Inspired by The Republican Outfitters, 94 Talbot Street, 1917
In 1917, a young draper from Cranny, Co. Clare walked out of an English prison and opened a shop on Dublin's Talbot Street. He called it The Republican Outfitters. His name was Peadar Clancy.
Clancy had learned his trade behind the counter of a drapery in Kildysart before coming to Dublin in 1913, where he worked at Harkin's General Drapery on New Street and joined the Irish Volunteers the year they were founded. At Easter 1916 he fought with the Four Courts garrison, holding the Church Street Bridge, and was held in prison until the general amnesty of June 1917.
Back in Dublin, he went straight back to the trade he knew. With his partners, and later with fellow 1916 veteran Tom Hunter, he ran The Republican Outfitters at 94 Talbot Street. It was a working drapery, selling clothes to the people of the north inner city, but it was also a meeting place for the men and women who were rebuilding the movement after the Rising.
Clancy rose to become Vice-Brigadier of the Dublin Brigade. In 1920 the shop was destroyed by British forces. On the night of 20 November 1920, Clancy was arrested with Dick McKee, and the following day, Bloody Sunday, the two men and civilian Conor Clune were killed in custody in Dublin Castle. Peadar Clancy was 32 years old. He is buried in the Republican Plot at Glasnevin, and Clancy Barracks in Dublin bears his name.
Where our name comes from
Our brand takes its name and its inspiration from Clancy's shop. We're a new, independent Dublin label, not a continuation of the original business, and we chose the name as a tribute to it and to the generation that stood behind its counter: ordinary Dubliners who made clothes, sold clothes, and changed the course of Irish history.
Every piece we make is designed and embroidered here in Dublin, the city that fought an empire. Our designs draw on the people, the words and the symbols of the Irish republican tradition, from the leaders of 1916 to the Easter lily in our crest, so that the story is worn, not forgotten.
We're not a fast-fashion label. We're a small Dublin outfitter, and we build every garment to last.
Built with pride. Worn with pride.