High-end knitwear firm Inis Meáin credits online push as sales near €2.5m

The high-end Inis Meáin knitwear firm, which counts the likes of Bergdorf Goodman in New York city as stockists, has “a huge future” if the business can continue to grow its online direct sales to customers.

Cniotail Inis Meáin Teoranta ­founding director Tarlach de Blácam made the comment yesterday as he confirmed the business increased its overall sales last year to “about €2.5m”.

Cniotail Inis Meáin Teoranta is located on the island and employs 21 people there.

Mr de Blácam confirmed that 2023 was “a record year” for the company in terms of investing in its direct-to-customer online sales platform.

“I was never in this for the fast buck – it has always been about investing in the future,” he said. The most recent accounts show that the company ­recorded pre-tax profits of €332,154 in 2022 – which was down 19pc on the pre-tax profits of €409,803 for 2021. At the end of December 2022, the company’s accumulated profits totalled €737,847.

“The business has been growing ­nicely over the past six, seven, eight years. We are a small artisan brand selling to top stores around the world,” Mr de Blácam said.

He said he has been surprised by the firm’s success in online sales.

“I always thought the fact that our product is high-end, super-quality cashmere blends [means] that it would be difficult to sell online because people paying that money would want to feel it, see it, but that seems to have changed,” he said, adding that online sales during 2022 and 2023 ”would be a big growth period”.

The new accounts show that the business paid out €634,049 on the redemption of shares. Mr de Blácam said that this is connected to the firm purchasing former director Seán Mac Réamoinn’s 30pc shareholding in the business.

Mr de Blácam said the share purchase – which, he added, was done on a mutually agreed basis – brings all the shares back into the ownership of the de Blácam family. He said that he has taken a back seat in the business in his role as chairman since the start of 2023 and his son, Ruairí, and daughter in law, Marie-Thérèse, now run the company.

Mr de Blácam said the retail price of the firm’s products ranges from €300 to €500 at the lower end, and can cost up to €1,800 for 100pc cashmere.

“People might say, ‘God, this is very expensive’ and we would say look at the raw-material costs, design input and individuality,” he said. “Yarns can cost anything from €100 to €200 a kilo and you can have garments having at least 500g and in some cases 700g or 800g.”

Reporting On:independent.ie