Irish designers and manufacturers have adjusted to a more competitive market but the quality of their products is enabling them to prosper

MOST OF us know Guaranteed Irish. We’ve heard the Love Irish Food campaign’s “Get behind Us” slogan. Even fashion now has its own “Made in Ireland” campaign. But why buy a Heidi Higgins dress rather than a Hobbs number? Why opt for a Max Benjamin candle over a Diptyque one from France or a lampshade by Irish brand Klickety rather than one from the Conran Shop or Debenhams? According to retailers, when buying a similar product at a comparable price point, the answer is quality.

Last year, market research company Amárach, on behalf of Guaranteed Irish, found that if Irish households increased their spend on Guaranteed Irish products by €4 per week to €20 it would result in an increase of about 6,000 jobs in the country. It also found that four out of five members of the Irish public believe it is more important to buy Irish than it was five years ago.

Research carried out by Indecon for the Crafts Council of Ireland in 2010 (the latest figures available) suggest the number of people employed in the Irish craft sector is between 5,771 and 11,415. The sectors employing the biggest number of people are pottery and ceramics, jewellery, graphic crafts, textiles and stone. The value of the sector’s annual output was estimated at €498 million. Not only is it obvious that buying Irish (regardless of whether an item has the Guaranteed Irish symbol or not) makes sense from the point of view of supporting jobs but also that in supporting our crafts people, designers and artisan food producers there are benefits to the wider economy.

Goods produced and designed in Ireland are often perceived as having an element of exclusivity about them and broadly it can be said that when it comes to mass-produced items the consumer to get a cheaper item in a high-street store.

However, when it comes to certain luxury items or items in the mid to high price range, many Irish producers offer similar or better value as similar international brands.

Jennifer Flynn and Barbara Nolan have been running Dublin design store Designist ( designist.ie), which specialises in interior products and homeware, since October 2010. In Designist, Irish brands such as lampshades by Klickety, Irish Heads bookends and table linen by Jennifer Slattery sit alongside numerous international brands. Flynn says that whether a product has been made and designed in Ireland is important for the customers of Designist, who are not only design-conscious but also price-savvy. The shop's ethos is "beautiful, useful, affordable" – few items stocked cost more than €100.

Flynn believes it is her responsibility as a retailer to point out whether an item is designed or made in Ireland, though often it’s not something she mentions until the customer has chosen their purchase. She says that not only has the Irish design provenance of products become important to her customers but that increasingly they want to know if the product is manufactured here too.

“It’s also important for the designers themselves to see how their product fits into the international catalogue, as ultimately they want to be marketing abroad too,” she says.

Flynn believes Irish designers are reluctant to release products too soon, which means the consumer gets a high-quality product for the price.

“Often designers will compromise being paid for their own time to focus on the quality of the materials in their product, which isn’t necessarily ideal for them but is great news for the consumer,” she says.

As Designist frequently sells the first batch of a product made by a designer, customers can be assured that they are getting a high-quality item for the price. “Our shop is about giving the consumer choice. We don’t have to live in a world where everything is the same,” she says.

Buying Irish is, she says, ultimately about shopping for superior quality: “When the price point is the same for two similar products, it is the quality of the Irish product that wins out every time.”

Kilkenny is a brand synonymous with Irish products and a visitor to a Kilkenny outlet (or kilkennyshop.com) might be pleasantly surprised at the breadth and value of the Irish brands on sale.

Kilkenny’s Irish jewellery range includes Irish designers such as Alan Ardiff, Maureen Lynch and Geraldine Murphy – high-end design at prices not miles from the likes of Pandora or Swarovski. In fashions, Irish brands such as Luke Lovely and Ana Faye nestle up to international designer brands.

The company has brought down prices in recent years, and Kilkenny group marketing manager Greg O’Gorman says that while the customer wants to buy Irish the product must still represent good value.

“It is critical that the product must compete with other similar products in the marketplace in terms of value. The customer nowadays is very much price- and quality- conscious and is not going to pay over the odds. Quality and price point need to be in tandem. As a retailer we also need to turn over volume of stock as well, so price points need to be reflective of that,” he says.

O’Gorman also says that while prices were higher some years ago, in the current market Irish producers and designers are re-examining their suppliers, raw materials and manufacturing processes to produce the same quality goods at more competitive prices.

“If the value for money was not there I don’t think the demand for Irish goods would be there. But the tills don’t lie,” he says.

He says 2010 saw a “steadying of the ship” after the “storm of 2008 and 2009”. Since then, sales have risen and the company’s web sales have seen increases of 50 per cent year on year. Eighty per cent of Kilkenny’s customers, online and in-store, are, perhaps surprisingly, not tourists but Irish women.

It’s not just Irish stores such as Kilkenny that are focusing on Irish brands. Harvey Nichols has just introduced Irish label Fee G for this season, a move it says is in keeping with increased demand for Irish goods and is in line with the chain’s buying ethos.

Buyer Charlotte Southern says the company is looking at what Ireland has to offer in terms of ready-to-wear.

“We are not really looking at what country the product comes from. It’s about good product. It’s a global market and the product must stand on its own merit. A Fee G dress does that: it offers well-made clothing at very reasonable prices and the fact that it is from an Irish designer is a bonus, she says.

One Irish brand making waves worldwide is Max Benjamin ( maxbenjamin.ie), which produces candles, diffusers and body products. Based in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, the company has a very respectable stockist list that includes Brown Thomas and Arnotts here and John Lewis, Fortnum Mason and House of Fraser in the UK. Its products can also be found in Germany, Japan, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Mark Van den Bergh, who with his brother David runs the company, says that while he is aware the companys products are not cheap, they offer good value for money.

“When an Irish brand begins to do well internationally it adds cachet to the brand – that’s when people really start to notice,” he says. “People won’t buy something substandard just because it’s Irish.”