Sustainable Style Spotlight: Aoife Lifestyle

Tell us about you and your brand.
AOIFE ® is our trademark award-winning label, but most people in Ireland know us by AOIFELIFESTYLE, our Instagram tag. We are a sustainable circular brand offering functional products and long-lasting fashion pieces. We believe in running our business with strong ethical values, and this was always our intention when we launched our label in 2017 and became a Healthy Seas sponsor. From the very first step in production, we seek responsible solutions and bold choices which lower the impact on the environment and respond to the alarming problem of waste. “Throw away” culture and unthinking production practices are no longer acceptable. With modern research and developments, we have alternative options in this exciting new world of fashion choices. Care from planning and waste management in our design process means our designer products have multiple uses that fit all your requirements and ensure longevity; this is not throwaway fashion. AOIFE ® is an environmentally conscious brand.

What is your mission?
Cultural fashion sustainability and the life cycle of our products are a priority in all our decisions. To date, we have removed 284 kilos of waste from our ocean, and we continue to support our divers; we donate a percentage of our profits from our business to Healthy Seas, and we will continue to do so. We’ve also run in collaboration with Healthy Seas education initiatives and recently in my local school, highlighting the importance of ocean conservation with children and, most definitely, the generation who will have to clean up the mess. We understand and like to think that everyone is doing their part on their sustainable journey in fashion. We were very proud that we could be open and honest about our efforts while sharing with you the journey of our products from the design board to the front door. Together, we can all redefine the impact fashion has on our environment because it’s about people, it’s about the social impact, and it’s about your health.

Did you always know you wanted to be a designer?
I did not always want to be a designer. I was always very creative. I started my career at 19 years old as a teacher teaching fine art in the Pine Forest studios in Dublin, teaching PLC students and portrait and landscape escape drawing; I loved taking my students outside into nature to draw. It’s one of my favourite jobs I’ve ever had, being in nature and art. I still remember rocking up to the Pine Forest Studios, having heard that there was a teaching job on offer with my portfolio in hand and no experience, only for my employer and my now dear friends to have trust in me and give me the job. I was, as a child, an empath, and I had an awful lot of empathy for people and animals. I used to write about the horses in the Smithfield market once; my piece was featured in the independent; I was only 11.

What kind of items do you stock?
AOIFE ®  is a fashion brand and an accessory brand, so we stock various functional fashion items, but we’re best known for our award-winning bags.

What new brands or items are on your radar?
We have some fantastic brands in the conscious atelier that I launched, such as Kokoro Zenwear. Kokoro Zenwear is a Japanese word for your heart, soul, and spirit, and that’s the precise philosophy behind this beautiful brand. We stock gorgeous pieces made of bamboo and bamboo silk developed in their creative studio in Dublin and beautiful, timeless pieces. We also stock Jill and Gill, a fantastic independent collaborative Irish business with a really international outlook from two lovely designers who thrive on creating wearable art pieces for people who want to own limited editions. 

We have some cool jewellery, such as Bold Lines,  the contemporary jewellery brand. Julie Lawlor is the face behind the business and is passionate about design and modern jewellery pieces, she repurposes your unworn pieces into these beautiful new creations made to order. 

We also stock the award-winning global shoe brand Simona Rusk. We have a stunning collection that combines romance and heritage with a slow fashion ethos. Her construction showcases excellent craftsmanship, tradition and beauty in a way that’s fresh and modern. She’s an independent British brand that celebrates individuality through gorgeous pieces, all handcrafted in Italy using traditional techniques honed over generations. Her shoes are crafted from sustainably produced fabrics like dead stock from couture collections and woven by artists and mills in the UK – sustainability is at the core of everything she designs. 

One of my favourite designers, Katie Ramurson, also features in our conscious atelier. Her beautiful brand is called The Meaning Well. It’s inspired by who we are and what we want to be, and it’s designed for everyone – all while providing something uncommon in a modern design; pure luxury with limited waste. It is the brand developing pieces with considered creativity and they take pride in their production while working with local artisans to create clothes with a better meaning. I love the name, I love the brand. Katie is a very talented designer who once was a stylist and before that, a luxury shopper, so she’s acutely aware of the luxury market.

Was money/funding a concern when starting?
I had a miserable start to my business. I had worked with a factory for two years who were developing my samples, and all the samples were perfect until the day they arrived in the warehouse in City West. My boxes came with our trademark brand name, AOIFE ®, all over our boxes. The warehouse owner took a proud picture of me with my brand and boxes. I opened up the first distribution box only to find that part of the production line had been outsourced, and unfortunately, the products weren’t to my high standards. At this point, I had a globally trademarked brand, AOIFE ®. I had completed my first campaign that never got to see the light of day with Thalia Heffernan, and I spent the first three weeks trying to retrieve the money from the production company that wanted to pull the wool over my eyes. So the brand nearly didn’t get off the ground! We had our website splash page with our brand name, AOIFE ®, plastered across the internet for everybody to see, only to have to take it down a few weeks later because our plans didn’t go as we’d hoped.

At the time, I thought, no problem; we’ll find another production company, everything will be ok. But after being burnt, I went through 11 factories. My last factory was in Italy, and I brought my mother with me, who herself was a designer (she had her own boutique and taught fashion in the Grafton Academy at one point). I had brought her for a holiday to Italy, and I said, ‘Look, we’re going to meet this production team, and sure, if it doesn’t work out, didn’t we have a lovely trip together, mother and daughter!? I will have done my best and that’s all I can do.’

Luckily for me, the father and son that I met with, who also happens to have a small artisan line for Prada bags, decided that they wanted to work with me. I knew I had the right team when they started criticising my tech pack drawings because they are perfectionists, so I knew I was on to a good thing! The only problem is I had lost my priming grant because the year and a half was up, so I had to start this time on my own and fund everything on my own. I’ve used all my savings to date to create my brand. I received a few small grants from my local enterprise board to create my website or for any trade fairs, I attended. I had to navigate a legal concern with somebody helping themselves to my intellectual property, so that was an additional financial burden that I wasn’t expecting.

Life is full of knocks, and it’s just a matter of getting back on the horse and looking at these misfortunes as being unexpected learning experiences that we can grow from. It’s only when we have these uncomfortable situations that we can learn and grow from them.

Best business advice you’ve gotten
Ok, this is a strange one but it’s still, the best piece of advice business advice I’ve ever gotten! Although women are fantastic multitaskers, decision-makers, mothers and business balance creators and we make significant decisions throughout the month – but, we’re at our most mindful and acute when it comes to major decision-making mid-cycle during ovulation. So, I go easy on myself during half of the month and sometimes say that maybe it’s not the best time to make this decision. Just hang on for a week or two! 

Favourite fashion/design accounts you follow
I love Simone Rocha’s work, and I had the pleasure of teaching Simone Rocha in the Pine Forest Studios when she was a child, so to watch her grow into a fantastic international designer is just such a pleasure to see. 

Best fashion purchase
I made a tweed coat, and that is my best investment. I get it dry-cleaned twice a year, and I have had it for 12 years now. I also like jewellery, but I’m a big fan of art, and my family and friends know that if you ever buy me anything, the best thing is to get me a voucher for my favourite gallery because I prefer to buy art over fashion pieces.

Other Irish brands you love
There are so many Irish brands that I love, and some of them are in my concept-conscious atelier store in Naas Town Centre. It’s a collective group of sustainable designers. There’s something about sustainable designers: their creativity and their design processes come from an excellent place – a place of kindness.

Most helpful learning since setting up a business
I learned how to edit and create my content for marketing and how to navigate social media, but sometimes, it’s a burden to our health.

Proudest moment so far
In my personal life, it’s marrying my loving husband Eugene and having my three beautiful children, Hannah, Christian and Megan. In business, by far my proudest moment was when our brand was chosen to feature in the MODA museum in Atlanta and in an exhibition called “Full Circle”. It’s an exhibition for global brands that were making a positive impact in the world to display their work. Hence, there were various designers, architects, etc., and we were the only Irish brand to display in the full circle exhibition for six months in the States.

I want my brand to be remembered for… contributing to changing the paradigm of the fashion sector. Our brand aims to show us that the social environment and our health are what needs to be our priority and that putting people over profit is essential. Of course, I also want my brand to be known and remembered for its beautiful quality aesthetics too. 

If I could have anyone wear my designs, it would be… I think Zendaya would be great wearing our pieces, and she seems to be a very grounded person. I’d love to see her in some of our pieces. She loves vintage pieces, and she’s got great style and an understanding of sustainable quality. Timothée Chalamet is a fantastic actor, and I’d also love to see him wearing some of our bags; he would be amazing. 

Imagery provided by Aoife Lifestyle