Irish Design Spotlight: Cotone Collection

Tell us about you and your brand
Cotone Collection is a wellness and lifestyle brand focused on creating high-comfort, high-quality pieces from natural fabrics. We place an emphasis on comfort with the design of each piece, making each design decision with the end goal of sleep in mind. By dropping and extending seams standard across most sleepwear lines, collections boast an oversized relaxed fit to eliminate restriction as you stretch and curl.

Made in a family-run factory in Portugal, each piece is handmade with care by seamstresses, providing a fit that enhances both comfort and style. The entire collection is made from 100% European cotton that is woven into a muslin fabric to make everything extra-soft, ensuring a heavenly touch against the skin. Sets range from €150 to €180, with pieces sold individually to allow you to mix and match styles and sizes to create your dream set. 

What is your mission?
Cotone Collection’s vision and ethos is to provide a sustainable and ethical alternative in the luxury sleepwear space that delivers on performance, fit, quality, sizing and style; to build a brand that is synonymous with the most comfortable clothing, sleepwear, homewares and bedding on the market. 

Did you always know you wanted to be a designer?
No, definitely not. Fashion design was never on my radar throughout school. I had no idea it was a career possibility. If we were in any way academic, we were advised to focus on finance or science-based university courses. I never even considered my creative side until after I had qualified and I realised it wasn’t a career I wanted or enjoyed! 

My design side evolved from my passion for comfortable clothing and bedding, combined with the copious design flaws I identified across the sleepwear and bedding industry. The large majority of sleepwear on the market to date has been a carbon copy of each other – at least with respect to design and sizing. Arms are tight under the arm and prevent movement, crotch and leg seams are so tight that they’re not conducive to sleep, shorts are so short they disappear. Ironically many aspects of these designs and the fabrics used are proven to negatively impact sleep quality. Everyone sizes up a size or two in the hope of achieving a fit that is comfortable to sleep in; I think this is a significant flaw in the way sleepwear lines are designed and I am so proud that Cotone Collection is here to offer a sustainable alternative in the luxury sleepwear space. 

What kind of items do you stock?
Key sets from the Cotone Collection include the following: 

• Wind Me Down Gown (€120) – designed to wrap you in comfort, its relaxed dropped shoulders combined with its wide box sleeve make this piece the perfect pullover. The length is generous, providing nearly full body cover. It’s made from 100% European Cotton woven into a muslin material to feel as soft as a baby’s blanket
• Set My Arms Free & Hug Me To Sleep Shorts (€150): The sleep tee is a boxed fit, short-sleeved, pyjama top. This button-up sleep tee has double-lined pockets mindfully placed at breast height to help fight a cold breeze. The dropped shoulders, boxed sleeves and extended seams eliminate any restriction while sleeping. The shorts are high-waisted, with a substantially thick waistband designed to support and cradle you to sleep. 
• Sleeve Of Your Dreams & Hug Me To Sleep Pants (€180): The Sleeves of Your Dreams sleep shirt is designed with the ultimate comfort and style in mind. Its pockets are double-lined and mindfully placed at breast height to help fight a cold breeze. We have dropped the shoulders, designed luxurious puffy sleeves, and extended seams past the typical standard across most sleepwear lines to eliminate restriction whilst sleeping. The Hug Me to Sleep Pants are high-waisted, with a substantially thick waistband designed to support and cradle you to sleep. With a wide breezy fit leg design, you can enjoy full movement while you stretch and curl.

All pieces are sold individually to allow you to mix and match styles and sizes to create your dream set.

Was funding a concern when starting out?
Definitely. Starting a business is a really daunting task, especially when it comes to finances. It’s quite hard to secure funding or support for product-based start-ups in Ireland at the moment – a lot of the funding is focused on the tech industry. I’m currently bootstrapping the growth of the business, with 100% reinvestment in stock, marketing etc. It takes someone with an extremely high-risk threshold. 

The best business advice you’ve received?
When you’re starting out, you feel like the problems you face on a daily basis are life or death; you look forward to the future, generating a higher revenue and a team to help you share the load. You feel that larger businesses have the resources to cope with so much more than just you on your own. This is obviously true, but business problems and decisions are all relative to the size of the business. As the business grows, so does the inventory outlay, costs, staffing, management, and fulfilment operations. It doesn’t really get any easier, you just need to learn to be comfortable in the uncertainty. It’s very obvious when you think of it, but at the beginning, I envied the financial stability and resources of other companies. I then realised, the bigger the business, the bigger the problems! It crushed my dreams of it ever getting easier, but also brought me so much comfort. 

Network! People are so helpful. You’re always only one person away from someone who could help solve your problem. Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone who has been in your position before. Try to build a network of friends in the industry. The amount of help I’ve gotten in this way. It has really been the reason for Cotone Collection’s success to date. They’re the board you can’t afford! 

Favourite fashion accounts to follow?
Most of the accounts I follow are interior design and home-based, but when it comes to fashion, I love Lauren Arthurs, Bonnie Ryan, Sophie Murray and Matilda Djerf.  

Best fashion purchase?
I actually can’t think of anything! Maybe my Jaquemus or Louis Vuitton bags because I know I will have them forever? But if I’m being honest, all of my best purchases relate to my bed and my sleep. 

What Irish brands are on your radar?
God, where to start! For a tiny country, we have a huge amount of homegrown, Irish brands. The amount of these that are female-founded makes me even prouder to start this journey in Ireland. 

To name a few: 

• Kalo – Vegan leather handbags. I’m obsessed with their new collection! 
• My Name is Ted – Irish-designed handbags, made in Italy. I love their cross-body door bag with the hot pink door! 
• Little Light Jewellery – meaningful jewellery pieces paired with emotive poems.
• Brooke & Shoals – candles and fragrances. Their Neroli blossom and lavender scent is my absolute go-to! 
• MoMuse – Irish-designed and made jewellery. They have some stunning pieces.
• Críoa Jewellery – fashionable pieces. 
• Aoife Mullane – handbags and accessories.
• Aoife McNamara – Irish-designed and made statement clothing pieces. I’m obsessed with my ‘she means business’ blouse.
• The Smooth Company – a hair taming wand. It’s crucial. I have one in every handbag.  
• Happy Days – my go-to dress rental place.
• Sarah Wickham Designs – crazy talented artist who is famous for bespoke watercolour commissions (a wedding gift favourite!) and her nursery collection. 
• Little Bliss by Anna – Anna Daly’s super cute Knitwear collection. 
• Sinead Keary The Label – for all things glitz and glam. 
• Ayu Makeup – love their lip kits and liquid bush. 
• Sculpted by Aimee – the cloud cream is a must.
• Mantra – for boots!

Most useful learning since setting up a business
To build your price structure to allow for VAT!  Also, look into the Enterprise Ireland supports available such as the New Frontiers programme and PSSF. 

Proudest moment so far
I’m so proud to say that we will be celebrating our first birthday by launching our collection in Brown Thomas! This was on our vision board, so I cannot wait to be able to shop Cotone Collection in BTs Dublin and Cork. We also have a super exciting collaboration coming up with Brooke & Shoals that I cannot wait to see online and in stores! 

I want my brand to be remembered for… placing a focus on female comfort and the importance of downtime. 

If I could have anyone wear my designs it would be… in Ireland, Vogue Williams was at the top of the list because I know how much she values her comfort. I was absolutely ecstatic to see her lounging in Cotone Collection before her most recent appearance on The Late Late Show. My family asked if I had won the lottery when they saw me jumping around the house (the only possible logical reaction to seeing her post!).

Photography by Cathal Macan Photography