Ethical fashion by firefighting surfers

It's not your typical arrangement for three surfing, fireman friends to set up an ethical fashion brand. But Stephen O'Reilly (33), Damien Bligh (36) and Neill McCabe (37) are part of a new generation with an awareness of the impact of fashion industry – the second most damaging industry on earth – and a willingness to try to change it.

O'Reilly, Bligh and McCabe met through fire-fighting but it was after spending time surfing around the west coast of Ireland that the beginnings of a clothing company were made. The three friends started making T-shirts for themselves and then, for their friends. As more friends began requesting T-shirts, the idea of a clothing label began to take shape.

O’Reilly worked as a graphic designer and art director for more than 10 years, as well as swimming competitively and surfing, scuba-diving and free-diving. It was through the time he spent at sea that O’Reilly developed a passion for its welfare.

McCabe had experience in sustainability, and had recently developed the world’s first carbon neutral fire station.

Bligh had experience in the retail clothing arena as well as a keen eye for photography and design. Through mutual love for the ocean and skill sets that were brought to such an endeavour, it wasn’t long before ethical clothing label Grown was conceived. There was one thing that stalled the company; O’Reilly, Bligh and McCabe didn’t want to be part of the problem that they saw as the current fashion industry.

O’Reilly, designer and co-founder, sat down with us to explain: “On one of our road trips we got talking about our love of fashion and design. Having a background in photography, design and sustainability, we set a project for ourselves. The fashion industry is the second dirtiest on earth behind big oil. We didn’t want to be contributing to that.”

The friends were also becoming aware of how the toxic chemicals going into their clothes were then sitting on their skin, O’Reilly predicting: “Lots of people are conscious of what goes in their bodies, the next logical step is for people to be aware of what goes on their bodies too.”

From the start the three made the decision to become a “challenger brand” and began researching how they could create clothing that did as little damage as possible to the environment, while also educating and spreading awareness.

“We weren’t happy about the fashion industry that was around us; the throwaway lifestyle. We didn’t admire or approve of any of the brands that we were wearing and we wanted to change. We researched the company we wanted to be, a company that causes no unnecessary harm. We nearly pulled the plug on the project as we couldn’t find a way to create it without damaging the environment.”

After some time, and extensive research, the three firemen found a supply chain with which they were happy. The factories they buy from use only renewable energy and the workers are paid a fair wage. “The key to change is in the hands of the customer,” says O’Reilly, “but it’s up to the brand to be responsible, and help the customer make the right choice.” He says “every brand should be doing this, it should be bog standard”.

The love of the ocean that brought O’Reilly, Bligh and McCabe together as friends is visible on the garments they design and in the message they are trying to spread. This year, up to 12 million tonnes of plastic will enter our oceans. Grown’s launch campaign, Let’s SEA Change, aims to “protect the most valuable commodity on earth – the oceans that cover it”. Their challenge, they tell us, “is to make people aware of the role the ocean plays in our lives, and the role our lives are playing in destroying it”.

Every Grown design also tells its own sustainable story. A favourite T-shirt is "You Never Throw Something Away" (pictured left), inspired by ocean and sun-bleached plastic debris collected on Irish beaches. It is made from 60 per cent recycled pre-consumer cotton that has been organically grown and printed in Ireland using eco dyes. You can purchase this T-shirt and more at grown.ie.