How to live the good life in the heart of our cities

SUMMER is when country living really comes into its own, the trees once more like giant broccoli and fearless swallows soaring over fields bright with buttercups. It’s no wonder some city slickers dream about moving here for a taste of the good life.

But while the grass is certainly greener, the country has its fair share of ugliness, too — though the forms may differ. For people are people, wherever you go.

This, of course, means you can enjoy the good life even if living in the Big Smoke, as I was reminded on a recent visit. For I happened upon a recommendation seemingly from Pope Francis, patron saint of this column, chalked on a blackboard by steps leading to a shop called Fresh Cuts.

“Ethical clothing for the modern-day sinner,” the Pope apparently proclaimed about the aforementioned premises. As if that wasn’t pious praise enough, another blackboard had Irish royalty of rock, Bono, waxing lyrical about its “hoodies as soft as a puppy’s tummy”. Even if it’s a tad unlikely that His Holiness has ever heard of this shop, I have no doubt that our down-to-earth Pope would get the joke and give a theological thumbs up to the deeply good garments that one-time banker Steven Murphy sells in his Aladdin’s Cave.

But how did a former financial whizz-kid end up as a retail king of compassionate clothing? It certainly didn’t seem likely for this business studies graduate, who worked in investment banks before a stint doing more of the same in Sydney, Australia. He returned to Ireland, determined to change career, but fell back into working in the financial sector, until he “had enough and decided to pack it in”.

The entrepreneurial twenty-something initially started selling online, as well as at craft markets, all the time growing his brand. Two years ago, he took the bold move of opening the shop on South William Street, despite having never even worked in one before.

Nor did he set out to develop an ethical enterprise. It was only when he started sourcing T-shirts that he realised how cheap you could buy them. Instead of provoking thoughts of profit, his conscience kicked in. He decided to operate under the Fair Wear Foundation, which means decent working conditions with no child labour or forced hours, as well as using organic and recycled material. It seems that virtue brought its own reward, for his shop was only open a few months, when he noticed a lot of Europeans were coming in. “Some of them had actually Googled “ethical clothing Dublin” and read about Fresh Cuts before they arrived in Ireland,” he says. Fortunately, Irish people also started inquiring about ethically produced bags, jeans and runners.

Steven hopes to develop “a multi-brand store, supplying ethically sourced casual wear, which I think is something Dublin needs”.

As does the country beyond. For in this age of environmental disasters, the good life means more than gazing at green fields.