Future hots up for island knitwear firm as profits rise

A remote island knitwear firm that counts Barney’s and Bergdorf Goodman in New York among its clients last year had a substantial increase in profits.

Located on the smallest of the three Aran Islands, Inis Meain Knitting employs 16 on the island that has a population of around 160, making the business arguably more important than Intel is to Kildare or Apple is to Cork.

Accounts recently filed by Cniotail Inis Meain Teoranta show accumulated profits more than doubled from €33,274 to €68,358 in the year to the end of December 2012.

Founding managing director Tarlach de Blacam said yesterday the firm had a substantial increase in profits and revenues in 2013, going up 10%.

The firm sells garments ranging in price from €250 to €1,500, and has stockists in Japan, Australia, Germany, France, the UK, Sweden and Italy, as well as the US.

Mr de Blacam said that the only market to bein is the high-end market.

The Dublin-born Mr de Blacam said that the business has come through a couple of difficult years. “We had a few very difficult years as a result of the financial crisis, but in 2012 and 2013, the business has come back and has now moved forward.

“I believe that the future is bright for us. There is a great revival of interest in authentic products like ours and the provenance of those products and long may it last.”

He said he lives in fear of Government withdrawing year-round air connectivity to the mainland. “It is absolutely critical to what we do here and we would be in real trouble if that service was withdrawn. It would be disastrous.”

Mr de Blacam said that all the staff, apart from one member who commutes from the mainland, live on Inis Meain.

The business was established in 1976, and Mr de Blacam said “some of the youngsters I employed when starting out are still with the company.”