As Ireland’s first B Corp fashion brand, Limerick sustainable fashion designer Aoife Mc Namara has been invited to join brands such as Ganni and (di)vision to take her place as a real player in the global sustainable fashion world.
Limerick sustainable fashion designer Aoife Mc Namara celebrates five years in business with Copenhagen Fashion Week appearance
Limerick designer and one of Ireland’s most exciting fashion stars, Aoife Mc Namara has had a busy five years of business, and will be taking her eponymous brand to Copenhagen to showcase during what has quickly become fashion’s most interesting and innovative weeks of the year.
As Ireland’s first B Corp fashion brand, Aoife Mc Namara has been invited to join brands such as Ganni and (di)vision to take her place as a real player in the global sustainable fashion world.
Sustainability is the core focus of Copenhagen Fashion Week. Striving towards making substantial changes to inspire innovation and encouraging the fashion industry to accelerate their sustainability efforts is at the core of the endeavour. And Aoife Mc Namara will fit right in amongst the brands whose main Mission is strive to remain, as Aoife frequently describes ‘Earth focused, not growth focused.’
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Officially launched in 2019, Mc Namara set about to establish a brand ‘inspired by nature, to protect nature.’ After achieving B Corp status in 2023, this year, Aoife has pushed further than ever before with the launch of her tenth collection – Remember – inspired by the profound importance of our roots, and of course, her beloved County Clare.
‘As always, it starts from County Clare, from my Irish summer, gardening, sea swimming, hiking, and being outdoors. The idea of Remember is all about reconnecting and remembering our connection with nature and remembering our Irish heritage.’
As part of the 18-piece collection, for the first time, Aoife utilised deadstock fabrics and ensured to include Irish woven wool, which has become one of her brand signatures. From a collaboration with IrelandsEye of best-selling Aran jumpers to a suit in her signature Burren pinstripe (aptly named ‘Awaken to the Land’), Aoife has focused on utilising this heritage fabric in an accessible and modern way.
Naturally, then, Aoife will be speaking in conversation with podcaster and presenter PJ Kirby to explore textile circularity and sustainability in Irish design.
The event, also including Fashion Editor Deirdre McQuillan and Megan McGuigan, aims to celebrate the hard-working Irish designers who are increasingly making sustainability and textile circularity core pillars of their work. Irish design, as illustrated by Aoife’s collections, frequently converges with the natural world as part of our shared efforts to protect the planet.
Held in the Embassy of Ireland in Denmark, this event marks an important turning point in the future, not only of Aoife Mc Namara, but of the Irish textile industry in general.
In five short years, Mc Namara, a graduate of Limerick School of Art & Design and former intern at Marc Jacobs, has excelled in business and championed sustainability.
From opening her flagship store in a quaint thatched Cottage in Adare (the interior of which would fit in perfectly in Copenhagen), launched several sell-out collections, amassed a supportive following on Instagram and run three successful pop-up stores in Kildare Village.
Achieving B Corp status, which brands ten times her size, and with infinite resources struggle to do, was only the beginning for this trailblazer in the fashion industry. Constantly innovating and pushing boundaries, Mc Namara’s sustainable and biodegradable designs will remain in the public consciousness for many years to come, and Copenhagen is not a bad place to begin what she hopes will become an international presence in the realm of sustainable and ethical fashion.
Find out more about Aoife Mc Namara
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