How Samui's fashion buyer does business in a pandemic

“They’re not buying feathers or glitter. It’s much more casual”

Clodagh Shorten, the founder and director of Samui, a fashion boutique on Drawbridge Street, Cork. Picture: Miki Barlok

Fashion month is the busiest month of the year for buyers. New York, London, Milan and Paris transform into consecrated grounds for the next season’s luxury wares with fashion buyers filling gilded parlours and airy gallery spaces to purchase what we see in stores six months later.

Clodagh Shorten, the founder and director of Samui, a fashion boutique tucked away on Cork’s Drawbridge Street, is one of those buyers who attends the trade fair in Milan and Paris each year, spending her days engaging in extensive negotiations with designers’ sale agents as she deliberates what will best suit her clientele. These private appointments take hours to complete and the minimum spend can be upwards of €20,000.