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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
20 new jobs as firm becomes US TV hit
BY MAJELLA LOFTUS
A WESTPORT-BASED clothing manufacturer is benefitting handsomely from the growing phenomenon of television shopping in the United States.
Carraig Donn teamed up with the QVC shopping channel last year and obtained orders for 31,000 garments from the unique initiative. It took three months to complete the orders which yielded earnings of $1.4m.
The growth in business for Carraig Donn has led to the creation of an additional 20 jobs at the company’s prodcution plant in Westport. The retailer employs 250 people throughout the country and and has 20 shops nationwide. Its centre of operations is in Westport where 33 people are employed, rising to 45 at peak times.
Minister for Labour Affairs Dara Calleary was in Westport last week for the announcement of the new jobs, which will be in the production, sales and marketing departments. The minister was given a tour of Carraig Donn’s factory at the Lodge Road where he witnessed the company’s work first hand.
Pat Hughes, managing director of Carraig Donn, revealed to the Western People that the company is in the process of opening a full-time showroom in London where potential buyers can speak to a sales team and place orders. The company’s board has been working with Enterprise Ireland for the past year on its exciting expansion plan.
“We have a great, skilled workforce who are very dedicated to Carraig Donn. Last year, we went to Enterprise Ireland to retrain and refocus to expand the company and now have a completely new management team. We realised that to survive and expand we had to be export-led with contemporary fashion. We are organising a full-time showroom in London with sales people in it. We are investing in areas of good design, sales and marketing which will copperfasten the base we have here.”
Minister Calleary said it was a pleasure to be announcing jobs anywhere in the current economy but especially in a home-grown manufacturing company in his native county.
“Carraig Donn has reshaped itself and made some difficult decisions in the past 12 months and has not looked back. It is a testament to fantastic vision and the absolute commitment to quality and near obsession to detail. Enterprise Ireland is one of the unsung heroes of this economy. At the moment it is supporting some 3,000 jobs in 121 companies in Mayo.”
Mike Kelly of Enterprise Ireland was full of praise for Carraig Donn and the manner in which it had repositioned itself in the current downturn.
“I know there was a lot of soul searching. We are confident Carraig Donn can achieve extensive growth over the next couple of years and we will be there to support them.”
History
Carraig Donn was founded in 1965 by the parents of Pat, Ann and Vincent Hughes. Their mother was gifted when it came to crochet and embroidery, and she began making poufs and cushion covers.
In 1967, the Hughes family got their first order of poufs from the Great Southern Hotel in Galway. Later that year, they opened their first shop in Westport and the following year opened an outlet on the Aran Islands. They now own 20 stores nationwide.
In 1981, they opened a small craft plant on Altamont Street in Westport and, in 1989, moved to the factory on Lodge Road, which has since grown and developed.
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