system to his garment factory and installed power-driven sewing machines, too – the first in Europe. Within a few years his factory employed 1,000 workers. Over the proceeding years, the Peter Tait Factory had clothing manufacturers coming from London and Leeds to study its revolutionary techniques. The Fifties - following Ireland’s independence in 1922 - were the golden years for textiles. There was a great amount of patriotic pride in buying local clothing and materials Irish-made. The government declared Donegal Tweed as one of the most valuable resources of the Irish design industry and local fashion designers began to collaborate with textile producers to craft their lines in it - joining linen and lace. Designer Darlings The biggest design success of the mid-century was Sybil Connolly. Connolly’s fascination with Irish textiles meant her couture collections boasted exquisitely tailored suits from Irish tweeds – always custom-woven, and blouses from rich Irish crochet lace. But her linen creations were the most iconic. Connolly developed a technique for taking eight-meter swatches of fine handkerchief linen to produce just one meter of her own linen cloth. By pleating the fabric, the linen was uncrushable and, when constructed into frocks, sat statuesquely and fell beautifully in sweeping lines.It was Jacqueline Kennedy who created frenzy for the dress, wearing one of Connolly’s pleated Irish linen dresses when she sat for her official Whitehouse Portrait in the Seventies. Irish designers, Irene Gilbert and Neilli Mulcahy, were also gaining reputations for luxury at this time. Remarkably, buyers and journalists, who would visit Paris, London and Milan every season, began to visit Ireland too, to see the latest collections first hand. The Fall of An Empire Following an even greater garment boom during the Eighties ,with tailored garment maker Loretta Bloom, and clothing firm Fruit of the Loom (with its 3,500-strong workforce leading the local production pool), Ireland’s economic prowess proved cannibalistic. According to a report by the Irish Clothing and Textile Alliance (ICATA) released in 2005, textile and clothing production decreased by 75% between the years 1990 and 2005. In 1995, the industry employed just under 20,000 people and by 2005 that figure had fallen to 4,975. The high cost of labor and a general loss of competitiveness were the root causes of Ireland’s demise. Ireland had shifted into a post-industrial economy and this, ironically, had eaten the local fashion industry alive.The Long Climb  The textile market is today a truly global one. Advances in technology have increased price competition while consumers are better informed. As a result, Ireland has needed to invest in its fashion industry more in the last ten years. Small facilities, such as The Fashion Hothouse, have been established. The house is a full service facility providing fashion design, sampling and production services, provided by some of Ireland’s most highly skilled operators. Irish fashion colleges are also reintroducing traditional sewing, pattern cutting and garment construction skills to boost the future of the industry with the creation of jobs. Meanwhile, in 2011, the Council of Irish Fashion Designers (CIFD) was established - acting as a representative body and to promote the interests of its member designers in Ireland. Perhaps the most hands-on approach to growing Irish design is planned for this September. Dubbed the Irish Fashion Incubator, the building development located in the manufacturing town of Limerick (where Tait's factory was opened), will give studio space for up to 100 fashion students and graduates to set-up in.The primary aim of the center is to nurture design and encourage fashion graduates to stay in Ireland, instead of scooting-off to London, Paris or New York once skilled. The design hub also hopes to educate and facilitate graduates by providing free-of-charge, practical support services during their first year in business.It is Ireland's reformed vision for bolstering fashion design and manufacturing opportunities in the nation that makes the Irish climb back to the top not a simple case of pot-gold luck. But rather, it's a well-planned, innovative design system similar to that of textile powerhouse, Milan. Made In Italy? Keep a look out for Made In Ireland.