Wexford linen on the
CELEBRATED DESIGNER PAUL COSTELLOE, WHO SAYS THE BEST LINENS COME FROM WEXFORD, SOURCED HIS CLOTH FOR LONDON FASHION WEEK FROM FAMILY-RUN WEXFORD BUSINESS EMBLEM WEAVERS – ‘A SMALL FIRM WITH BIG CLOUT’. MARIA PEPPER TALKE TO EMBLEM’S STEPHEN CONWAY
‘UP Wexford’, shouted Irish designer Paul Costelloe as he waited for the start of his catwalk show on the opening day of London Fashion Week recently.
The yellow belly cry was for the benefit of Stephen Conway, joint managing director with his brother Seamus of family-run Emblem Weavers in Wexford which supplied Costelloe with the linen fabrics used to make the 2017 Spring/Summer designs worn by top models during the show.
Stephen whose father Jim founded the firm in Dublin’s Amien Street in 1962, was invited to attend the Costelloe catwalk presentation at Le Meridien Piccadilly Hotel as a guest of the designer and his family.
‘When I arrived the hotel was buzzing with celebrities and paparazzi. I was whisked backstage to see the creations Paul had made with Emblem’s linens. The buzz backstage was amazing.’
‘I was brought out to meet Paul who threw his arms around me and started shouting ‘Up Wexford, The Best Linen Comes from Wexford’. I was given a seat in the front row and handed a glass of champagne,’ said Stephen.
The famous Irish designer whose SS17 collection is made predominantly from linen woven in Wexford and Belfast, told the world’s fashion media before the show that ‘it’s time to bring back linen.’
‘‘Linen often gets a bad press because of how easily it creases. ‘But with the linen I’m using, the wrinkling factor is not relevant because of the way it’s been finished. It’s like silk.. because of the weave it’s not rigid and tight like traditional linen,’ he said.
‘ The linens I have used are very much from the time when linen was created as a truly organic natural material, not the mass produced fabric commonly found today. Woven on jacquard looms, the linen designs are totally unique,’ the designer added.
Linen has played a major part in Paul Costelloe collections over the past 40 years with one of his most high profile pieces being a yellow linen dress which Princess Diana wore on Sydney’s Bondi Beach in 1988. Costelloe has often worked with Jim Conway over the years.
‘Paul and his family are such nice people,’ said Stephen. ‘ They thanked Emblem Weavers for the beautiful linens that we produce. The said the linen Emblem produces is special.’
The weaving company which moved to Wexford in the early 1980’s, developed an international reputation for luxury linen fabrics, forming strong partnerships with some of the great European fashion houses that has lasted for decades.
Emblem Weavers fabrics are regularly seen on the catwalks of London, Paris and New York but also in the ateliers of young progressive designers looking for luxury in authentic cloth.
The fabrics are used by some of the best known designer labels in the world including Hermes, agnes b, Hugo Boss, Burberry (Emblem once made the traditional check cloth) and Paul Smith and have also been chosen by cult influencers like Nigel Cabourn of the UK and United Arrows of Japan.
The company is now run by siblings Seamus (the production manager) and Stephen (sales and marketing) and their sister Debbie Foley who is the Financial Controller with a continued guiding input by their dad Jim who is known as King Linen in Japan.
Jim started the business in the early 1960’s, using a 21st birthday gift of £100 from his mother to buy some hand looms. The enterprise initially concentrated on fine wool and developed markets in Europe and Asia.
Lured by a tradition of weaving in Wexford and a previous business association with the former Fine Wool Fabrics, Jim and his late wife Nanette and family came to Wexford in 1981, renting a premises in Trinity Street for five years before establishing the factory in Whitemill Industrial Estate where 56 people were employed at one point.
‘We, as a family are very proud of what our dad set up as a young man and that he passed his skills and knowledge as a weaver and businessman to his kids,’ said Stephen. ‘We have a great team behind us with nine employees who are very skilled at what they do.’
The traditional craft of linen weaving and a flair for colour and new expressions of classic forms are at the heart of the business. Today, Emblem Weavers is a smaller firm with a big clout in the world of fashion.
‘I think people are coming back to the idea of quality. Designers are buying smaller amounts but more variety,’ said Stephen who regularly attends trade shows abroad.
‘It’s a tough industry. Because we do linen only at the moment, it can be seasonal. It’s not the old linen fabric people think of that was stiff and hard. The construction of the weave and the washes give it a beautiful drape.’
Exciting new ventures are on the horizon. A collaboration with Rory Duff, the award-winning New York-based Monaghan-born handcraft tailor of bespoke suits for men and women is on the cards after The Crafts Council of Ireland put the Wexford company in touch with him.
THE HOTEL WAS BUZZING WITH CELEBRITIES AND PAPARAZZI. I WAS WHISKED BACKSTAGE TO SEE THE CREATIONS PAUL MADE WITH EMBLEM’S LINENS