Scarf Designs Take Off With Aer Lingus

by pulseprni | Dec 7, 2019 | Clients

Textile design company, Dúinn Designs is celebrating after winning a deal to supply its luxury Irish heritage scarves on-board all Aer Lingus flights.

Selling on every European and Transatlantic route this year, this new deal has boosted the fortunes of this fledging Irish business as profits from sales will allow owner, Bernadette McCullagh to expand her range of products, grow the marketing team and target US retailers.

Established two years ago, Dúinn Designs offers a new range of Irish contemporary patterned textiles. Inspired by myths and legends such as the Brown Bull of Cooley, historical places of interest including the Giants Causeway, Newgrange and Kilmainham Gaol, Dúinn Designs takes these well-known iconic symbols and turns them on their head to re-invigorate them into useable patterns for today.

 Aer Lingus chose the best-selling SKELLIGS range to stock on-board, which is designed to highlight the contemporary site of Skellig Island. Already a UNESCO World Heritage site, this tourist haven has further grown in popularity after the last Star Wars The Last Jedi movie, having been filmed there.

Bernadette McCullagh says, “Getting on-board with Aer Lingus has given me massive brand exposure and a truly global platform. It’s great to have an opportunity to showcase my scarves to such a broad range of customers and let them see a modern representation of Ireland, rather than the traditional ‘touristy’ view many Irish designers seem to highlight.

“Thanks to the Star Wars movie my sales have shot up and we are selling around 200 units per month, which is a good target for a business the size of mine. I am still pushing for more retailers and currently have 25 retail outlets across Ireland. There is a limited stock available on-board so it’s always a bonus when passengers contact me after for another colour or an additional purchase from the homewear range for their friend or family member.”The range also includes cotton aprons, over gloves tea towels. Buy direct at www.duinndesigns.com, and from 25 design-led retailers across Ireland.

Fashion Retailer DV8 Signs with Export Technologies

by pulseprni | Dec 7, 2019 | Clients

Fashion retailer DV8, which has more than 40 stores across Ireland, including a flagship store in Belfast city centre has signed a deal with Export Technologies to move its online operation www.DV8Fashion.com to Export’s e-commerce platform, the IRP. The deal will see DV8 invest £1.5 million over the next 2 years on warehousing and technology as well as hiring several new staff. 

The IRP has transacted more than £1 billion online for UK and Irish retailers and since moving to the platform, DV8 is already reaping the benefits. The company is seeing a 50 per cent uplift in online sales compared to the same period last year. Top selling countries for the retailer include Australia and the States.

DV8 offers a portfolio of the world’s best fashion retail brands for customers aged 18-40 years, and is successful with ‘Bedroom Brands’ inspired by reality TV stars and also wardrobe staples from Superdry, Calvin Klein and Vans.

Neville McDowell from DV8 said, “We made the move the IRP to create a more streamlined link between our bricks and mortar stores and online offering. We also have a massive international opportunity and the IRP platform is helping us reach global markets. In addition, the IRP analytics offers an intelligent approach to selling that uses artificial intelligence to monitor ‘lost’ sales, thus giving us the chance to reduce this gap so we can significantly increase our sales.”

James Cave from Export Technologies said, “DV8 is an excellent example of a multichannel retailer that has the ability to target an international audience. Although fashion is a notoriously competitive sector, we have the in-house knowledge to support the DV8 team, and coupled with the world-class capabilities of the IRP platform, we know we can make the partnership work long-term.”