The successful Irish menswear label you’ve never heard of

It’s a very successful Irish menswear brand you’ve never heard of yet. Vedoneire has been quietly selling menswear both at home and abroad since 1951. Once known for long johns, button-free tops and vests, quality underwear is still a big seller though its outerwear has been steadily expanding. Among its current offerings, for example, are bright pink and blue knits, cotton polos and check shirts, linen mix jackets, linen shirts, gilets, slipovers, quilted and wax jackets – all at affordable prices. The brand is well known online, has wide distribution here and in the UK and last year delivered to 48 countries worldwide from their Dublin headquarters.

So who are they? It all started in the late 1940s when Hamilton Livingston, a Quaker from Lurgan who lectured in textiles, moved to Dublin and set up a business with a few sewing machines over a funeral parlour in Montague Street off Camden Street.

After his 60th birthday, he and his sons Gilbert and Stanley opened Vedoneire in 1951 making their own fabric for use in underwear, shirts and knitwear and moved operations to a four-acre site and big factory in Crumlin. The US and the USSR were big customers for their fabric, then popular as “wash and wear” Crimplene and much in demand.

More factories were opened in Drogheda and Monasterevin during the boom years, when department stores like Clerys, Roches Stores and Arnotts were strong customers, but with the advent of cheaper production in Asia their fortunes floundered as they did for so many other Irish manufacturers.

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In 1985, Stanley’s son Mark, the eldest of the family, joined the business. A graduate of UCD’s Michael Smurfit business school who furthered his textile training in the UK, it was clear to him that home production was no longer viable. “We had to close down manufacturing, bring in design and source production from China, Vietnam and the UAE,” he says when we meet at the company’s headquarters in the Greenhills Industrial Estate.

Outerwear was introduced 10 years ago and, though the company would be traditionally known around the country for underwear, the menswear collections have been growing exponentially every year. “We are a lot more relevant now,” says Livingston. “I inherited a good team and a lot of our technological knowledge comes from my father and grandfather’s era. And we are slowly broadening our approach to a lower age group.”

Vedoneire used to supply wholesalers, but now, by supplying retailers direct, they can keep prices affordable and clothing fresh, replenishing shops on a weekly basis. “We have a core product made in a certain weight and size (like a 12-gauge cotton jumper) so that customers who like it become repeat customers and we try to introduce new styles each season,” says Livingston.

It’s a fairly classic look with popular items for both summer and winter being quilted jackets and gilets – in 100 per cent down and attractively priced at €89.95. These jackets sell particularly well in the US, according to Livingston.  A denim cotton polo shirt at €39.95 sold out immediately it hit the rails and dry wax cotton jackets at €135, are equally snapped up. New this season are navy and white herringbone linen mix jackets and fine check linen shirts and what’s called “double peach” finished cotton shirts in all sorts of bright checks and ginghams. There are cargo shorts, chinos, belts and tees and Livingston describes the typical Vedoneire customer as “urban, in his 30s or 40s”, a guy “conscious of what he wears and we don’t go too slim on shirts”, he says. “People are buying our goods and as long as they do, we have to get better.”

Vedoneire has more than 250 stockists in Ireland including Avoca, Shaws and Blarney Woollen Mills. They also operate a sales outlet in Greenhills Monday-Friday and every second Saturday where items from previous seasons can be bought at reduced prices. Visit www.vedoneire.com.