LAST week, the Economic and Social Research Institute released yet another document predicting impressive growth for Ireland over the next few years. Announcements of this kind are now a regular occurrence as still more overseas technology based companies choose to establish links with the Celtic Tiger. But it is not just outside organisations which are set to benefit from the current boom. Every area of Irish industry has the potential to enjoy expansion - and that includes fashion.
Not since the 1950s - the heyday of Sybil Connolly and Irene Gilbert among others - have Irish designers enjoyed such a high international profile. Indisputably, this country's fashion businesses have never been so successful. Rising labour costs mean Ireland can no longer hope to compete with the Far East in the production of low-priced clothing. That battle being largely over, the opportunity to create an indigenous industry based on quality and creativity has been sensibly seized by our best players in the fashion field.
The relatively small size of Ireland and its population, plus a late entry into the arena of international fashion gives us a disadvantage against the likes of France or Italy for the upper end of the spectrum and Germany for the mass market. But this country can look for inspiration to the Netherlands and Belgium, neither of which used to have much of a reputation for fashion. Thanks to designers such as Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester and Martin Margiela, Dutch and Belgian fashion is now highly regarded worldwide.
Similarly, Irish labels look set to increase their presence on the international market. Figures for clothes exports from this country for the first 10 months of last year show sales worth more than £281 million. More than half this amount went to our nearest trading partner, Britain where exports of clothing grew by some 20 per cent between 1990 and 1995. The annual growth seems steady and appears likely to continue.
Not all names involved in clothes exports will be equally familiar to the domestic market but the major players here include Michel Ambers, Liza Lovell, Regine, Libra and Henry White. Equally important are the high profile, high fashion names, the most globally successful of which is John Rocha. After her much acclaimed debut at the last London Fashion Week, Ireland's knitwear queen Lainey Keogh looks set to become just as well known as Rocha, along with Louise Kennedy whose overseas business has shown impressive growth every season. Other designers destined for expansion include Marc O'Neill, Mary Gregory and, in menswear, Cuan Hanley.
These are the established talents with at least a couple of seasons' collections behind them. Rather like Ireland's economy, their number will expand over the next few years as new names start to emerge. Every summer, colleges across the country between them produce around 50 graduates. Until the present decade, like so many before them, the majority of former students would leave Ireland; raw talent was our biggest fashion export.
Today they are just as liable to stay at home. They find opportunities in Ireland to gain further experience and then they set up their own businesses. New Irish designers in the 1990s are more confident than their predecessors could ever hope to have been. That's because their chance of success here is now much more likely. The market for their designs in Ireland has grown enormously, while established labels are building up this country's reputation abroad.
The new generation contains a host of names and a wealth of talent and over the next four weeks, this page will be bringing the best and brightest of them to your attention. Today, we focus on three young labels who have been picked up by discerning shops around the country but have still to gain widespread notice. Thanks to them, the Celtic Tiger is going to be a well dressed animal.