03 June, 2016

The Need

Linda and Jo are two Irish moms living in Cork. Over the years they have struggled to find age appropriate clothing for their own children, who like many Irish kids, are tall and broad for their age. ‘As moms we have been through the tears, tantrums and disappointments on shopping trips with our own children who do not conform to the standard Irish size. It’s simply not fair on children who no matter what their size or shape, deserve to look and feel good.’ Linda Condon. They spotted an age gap in the market and set about designing a clothing range to suit the taller, broader Irish child. Having no experience in clothes design, graphic design, presentation methods or manufacturing, however, they turned to the Local Enterprise Office South Cork and to CIT.

The Solution

Jo and Linda completed a ‘Start your own Business’ course and took part in ‘The PINC Programme’ in The Rubicon Centre CIT. They attended a UK event called ‘‘Meet the Manufacturer’’ and met a children’s clothing manufacturing business interested in working with them. Supported by the Industry Liaison Office in CIT, they secured an innovation voucher and started working on an Autumn Winter Capsule Wardrobe. The innovation voucher enabled them to work with three students from CIT’s Crawford College of Art and Design: an Illustration student from the BA (Hons) Visual Communications programme and two textile students from the Special Purpose Award in Fine Art Textiles.

Challenges

There were many challenges for the whole team. Jo and Linda in particular were in entirely new territory. They were learning, as they developed their business, about the constraints imposed by material choices and manufacturing processes. The students were working, also, in a context that was unfamiliar and challenging. The success of the project was achieved through the strong collaborations across various CIT disciplines and between staff, students and client.

Benefits of the Engagement

For Jo and Linda, this engagement contributed in helping them to achieve their vision of bringing a new range of children’s clothes to the market. They are now delighted to introduce their new online clothing range ‘Funky Fitz’.The brand offers a ‘True Size’ clothing range suitable for girls aged 7-14 years. This is for children who, up until now, have been forced to buy clothes one or two sizes up from their own age category or in some cases have had to buy adult clothing in order to find clothing to fit them properly. The collaboration provided the students with significant experience in working with clients and enabled them to fine tune and apply their design skills in all aspects of bringing a project from concept to market.

Business Success

The clothing collection is Irish designed and manufactured in the UK. Their winter collection was launched in November 2016 and is available to buy at www.funkyfitz.ie. You can follow them on Facebook at Funky Fitz Clothing and they also offer a private fitting service by appointment at their premises in Shanbally Co. Cork.

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