The thousands of fashion buyers who will converge on the RDS in Dublin today and tomorrow are certain to go home exhausted. Futura Fair, Ireland's biggest fashion event, has 1,000 ranges of Irish and international men's and women's wear on display, and for the first time in its 23 years, it also has a home furnishing section.
Buyers started placing their orders as soon as the event opened yesterday. They came from around the world to do so, but the largest contingent was from Northern Ireland.
Right in the middle of the exhibition is a group of eight Irish manufacturers - household names like Libra, with co-ordinated separates (a mocca, or grey, gaberdine suit retails at £150); John Bentley, putting brightly coloured prints with plain rib jackets (£130 for a long silky dress); and Max Pierre, with jacquard grosgrains, dressy things in navy, royal and black (satin-edged crepe suit, £189). And the list goes on. Overall, it's a colourful collection, with suits, especially trouser suits, the big favourite.
Terry Rowan, an exhibitor for many years, was in upbeat mood, declaring that there was nothing to fear from the multinational chain stores opening up in Ireland. "Clever retailers can handle that. And our manufacturers will have to ask themselves, `how can I improve?' "
Clearly he, and members of the Irish group, feel they are good enough to take on all comers. And so it would seem. There are, of course, many more Irish manufacturers represented outside the group.
Irish knitwear, entering a rather shaky phase as fashion shifts towards more sophistication, is fighting back. Joan Miller is concentrating on the US and Japan rather than Europe. Here, she says, her chunky hand-loomed cardigans and fair-isle jackets are appreciated, and surely few could resist the luxury of mohair, silk and chenille coming together in a fancy way (£100 for a jacket with decorative collar and cuffs). "My indigos will be huge abroad," she says, indicating slim jackets, skirts, sweaters and a long scarf (cardigan £100).
There is an amazing autumn range by Beehinn Marten of multicoloured fair-isles (£118 for a lined bomber jacket), which, they say, attract mainly tourist interest, while the spring chenilles (£117 for a tunic, long waistcoat and skirt) would probably take anyone's fancy. Of course, the majority of the 330 exhibitors come from abroad, with big groups from Denmark, Germany and Britain. They represent clothes at their most conservative and most practical - the clothes we all wear.
Twenty-three years ago, Gerry Murphy and Maureen Ledwidge started Futura - a few rails of clothes in Jurys, if I remember correctly. Since then, it has grown enormously, and was wholly acquired by Ms Ledwidge, and her husband, Edmund Hourican, two months ago.