EU seal of approval for Clonlara knitwear firm

AN award-winning Clonlara knitwear company has gained the official European Union seal of approval after securing an additional order for 3,500 scarves.
Áine Knitwear, the Old Stables Studio, Clonlara won the initial tender to design and produce scarves for the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, beating off stiff competition from seven others.
Staff were extremely busy this week as they put the finishing touches to the order, which is to be sent to Dublin this Friday.
Designer Anne Behan-McConnell hired an extra member of staff for the project and, with a team of three full-time local women, designed and produced 8,000 scarves in six weeks.
The aran scarves, made from lambswool, are teal with a green finish at each end. Ms McConnell based her design on Irish high crosses and used traditional Irish moss stitch to hand-finish each scarf.
Drawing inspiration from the EU logo symbolising unity, a number of Es are intertwined  with a knot in the middle of them.
Áine knitwear, which specialises in hats and scarves, was given 18 weeks to fulfil the first 8,000 order and has to have the extra 3,500 fully finished by Friday.
Ms McConnell acknowledged the EU contract has given the company national and international exposure. “It is a great honour to secure an EU contract. The new scarves are going very well and people really like them. 
“This year we launched our new range of menswear hats and scarves.  All of our yarns are made in Ireland and we source our tweeds from Hanly Tweeds in Nenagh.
“I have four agents. I do all the trade shows in Ireland, Scotland, England and Germany meeting new and existing customers,” she said.
The company, which was set up in 2000, places the unfinished yarns in an oil before they are washed, dried and labelled to make them much easier to handle.
A spokesperson for the EU presidency stated the placing of the extra order was a “tribute to the unique design”.
This is the first time that an EU  Presidency has ever produced a scarf design in wool rather than the standard silk scarves. The presentation of neck-ties and scarves is a well-established tradition of each presidency and will be distributed to delegates attending the key informal meetings in Ireland, the working groups in Brussels and will also be distributed through missions worldwide to mark Ireland’s Presidency.
Ms McConnell discovered the beauty of knitwear when she was just four-years-old. Enthralled by her grandmother’s ability with Aran sweaters, by the age of ten Ms McConnell was taking orders from locals for her own Aran sweaters. She knew her future was set in fashion and knitwear and went on to attend Limerick School of Art and Design.
Councillor Michael Begley, whose father and grandfather worked as a tailor, said it was fantastic to see a local company that grew rapidly from humble beginnings to achieve worldwide sales.
Considering there has been an overall reduction in the number of people employed in the knitwear industry, Councillor Begley said a company being able to employ three people is a full-time capacity and one part-time is a great boost to a small locality.