The story of how a dusty bag of dress patterns at the bottom of a wardrobe in Co Kildare became a ready-to-wear collection sought after by shoppers from Paris to Japan is down to founder Aoife Rooney’s ethics as much as her aesthetic. At a time when celebrity icons are as likely to be eco warriors as Oscar winners, Rooney, founder of Irish lifestyle brand Aoife, has captured the imagination of conscious consumers with an eye for elevated style both at home and abroad.
Aoife is an award-winning circular fashion brand, which means it continually aims to reduce the number of natural resources used to make its clothing and accessories, diverting products from landfill and making new materials out of old. The recently launched clothing collection, which follows the success of an edit of ergonomic handbags released in 2017, is a small but perfectly considered range of timeless, seasonless pieces crafted using deadstock fabric from luxury fashion houses, indigenous Irish materials, Ecovero viscose – a material made using sustainable wood from controlled sources – and sold on a made-to-order basis.
“I was determined not to contribute to the fast-fashion problem,” says the Dublin-born, Kildare-based mother of three, “but to help clean it up instead.” She describes sustainability as a “dinosaur” in comparison with circular fashion, as the latter looks upon waste as a design flaw. “Our production and consumption model involves rescuing, regeneration, reusing, repairing, sharing and recycling existing materials,” she says.
With a background in interior design and architecture, Rooney was as focused on the functionality of her collection as she was its circularity and appearance. She was initially inspired to design her signature unisex Gallery Tote to Backpack – a shopper that converts easily into a rucksack – when she saw a lady step off the Luas laden down with six different bags. “I thought there’s got to be a better way,” says the 45-year-old.
Like most successful businesses, Rooney’s was born out of providing solutions to other people’s problems. In the same vein, her ready-to-wear collection offers women an alternative to the buy-now-box-up-for-winter model whereby summer clothes become decommissioned for months on end because they don’t suit the erratic Irish weather. “Out of sight, out of mind” is one of the biggest causes of over-consumption, as women often rebuy items they’ve simply forgotten they already own.
“I wanted to create pieces that transitioned easily from one season to the next,” she says. “The collection works like a capsule wardrobe, where everything can be mixed and matched, while seamlessly blending in with an existing wardrobe.”
Crafted from natural, breathable fabrics, such as linen from Emblem Weavers in Wexford and wool from heritage brand Magee in Donegal, and with the weight of fabric used to make each item finely judged, the pieces can be worn at any time of year – hail, rain or (hopefully) shine. “The only way to dress in this country, especially in summer, is like an onion, peeling back or adding layers as and when needed,” she says.
For this reason, the entrepreneur deliberately adopted an understated approach when considering the overall look of the collection. “We’ve tried to think hard about the real-life needs of our customers because we want to make their lives easier and more comfortable. Nothing is overstated and there are no obvious, oversized logos. We opted for a restrained approach that has versatility and longevity at its core.”
This includes Rooney’s choice of colourways. She was instinctively drawn to a rich, earthy palette inspired by the Irish landscape; it’s effortless to wear and each shade complements the others beautifully. “As a brand, we also want to encourage a shift in buying culture,” says the designer, whose mother taught at Dublin’s Grafton Academy. “We encourage customers to pre-order, so that we can plan our output and eliminate waste.”
Rooney believes the future of fashion is rooted in the past, when customers took time choosing a new purchase and then waited patiently for it to be meticulously produced. If Rooney’s loyal clientele is anything to go by, the cycle of instant gratification and long-term let-down inherent in throwaway fashion is losing its appeal. “My customers are mostly women in their mid-40s and older, and they are incredibly knowledgeable about positive-impact brands,” she says. They love the fact that offcuts from Rooney’s exquisite range of outerwear are used to make dog coats, so they can treat their beloved pets to a stylish Donegal tweed checked coat that matches their own.
The brand also has a popular return and repair service for handbags that have suffered wear and tear over time, and for a small fee, it offers an alteration service for pieces in its ready-to-wear collection. While Rooney always had an Irish customer in mind when creating this collection, she says Scandinavia, France, Japan and the US have fallen hard for both the brand’s beauty and its authenticity. It must be the look of the Irish.
