Paul Galvin

Did you know that Republican icon Harry Boland was a trained tailor? Or that Samuel Beckett spent time as a sartor? In Threads, Paul Galvin examines the link between Irish men, culture and clothes through the lens of well-known and interesting characters. 

While Galvin originally came to prominence as a stalwart of the Kerry inter-county team, winning four All Ireland titles, over the past 10 years he has devoted his time to fashion. Using his own design and storytelling formula, he has re-written the language of men’s fashion – creating 15 men’s collections to date with Dunnes Stores.

Paul Galvin is among the all-time greatest Gaelic football players. As a stalwart of the Kerry inter-county team from 2003 until his retirement in 2014, he won four All-Ireland titles.

He qualified as a teacher and at 30 years old sought a new challenge as a clothing designer. Using his own design and storytelling formula in creating 15 men’s collections to date with Dunnes Stores, he has rewritten the language of men’s fashion. The collections represent a 10-year-long mission to change the cultural conversation in Ireland. By looking to the past and exploring the connection between culture and clothes, he has unearthed a truly stylish story of Irish men and created a new and empowering language around fashion for them today.

Taking the clothes they wore as a starting point, Paul Galvin skilfully weaves together a collection of stories of Irish men who defined the culture and mood of their time. 

In Push, he tells the story of the legendary Walker Brothers – cyclists and soldiers who pedalled through a storm for Ireland at the 1912 Stockholm Games and subsequently served as rebel bike couriers during the 1916 Rising. In Born Mad, discover another side to Samuel Beckett as a sartor and a prolific sportsman who had knockout power as a champion school’s boxer. In Tramp Tailor we learn about Harry Boland’s background as a trained tailor, and in 1926 we encounter Jack B. Yeats at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris. 

These are just some of men who have inspired Paul’s own fashion collections and whom he writes about here in a fascinating collection that shines a light on how history is woven into the clothes Irishmen wear.

Róisín Ní Chéileachair

Róisín Ní Chéileachair is a native Irish speaker from Dún Chaoin. She has a degree in Irish and Spanish with Theatre and after spending a few years working in Galway, is now back in Corca Dhuibhne and currently working as a broadcaster with RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. She always had an interest in her local heritage as her ancestors come from the Blasket Islands on her mother’s side and her father’s family were writers from Cúil Aodha in Co. Cork. Coming from such a rich background, she herself sings traditional sean nós regularly, singing songs from both backgrounds.