‘I wanted to start a brand that made changes’: Limerick fashion designer Aoife McNamara on her trailblazing clothes

In the five years since she first launched her label, Limerick-based Aoife McNamara has been a trailblazer in Ireland on the issue of sustainability in fashion.

An energetic lover of the outdoors and always drawn to nature, which continues to inspire her collections, her awareness of fashion’s environmental impact drives her work and ethos.

Last year she became the first B Corp (Benefit Corporation) fashion brand in Ireland, an international validation of her efforts, joining clothing brands such as Patagonia, Finisterre and Eileen Fisher.

BCorp is a non-profit network with a mission to push business as a force for good, meeting high standards of environmental and social performance and accountability.

“I wanted to get [that recognition] and it took a year, a lot of investment, time and money and it was tough,” McNamara says, when we meet in Dublin. “I was proud to get it as the sustainability credential is at the core of what we are doing.”

McNamara’s collections feature Irish tweed, wool and linen as well as Cupro (made from cotton waste) and Pyratex (luxury knits from vegetal, upcycled or biodegradable fibres).

The day we met she is wearing a grey and white pinstriped tweed trouser suit, the tweed specially woven to her Burren design by Hanly & Co in Tipperary, with whom she now regularly collaborates, and the jacket featuring her signature puffed sleeves.

An honours graduate of Limerick School of Art and Design, McNamara grew up in Limerick and her summer holidays were spent by the sea in Kilkee. “That love of nature and feeling at home by the sea is where the sustainability aspect came in,” she says. “I wanted to start a brand that made changes.”

In 2018 McNamara interned during her studies with Marc Jacobs in New York. Back home, her first job was designing a uniform and scarves for IPUT real estate, which paved the way for her first collection called “She’s A Dream”, five pieces in Irish fabrics inspired by Irish sunsets, its playful designs influenced by elements of Victorian dress and detail, with flounces and puff sleeves.

The following year McNamara secured a fellowship through Cobalt Fashion’s innovation lab in Silicon Valley for an entrepreneurship course in the States. Things moved quickly when she returned to Ireland, launching a website and selling online, followed by a two-week popup in Kildare Village, where she gained valuable retail experience.

“You learned about garment fit, about how customers try on clothes, what colours they like,” she says, her bestseller being a navy fitted top with puff sleeves.

Four years ago, she secured a lease on her flagship store in Adare, a thatched cottage where her main clients are Adare Manor guests and Dubliners heading to Kerry.

Each collection starts with sketches drawn from the natural world. Her current, called Remember, consists of 18 luxury pieces – blazers, coats, dresses, waistcoats and blouses with details that stand out – exaggerated sleeves, bows and intricate little ties.

Her wildflower waistcoat, for example, is embellished with ribbon and backed with Irish linen from McNutt in Donegal or Emblem Weavers in Wexford. There are corset tops, wide leg trousers, linen dresses with bell sleeves and elaborate jackets with oversized pleated and gathered sleeves.

As she operates a zero waste policy, any leftover materials are repurposed and made into accessories. A Reimagine collection of pillows in six colourways designed with leftover swatches and excess materials can be found in her Adare shop.

In tandem with Ballymaloe House Hotel she has organised an ambitious “rewilding retreat” at the end of August, “because to be a conscious consumer you have to have a conscious mindset and this course is about helping people, raising questions about sustainability and its connection with nature”, she says.

In January she set herself another challenge, taking part in an expedition to climb Kilimanjaro, a 12-day event in association with Earth’s Edge, a Wicklow-based trekking company, also certified by BCorp, that puts environmental and social responsibilities to the forefront of its operation.

She divides her time between her shop in Adare and Lahinch in Co Clare, where she lives with her boyfriend Bernard Cahill, a surfer who occasionally features on her Instagram posts.

Though her collection is modelled here by Pat Kane, Lara Gillespie and Emma Dabiri, McNamara is her own best advertisement for the clothes she designs and always manages to bring a fresh look, which she attributes to her sister Fiona who runs a hairdressing salon in Limerick.

Prices for her collection start at €150 for a pink Aran sweater, €165 for a wildflower waistcoat and €295 for a cream “confetti” dress, up to €400 for an Irish tweed blazer.

Visit www.aoifemacnamara.com