Mixing business and pleasure is generally considered a high-stakes gamble. To paraphrase John D Rockefeller, “a friendship built on business can be glorious, while a business built on friendship can be murder”. 

But for the founders of Stable of Ireland, their business was rooted in a strong fellowship and shared passions.  Ten years ago, Sonia Reynolds and Frances Duff opened their lifestyle store in Dublin’s Westbury Mall. Today, it offers customers a figurative road trip around Ireland, showcasing the artistry of master linen weavers, the skill of traditional woodturners, and the craftsmanship behind finely made furniture.

Caption: Stable of Ireland co-founders Frances Duff and Sonia Reynolds.

The pair were first introduced by the photographer Mike Bunn while working as young models for Irish heritage brand, Cleo. They went on to enjoy successful careers projecting an image of Irish fashion and beauty, both at home and abroad, before professionally reuniting in Reynolds’ marketing business, SRM PR. It was here that the idea for Stable, as it’s known, was born. 

“We wanted something Irish that we could be proud of,” says Reynolds. “Something that represented us, and at the time, that wasn’t being represented. There was a gap in the market. That’s how Stable was born.” 

Convincing Irish craftspeople to collaborate was key, Duff explains: “We have these incredible linen producers and weavers all over the country who were doing their thing and exporting a lot, but not necessarily working with Irish companies. We saw all of this extraordinary quality that we could work with to make things that we were happy to gift or to wear, or was a good representation of what we have to offer here.” 

“Craft is a luxury, and that luxury is time.” Sonia Reynolds

Wanting the business to honour the effort behind each piece, price points were carefully considered. “It was about putting a value on it,” says Reynolds. “Craft is a luxury, and that luxury is time. Someone has learned skills that may have been passed on from generation to generation, and then they’ve put their time into creating it. What we want to do is to have a really beautiful platform, a celebration of all different skillsets, beautiful basketry and weaving and woodturning and so forth. 

How we look at it is, you buy good quality, invest, and you’ll have [that piece] forever.” What started as an online business is now a multi-platform brand employing five full-time staff. 

Annual accounts to the end of March 2024 show the company generated a net profit of just over €50,000 after Duff and Reynolds shared €128,000 in directors’ remuneration. The online business accounts for only 15 per cent of revenue. An early pop-up shop was crucial to testing the market and changing the direction of the business. 

“Our whole thing was to do something and just do it really well,” recalls Reynolds. “So when we started, it was with a handwoven herringbone, oversized scarf. That’s all we had, and some other lovely, fine weaves, woven and made here. 

“How it was created and presented was a big thing for us. So okay, we didn’t have a lot of products, but that meant we could give it lots of space. It was a really great test to see how people would receive it. And then obviously, with the scarf, it meant people put the fabrics around them and felt more comfortable and got used to how these sorts of fabrics performed.” 

Caption: Stable of Ireland remains inspired by the approach to its first product, a handwoven herringbone scarf.

While Stable received small supports from the local enterprise office, it is entirely self-funded. The brand benefited from early exposure through Irish media and camaraderie among fellow creatives. Input from Bernie Gallagher, The Doyle Collection’s chairman, proved invaluable and would shape the next chapter of their story. 

“She was very encouraging,” says Duff. “The Westbury Mall units are all under the ownership of the Doyle Collection. So we approached her with the idea of doing a pop-up there and she was so supportive of what we were doing; a very good quality luxury Irish offering, and it sat well there, in terms of that space for them too. So, when the first pop-up did very well, she encouraged us to come back.” 

Positioned at the gateway of The Westbury Hotel, it was more than just a city-centre shopfront. The space guaranteed a steady stream of discerning overseas guests and “curated travellers” looking for quality Irish-made products. 

Sustainable factors

Back in 2015, sustainability was still on the margins of mainstream business thinking, but the co-founders wanted a brand driven by conviction, not trends.

“When we started, we didn’t understand where it was going to go in terms of sustainability, natural fabrics, all of these things which are so important today, and so important to our customer,” says Duff.

“Everything we’ve done right from the beginning has always been sustainable. It is mindful. Customers found us by realising that we’re not high street, we’re not fast fashion, we cross so many disciplines. There is Stable for home, Stable to wear, Stable bath and bed, and then Stable craft, so it’s a very different type of business. And there isn’t really anything out there that compares, per se, in terms of an Irish brand.”

Over the past decade, the pair have witnessed considerable change in consumer habits. “If you take Irish linen, we’ve very few companies making linen here, but those that do are doing well. We were one of the first Irish customers at scale for a couple of the weavers and now I think that’s completely flipped. For some of the weavers, it’s more like 75 per cent have Irish customers, and 25 per cent abroad, which is really interesting.”

Lockdown also impacted consumer habits. “People really wanted local produce,” says Reynolds. “Now, they are more informed and want to invest in a circular economy. They’ve more confidence in what is being produced if they know where it comes from. Not everyone, but certainly we can see the changes in attitudes.”

Duff agrees: “We’re in a new phase of that as well, particularly with everything that’s going on in America with tariffs, you know, we do have to look inward, to the things that we create.

“Everything in our shop has a really interesting story, and the business is all about stories. That’s kind of a cliché now, because everyone’s using this, but we have always been that way. Whether it’s where the weavers are, the colours they’re choosing, the mid-century artists that we’re working with, there are so many interesting aspects to every single product, the stories and visual presentation are hugely important. It’s what our customers want, it’s what we love to give. It’s not ‘pile ’em high and sell ’em cheap’. These are beautiful things, and they deserve it. 

“I’m seeing more brands, more people starting businesses in the space too, and I think that’s in response to the customer, what the customer is looking for. Our own kids are buying vintage, making their clothes, repairing their clothes. They’re very selective about what they’re buying. They love their brands too, but the point is, they’re much more considered. 

“I think that’s in response to the world we’re living in. There will always be the mass market and big fashion offerings, but there is also a shift quietly going on in how people are shopping. And we’re lucky in the Westbury Mall because we’re all Irish, and considered businesses. I think everybody’s doing well there, and around us you’re seeing newer, more interesting shops opening up as well.”

Ireland reimagined

Their latest launch, The Shamrock Print Silk Collection, is a great example of what Stable does particularly well: breathing new life into traditional Irish symbols with a contemporary touch. This 18-piece capsule clothing collection was four years in the making. The duo researched visual representations of the shamrock from the National Library and beyond.

“We wanted it to be quite beautiful, simple, but not historical,” explains Duff. “So, while those lovely references from the National Library or other publications were beautiful, they were not where we wanted to go. We worked with a very close friend of Sonia’s, who designs textiles, and he happened to have a beautiful 1930s scrap of fabric, which was a beautiful rendition of a three-leaf clover. Between us, we started to put shapes on the repeatable cloth.” 

Caption: Stable of Ireland’s Shamrock collection.

Realising it needed more, the women introduced contrasting stripes to offset the repeat pattern. “It’s a very succinct little clothing collection, but we’ve been so pleased with the way it’s been received.” 

Hits, however, don’t come without a few misses along the way. They do admit to having at least one design failure over the past decade: a bright orange men’s short designed in a fit of post-Covid optimism. 

Arguably, their greatest achievement is surviving a decade without a single disagreement. “It’s like a great marriage,” says Reynolds. “We’re very conscious of being friends and in business together. There are times that we may be under pressure, but we agreed that the business wasn’t going to compromise the friendship. Because then the whole thing changes.” 

Duff agrees, calling their relationship “remarkable” and couldn’t imagine going it alone. “We know we’re really lucky. We spend more time with each other than anyone else because we work together all the time. I think it would be much more difficult if you were trying to do this on your own. Part of the success is the fact that there’s two of us here, and we absolutely love it. It’s an adventure. It’s a proper hard business, and we work really, really hard, but thankfully, there’s fun in it every single day.

Rosaleen McMeel
The Currency 
www.thecurrency.news
2025