Indigo & Cloth
Hunt and Gather meet with Garrett from Indigo & Cloth.
Since opening in 2007, Indigo & Cloth has since gone on to become the leading Independent Store in the country. Care to explain its journey thus far?
At times the journey can seem long or short. I still think you have to be somewhat naïve to start your own business regardless of your experience in an industry. For Indigo & Cloth it was not about picking the nicest clothes but offering a service, environment and lifestyle to compliment some of the best contemporary collections out there.
We started out in the basement of 27 South William as that’s all we could afford back then. We loved it there but luckily have grown into a really nice 4 storey in Temple Bar which feels more like us. I like to think we have always been innovative through that period and have been involved in many things beyond fashion since 2007.
We now have a studio that deals with the creative projects and was born out of the founding of THREAD magazine. Most recently we have developed Caman & Co and Dyflin as projects in their own right. As for the store itself, we continue to do better each year and introduce new brands alongside expanding on-line.
What is the aim of the I&C Studio?
I am one of three founding partners and it is effectively the creative division of Indigo & Cloth. Like many other studios the aim is to do nice work and make money. We try where possible to choose projects that suit our aesthetic and skills. With that in mind a lot our work centres on fashion, food & beverage and lifestyle.
THREAD magazine stems from the I&C Studio. It is a bi-annual Fashion print publication. Are you content with this amount or do you hope for it to become a more regular publication?
Nobody has ownership on THREAD really. We purposely kept it loose so that it allows other creatives to enjoy being part of it. It comes out when it’s ready and relies on the talent and goodwill of many people. It’s effectively a community magazine that hopefully showcases the best talent. I don’t see it as a standard publication in that sense, nor should it be.
Where does the name Indigo & Cloth come from?
My background is in denim and I became really interested in its heritage. I wanted the name to reflect quality and product so for me that was denim and all the other types of cloths that make up the industry.
Do you feel Indigo & Cloth reflects your personality?
Yes absolutely, when you open your own business it becomes part of who you are. I guess that’s why many are called Surnames. For me I wanted a degree of separation so that it wasn’t just about me but a concept.
Tell us about the designers you stock in the shop.
We research and pursue most of the brands we stock. We get approached by a lot but consider it our job to source them. Along with our customers we each have our favourites; my own being Our Legacy from Sweden. It’s hard to single others out as each appeals to a certain person. Even though we have a certain style, each label has a very different appeal.
I’m excited about our new collections for this autumn. Portuguese Flannel has some of the best shirts out there and we are one of their first accounts in the world. Sunspel on the other hand has a long tradition which I admire and an untouchable quality in their t-shirts.
If you could open Indigo & Cloth in any part of the world today. Where would you choose and why?
We see peers in many of the international cities so could see it working in London, Paris and Berlin. I love that we are in Dublin but if I had to pick somewhere to live and work beyond here then its N.Y. We have family there and I think we could do a job with the right curation of Irish and European.
Words: Seana Henry
Photography: Caroline Kealy