Marrying heritage with the fashion future at Avoca: ‘We are on a journey to tell our story to the world’

The 54 outfits at Avoca’s winter 24 fashion show, styled by Catherine Condell and held in the lovely Fern House in Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow, offered a contrast between country outdoor wear and evening ensembles, opening with a series of coats, blazers, throws and scarves in Avoca tweeds. Looks varied from well-known UK, Danish, Portuguese, Dutch and French brands with strong textural contrasts for everyday wear to glitzy trousers, tops, dresses and coats embellished with sequins for after six – one navy velvet trouser suit was studded with rhinestones top to toe.
But it was the large handloom in the corner of the cafe with weaver Martin Kenny that told its own story of the company’s future direction. The newly appointed managing director of Avoca, Brian Handley, has ambitious plans that will involve a stronger emphasis on its heritage and 300-year-old history.
So, the presence of the handloom was making a point. “We need to talk about Avoca in a bigger way,” he says, comparing it to some of the internationally better-known heritage brands. The idea is to produce three separate collections of tweed that will encompass pieces inspired by Avoca’s heritage, those reproduced to mark the 300th anniversary of the mill, and a third collection which will be more contemporary.
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A recent tour of the mill in the Vale of Avoca with guide Allan O’Neill gave a fascinating insight into its history, workmanship and design. He explained how in the 1800s Avoca, with one of the biggest open cast mines in Europe, was a vibrant community mining copper, zinc, lead and gold. The mill was the nucleus of the village and many of the mine workers were spare-time weavers, using wool from local sheep to clothe their families and later making army blankets in white, grey or red.
Its fortunes changed when three sisters, daughters of a local parson living nearby – Emily, Winifred and Veronica Wynne – started working there, introducing new designs and colours, and giving the mill a fresh lease of life. In the 1930s they were selling tweed to Elsa Schiaparelli in Paris, to British royalty and exporting to the US, England and European countries. It was recalled that the sisters were always seen walking around with twists of yarn in their fingers, testing the brighter and more vibrant fabrics they were making. “All three were well travelled, well-educated and mad about plants and brought so many back from their travels,” explains O’Neill.
With the passing of the years and the death of the sisters, the mill became neglected until the 1970s when Dublin solicitor Donald Pratt and his wife Hilary purchased the mill and revived its failing fortunes, expanding and developing new products and locations all over Ireland very successfully for more than 40 years. When they decided to sell in 2016, it was purchased by the US company Aramark. There are now 13 locations across the island and third-generation weavers working at the mill.
Handley comes to the business with a stellar retail pedigree, having been 11 years with Harvey Nichols in various locations and later group director and chief executive of the Tsum department in Kyiv, and general manager of De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam (part of Selfridges). A man passionate about textiles, one of his notable achievements while director at Harvey Nichols in Leeds was to highlight the work of Yorkshire mills making cloth, with a display of fabrics running across all four floors of the store. Large bolts of fabric draped each side of the elevators, and special fittingroom curtains were made using Yorkshire cloth – including two locally woven luxury fabrics installed in the Oval Office at the White House.
Just as it was visiting the Yorkshire mills that proved inspirational for that project, Handley’s first visit to Avoca was similarly an eye opener because of its history, specialist skills and passion that enabled it to survive after three centuries. In the Weaving Shed, operations manager Liam Finnerty points out that they produce 60,000 metres of product annually from 30 tonnes of yarn, though they are also keen to develop local wool from Wicklow Cheviot sheep.
Seeing the handlooms in action always impresses visitors, and according to O’Neill “the history is lovely, but this is pure theatre” as we watch Martin Kenny, a weaver for 33 years, demonstrating on a 130-year-old flying shuttle loom how he makes the two-metre Greenhills throw. Elsewhere the assembly of coloured threads from the creel, all 700 of which must be tied in together to make a “Pheasant” blanket, looks incredibly intricate and complicated. “Most people don’t understand the process and when they see how it is made, they appreciate it more,” says Handley.
In the design room, textile specialists and designers Fiona Daly and Vanessa Doyle discuss their mood boards and the patterns they are developing for forthcoming collections.
Avoca’s location, with its whitewashed cottages in the lovely Vale of Avoca, is a delight for a day out – not just for its history, but also its beautiful gardens, surroundings, lovely cafe and shop. Local woodland trails include the Kite Walk, so called because of the dozens of red kites introduced in 2009 by the Golden Eagle Trust that now flourish in Kilmagig Forest, with 30 breeding pairs.
Owners of the Chinese company Icicle, Ye Shouzeng and his wife Tao Xiaoma, who champion environmentally aware clothing, were left overwhelmed by the experience of visiting Avoca’s operations last September on their first visit to Ireland. Icicle now collaborates with Avoca on scarves that will be sold in their stores in China and Paris.
“Our biggest market is the US,” says Handley, “but we are on a journey to tell our story to the world and to tell it better” – so its future lies in its past.