Stighlorgan (pronounced Still-organ) is a contemporary Irish accessories brand which is rather reflective of a lot of the native population from time and memorial to modern day. Basically, although based in London they still very much see themselves as Irish. Set up by a group of friends all hailing from in and around the area of Stighlorgan in Dublin or Baile Ãtha Cliath, the town on the river, to give the city its correct gaelic translation. The sea not only plays an important role to Dublin’s fair city but to the Stighlorgan brand itself. To celebrate the launch of their Summer 13 line, they relaunched a limited batch of their peat green Roban backpack and to give them a completely unique look and feel, they’ve been washed by the Irish sea off the coast of Dublin. The bags were soaked and ‘sea-washed’ in rough sea on the diving steps at Salthill, near Dún Laoghaire, to give their signature Roban bag a new weathered look.
We recently caught up with Christian , one of the founding nomadic members from the gallic creative collective and asked him what the thinking behind the brand was,
” In simple terms, to begin waving the flag for modern Irish fashion. The Irish have a very particular way of doing things and we’re all very proud of that. I see real value to sharing the small differences in the way the Irish dress -or the differences as we see them at Stighlorgan I could say. There are already a wide variety of English brands, American brands, Swedish, Italian, Japanese etc, I think its high-time someone began to talk about the Irish aesthetic. I believe that if presented correctly it holds some really interesting and fresh insights into ways that you can put together an outfit and in particular to Stighlorgan; the accessories you can wear.”
He went on to sum up the brand and how it came about, far more succinctly then I could, so I thought I’d save myself the bother,
“One of my older cousins in Dublin who I recently spoke to about Stighlorgan and the progress the brand was making, said to me that in the 90s he had a dream of creating an Internationally known contemporary Irish brand. I found it funny that he seemed to have had the same desire to create something Irish that could truly have international reach. We’re already selling in Europe, the US, Russia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. We’re getting closer to achieving that reach that me and my cousin dream of. In terms of the brand’s identity and future, we already have a really strong idea of what the Stighlorgan brand looks like. Each season we put together a collection that jumps ahead of the previous one -it’s an exciting feeling to better your previous season. We’ll keep up this momentum and keep evolving the brand. If we can create global recognition for an Irish aesthetic that’s very close to our hearts, we’d be very happy with that!”
A selection of the Summer 13 range
