Bernard Walsh - Hot Irishman
This company has gone from being about 40pc to 90pc export-based in five years.
ENTREPRENEURS
Tammy Darcy
The Clothes Line
Swapping, rather than shopping, is behind another new post-redundancy venture launched on 5 February 2010.
The Clothes Line is a website where parents can submit their outgrown maternity, babies’ and children’s clothes and exchange them. It’s a prime example of those businesses springing up to meet the needs of a more sober economic reality.
Tammy Darcy decided to set up the business after being let go from her job in retail management following the birth of her third child. She had been researching the idea for years and spent eight months developing the site.
“There has been a huge resurgence in the past few years of activities such as clothes-swapping parties, and many parents are now buying their children’s clothes online, as high- street prices just don’t reflect the current economic situation,” she says.
“The website rewards its members with credits for the items they submit. These credits can then be used towards new purchases.”
Spreading the word
According to Darcy, since the launch, there has been “massive national interest”, with members spreading the word on parenting chat rooms and social networking sites.
“I’ve already been inundated with enquiries, which is great as it has allowed me to build a bank of clothes to offer from the launch date. The more people that join the site, the more items we can offer, and the lower we will keep the prices, so it’s worth it for the members to spread the word.”
Downes and Darcy ably demonstrate that out of apparent adversity dreams can be born.
