Further education: ‘If you weren’t sure about the path you were on, you knew by the end of the year’

Fashion designer Heidi Higgins was just weeks into her course at Abbeyleix Further Education and Training (FET) Centre when she picked up the phone at about 10pm on Wednesday or Thursday night to call a friend for a chat.

From Portlaoise, Higgins had gone to school in the Patrician College in nearby Ballyfin. All her friends had gone on to college after Leaving Cert, and she was ringing her friend just to see how they were getting on.

“I can’t really talk, I’m heading out with my friends,” came the reply down the phone line. Higgins herself was on her way to bed. Afterwards, she wondered if her decision to spend a year on an FET course was the right one, and whether she was missing out.

“I definitely found it tough for the first month I was there,” she recalls. “All my friends in college were heading out for nights out, and I was wondering what I was doing, but after that I found my rhythm.”

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Higgins, by her own admission, was not an A-student in school. She describes the Leaving Cert as “overrated” and herself as someone who was “an average student”, but one who was “very artistic”.

“I was not one for sitting down regurgitating stuff,” she says. “It’s not how I learn. I’m very practical. ETB [Education and Training Board] courses suited people like me. When I went to Abbeyleix, I felt comfortable for the first time in a long time. I felt I was in among people with the same kind of mindset as me. Rather than learning from a textbook, it was a lot more hands-on.”

She decided the best way into fashion would be through an art course. The only places to do that at the time were the National College of Art and Design or the University of Limerick

Higgins had always known she wanted to do something in the creative field. Fashion or interior design were the two things she had in mind, but fashion took over as time went by.

She decided the best way into fashion would be through an art course. The only places to do that at the time were the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) or the University of Limerick (UL). Her chances of getting a place in either meant building a portfolio first.

“Going to art college was not something any of my friends had in mind,” she says. “They all went on to do things like medicine, nursing, law, teaching and whatnot. These were courses that people could see a route to a job and that was it. It was a bit more of a wild card because I didn’t know how I was going to achieve what I wanted to achieve. I didn’t know anybody who had gone to art college before so I didn’t have anybody to ask.”

She decided to apply for a portfolio course and was accepted on to the Art, Craft and Design (QQI Level 5) programme in Abbeyleix. After a rocky start, she soon realised that if she wanted to pursue fashion, she would have to “suck it up and get this done”.

“I loved it then,” she says. “It probably took me about six months to see what it was all about, and then I had a brilliant year. It’s hard to know at 18 or 19 what you want to do, but I knew I wanted to get into this area, so this course did feel like the right thing for me. The classes are small and you have expert tutors who often have their own experience in the industries they are teaching.

“If I’d gone to college it would have been very different. In an FET course, there are lots of different age groups and people are coming from loads of different backgrounds and situations. Some people were there just to take the course as a hobby. I also got to work with a fabulous French bridal designer for my work experience. All those things were great, and if you weren’t sure about the path you were on, you knew by the end of the year.”

Towards Christmas, Higgins entered the Nokia Young Fashion Designer Award and was selected for the final. That development was important for her confidence at the time, she says.

“Because you do sort of question yourself,” she confesses. “Am I doing the right thing? Am I losing out? Am I wasting a year? At the end of it, I still had to get a place in college and there was no guarantee of that.”

My parents were kind of like, ‘okay, sure, we’ll see how you get on.’ When I did get accepted to NCAD, I won’t say people had a bit more respect for my decision, but it is hard to get into NCAD, so it was a bit more a case of ‘okay, well she’s going somewhere’

She needn’t have worried. After the year in Abbeyleix, she had her pick of NCAD or UL, which was another welcome boost to her confidence.

“Going to fashion or art college had been a bit of the unknown,” she says. “My parents were kind of like, ‘okay, sure, we’ll see how you get on.’ When I did get accepted to NCAD, I won’t say people had a bit more respect for my decision, but it is hard to get into NCAD, so it was a bit more a case of ‘okay, well she’s going somewhere’.

“I had to kind of prove myself along the way, I suppose to myself, and everyone else. I was sort of saying, ‘don’t panic, I’m not going to be left behind, something good will come out of this.’

“The year in Abbeyleix meant I was starting off college then on the right foot. I had gotten my bearings and learned to do art all day every day. I had all that behind me so I had that experience and was able to hit the ground running at NCAD.

“It gives you the confidence you need. You have that extra year to mature and prepare yourself.”

Higgins spent four years in NCAD and studied fashion from second year on. While she was there, she spent her summers working with designer Louise Kennedy in Dublin.

“That was great experience for me,” she says. “It gave me a good understanding of a fashion house, having deadlines and a commercial aspect to your collection, making sure you sell it on time and stuff.

“In college, a lot of the work you do is very much about the dramatics of it — the catwalk, the end-of-year piece — whereas working in the industry gave me [a] good grounding of how the industry works on top of all that.”

You’d rent a spot, and every weekend you would set up your rail with a few dresses and you’d be standing by it for the weekend selling what you could

When she finished up in NCAD in 2008, she worked with Louise Kennedy again for another year. Around this time, she was also experimenting with her own designs and went on to launch a collection in May 2009.

“They used to have this area called The Loft in Powerscourt Townhouse,” she recalls. “It was the young designers’ market. You’d rent a spot, and every weekend you would set up your rail with a few dresses and you’d be standing by it for the weekend selling what you could.

“I did that for about six months and it went really well, but I wanted something more. I wanted something more professional and my own space where I could bring a customer in any time and have a proper fitting room for them and so on.”

It was at that point that Higgins decided to set up her own shop, but she couldn’t afford to do it in Dublin. So, she gave up her job with Louise Kennedy and returned to Portlaoise where she knew the lay of the land. She set up her own shop there in 2010.

“I was there for 10 years with my boutique,” she says. “While I was there, I only sold my own collection, and also sold to boutiques all around the country.”

Higgins was only about 25 at the time and was selling to customers 10 or more years older than her. Some of them would pass on bits of advice. “A few months after opening, they suggested to me that I should go to Punchestown to the races,” she says.

“I was innocent to all these things. I had never been before, but off I went anyway just for the fun of it, and I won ‘best dressed’. Arnott’s were the sponsors at the time, so that was a great introduction for me to the store.”

I was moving house to Tipperary just before Christmas 2019, and I was due my second child in June 2020, so I figured I had to make up my mind about the shop

From there, she started selling her collection in Arnott’s, and about a year later she moved across to Brown Thomas where she would end up selling for about eight or nine years. Then about 2018 or so, she started selling online as well, but soon after that life interrupted.

“I was moving house to Tipperary just before Christmas 2019, and I was due my second child in June 2020, so I figured I had to make up my mind about the shop,” she says.

“It was a question of designing a new collection and stocking the shop again, or am I just going to continue selling online? So I decided to close the shop, and I was lucky to have done so because Covid arrived not long afterward.

“A lot of the local people were starting to just buy online, and I couldn’t see the point of standing in the shop all day and then sending the dress up the road. Plus, I was moving to Tipperary, so it made sense.

“Since then, I am back now selling my collection in Arnott’s. I’ve a much smaller, leaner team. I’ve three kids now so I’ve changed my whole business model to suit my lifestyle and the current set-up.”

Looking back now, Higgins says her year in Abbeyleix stocked her armoury well for the challenges of life ahead.

“I think everything I learned in the portfolio course in Abbeyleix really toughened me up because, in industries like this, you don’t just walk into the job of a fashion designer,” she says.

“A lot of the ETB courses are more hands-on, and you have to be prepared for your career path not to be a straight one, and be resilient to what is happening around you. They teach you all about that in the courses too.”