Ten Irish designers blazed a creative and successful trail through New York in May, wowing the Big Apple’s fashion influencers and buyers.
In May 2018, WearingIrish NYC 2018, supported by Bank of Ireland, brought ten of Ireland’s best fashion and accessories designers to New York for a showcase with influential buyers.
WearingIrish NYC is the brainchild of Margaret Molloy, a native of Offaly, and a graduate of the Harvard Business School who is now the New York-based global chief marketing officer at Siegel+Gale.
Meetings and sales
The idea was to showcase the talents of Ireland’s top designers over a three-day event in the ‘Big Apple’. The event was built around nine salons and industry panel discussions and resulted in strong networking, sales, client commissions and invitations to meetings with top retailers.
The ten designers who took part include Aine Alison Conneely; Blaithin Ennis De Bruir; Inner Island; Jennifer Rothwell; Natalie B Coleman; Sands and Hall; The Tweed Project and Triona Design.
“Mentoring up-and-coming businesses and helping our customers grow is really important to us.”
Into America
Bank of Ireland’s teams in Ireland and the U.S. will now help the designers to enhance the connections made in New York and help them develop, grow and scale their businesses. The designers can also avail of desk and meeting spaces in the bank’s Workbench facilities in New York, Dublin, Limerick, Kilkenny, Galway and Cork.
“The talent and creativity among Irish designers are world class and we are thrilled to bring these designers to a U.S. audience. Mentoring up-and-coming businesses and helping our customers grow is really important to us,” says Francesca McDonagh, Group CEO at Bank of Ireland.
“All of the designers enjoyed a significant amount of sales through the week – much more than they expected.”
Partners
Partners supporting the event included the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, through Ireland’s Consulate
