FASHION YOUR FUTURE BY GOING GLOBAL
The advantages for even small Donegal businesses to be able to scale up and look beyond local markets was highlighted on National Women’s Enterprise Day. Organised by the Local Enterprise Office, Donegal, the business event in An Grianan Hotel in Burt was part of a nationwide celebration aiming to encourage more women to set up their own businesses and to increase national recognition of the essential role played by Ireland’s female entrepreneurs.
Speakers at the Donegal event included a global expert in the business of luxury fashion, Máire Morris; award-winning designer Heidi Higgins and international fashion industry expert, Jenny Holloway.
A huge advocate of business entrepreneurship, Máire Morris has a career spanning two decades in the global fashion industry, working around the globe for clients ranging from emerging designers to established international brands and stockists such as Harrods and the Dubai Mall.
Jenny Holloway of Fashion Enter in London has been working in the fashion industry for over twenty-five years mostly in the private sector. She was a buyer for Littlewoods, M&S and Principles for Women before opening her own label Retro, wholesaling to major retailers such as John Lewis and exporting to key accounts in the Middle East and Europe.
Award-winning designer Heidi Higgins graduated from NCAD in 2008. Just under one year later she proudly introduced her own label to the Irish market in May 2009.