Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

Tuesday 21 October 2014

There is a lift, there's no doubt. You can smell it in the air, you can see it in the cars on the road - white is the new colour, by the way - and you can see people walking around with shopping bags once again. Confidence inspires confidence, and now I believe there are real retail opportunities out there for people with an eye for something special. We've had enough of austerity and boredom. Boutiques dropped off the planet during the recession, as did interior furnishing shops, and many others.

Twenty years ago, Deryn Mackay opened Khan in Blackrock, Co. Dublin. Bringing in international labels such as Paul Smith, Missoni, Schumacher, iBlues, Armani, Alberta Ferretti Philosophy, and Versace, as well as a generous mix of Irish talents such as Roisin Linnane, Mariad Whisker and Rachel Mackay, met the desires of customers keen to source pieces with enduring stylish qualities.

Khan was pretty much an instant success, doubling in size in Blackrock and expanding further with a womenswear section in Alias Tom, just off Grafton Street. Deryn says that at the forefront of her buying strategy is keeping each customer's individual style in mind. The career woman is at the heart of Deryn's buying philosophy, with key pieces offering longevity proving a winning formula. Blackrock is an affluent area, but the village suffered, as did many other shopping villages in south County Dublin, with the opening of Dundrum Town Centre.

When the credit crunch hit in 2008, Deryn expanded more with daywear and accessories. "People were still short on time, so personal delivery and out-of-hours meetings with clients became key to staying relevant," says Deryn. "Irish customers are hugely loyal, and if you can be flexible with their changing lifestyles, they keep coming back. At Khan, it's not about fashion. Some of our customers have pieces they bought in 1994 that are as current today as they were then. Classic cut, impeccable fabric and tailoring is at the heart of what we do. If the recession changed anything, we definitely saw a drop in people's necessity for occasion wear - but that's no bad thing, a simple, beautiful black dress ought to be a staple for any female."

In 2006, Sarah Gill opened Seagreen in Monkstown, Co. Dublin; it's a really inspirational store incorporating chic clothing, interiors and home accessories to make your heart race, plus a cafe. It was a very cool Aladdin's cave that made you want to race home and throw out everything you had.

"I lived for a couple of years in the Caribbean and travelled a lot to the US, where I was seeing a lot of buzz," says Sarah. "I love a store that can offer you a mix. I like picking up bits and pieces that weren't really why I came in the door - maybe a perfume or a candle. We had a great first year because we enjoyed the latter days of the boom and then we had a natural growth every year."

After three years and two children, Sarah decided, purely for lifestyle reasons, to concentrate on fashion and moved premises - she also opened a branch in Ranelagh. "When I migrated with the fashion I really wanted to keep a mix. I am not always totally commercial, I am drawn to things." During the recession, Sarah says she focused on "fashion for lifestyle reasons". "We focused on what women are wearing multiple times. So, do we do occasion dresses? Not really. You have to think to yourself, 'what am I spending my money on, what am I wearing most of the time?'. We all shop like that now. It's been a great education for us all. We will spend, but we will spend on something that we will get our wear from. That's really important and that's not a bad lesson. With the mix in the store, we have been growing year on year, I think that is why we are doing so well. We are up 25pc on last year already, but I think it is our buying. Every piece I pick up at an appointment, I say to myself 'who'll wear it?; would she wear it?; where will she wear it?; how many times will she get to wear it?'. You are thinking of where your customer is going - is she dropping off kids to school, is she going to work afterwards, is she going to the gym? - and that is why we are also going into active wear with a new section upstairs. You are thinking of her whole day; is she meeting her girlfriends for dinner on Thursday nights, as I see around here and in Ranelagh - they are wearing their jeans, silk tops and little jackets. Our denim is huge for us. Younger girls who have jobs are very interested in buying a good pair of denims that they are going to wear at weekends with their boots or their heels, so investment denim is a genuine business."

Sarah says that active wear is a lifestyle trend, people are exercising more but are time-pressed, so they will spend the day in their nice leggings, a sweatshirt and a scarf, and so, Seagreen are now stocking pheel, Wellicious and Zobha. "It is all about thinking what our customer is doing."

For the past 20 years, Nikki Creedon's Havana in Donnybrook has been a magnet for the dedicated fashionista. "We are high-end, we are expensive and 90pc of what we do in Havana is exclusive to us in Ireland," Nikki says.

Havana stocks Rick Owens' main line, the amazing Stella Jean label, as well as being exclusive on Simone Rocha, Ann Demeulemeester, Junya Watanabe and Haider Ackermann. "Exclusivity is our big thing. The recession knocked us for six. It wasn't that people spent less; we lost an enormous amount of people altogether. There were a lot of people who would have been great customers that we just didn't see. So that was hard, thinking about whether we would drop prices, but we didn't. We kept our main designers, many of whom we had for 15 to 20 years, we just kept less of them, and we worked really hard at keeping the shop interesting and unique.

"People internationally understood. We keep our labels because we are good clients of theirs, they respect us and we are good payers, I think that is essential as well when you are in a cut-throat business."

Nikki says people were very conscious about spending, conscious of other people, family and friends in difficulties. People started ringing in and they would deliver things to customers. "The spend on very dressy wear went right down, so we became better at very good casual wear. People will invest the money in stuff they are going to wear every day. The practical things like the leather jackets, the jeans, the leather leggings, the beautiful tops from Ann Demeulemeester, the jackets from Haider Ackermann - all of those sell really well because they are not going to look out of place next year or the year after, so they are investment pieces but still edgy and avant-garde. I think there is more confidence back.

"We look after our clients; we hope the shop is warm and friendly. We do training sessions with the girls on the collection every season so they know how everything is put together and I hope we offer a very good service."

Kate O'Dwyer and Louise Flanagan opened Emporium Kalu in Naas in 1997, becoming a popular destination for high-end fashion. They stock a wide range of labels such as Nicole Farhi, Halston Heritage, Plein Sud, Vivienne Westwood Anglomania, Hache and Unreal Fur.

Kate says, "The past seven years have been very challenging but I am glad to say this season we feel a wonderful buzz back in Kalu. We stayed high-end and we were lucky we did this. It keeps you special and you became more of a destination shop."

While Kate says they're not a 'mother of the bride' shop as such, demand for special occasion outfits is very good. "We certainly adjusted our spend, but upheld what people expect from us as a store. We remain loyal to our brands, buying beautiful, special pieces, which made us a destination shop for very special occasions in people's lives."

Kate also says that good casual fashion is very popular such as their range of cashmere tops and jeans - "they're huge." People will also buy a special coat.

When the going got tough, the tough got going.

khan.ie

seagreen.ie

havanaboutique.ie

emporiumkalu.ie

First Published in The Sunday Independent