‘I realised that people had a love for things made in Donegal’
Sarah Lorraine Gallagher, who started her fashion range last year, is taking over her family’s shop, Siopa Matt Bonner, which closed in 2022
A Gaoth Dobhair fashion designer is reviving a family legacy by reopening the same shop where her great-grandmother once sold handmade tweed garments a century ago.
Sarah Lorraine Gallagher, who started her fashion range last year, is taking over her family’s shop, Siopa Matt Bonner, which closed in 2022. Inspired by her love for Donegal tweed and her family’s legacy in business, Sarah Lorraine had a vision to combine her passion for fashion and business together.
“I have always loved tweed suits,” she tells DonegalLive. “I was always on the lookout for the vintage type of tweed suits that were very elegant and feminine. Right away, I knew that I had a niche market.”
Sarah Lorraine was invited by Údarás na Gaeltachta to Showcase 2025 in the RDS, Dublin, earlier this year. Showcase is an event that provides a platform for Irish craft producers, artists, and designers to meet with international buyers who come to visit the show. It was here she met people who loved her designs and gave her ideas on how to take her brand to the next level.
“As much as I love designing clothes, I can’t make them, so I had to work with a manufacturer to bring my fashion to life,” she adds.
“At Showcase 2025, I realised that people had a love for things made in Donegal. That is when I decided to put out a notice in my local area, advertising for seamstresses.”
As her business is expanding, Sarah Lorraine also realised that it would be convenient to have a base that her team can work in. Her family’s old shop, locally known as Matt Bonner’s, closed in 2022 after serving the community for around 100 years. Known as a popular grocery shop in Bunbeg, the shop had fitting origins for what Sarah Lorriane is planning to do with it now.
“My great-grandmother Annie Bonner was a dressmaker, " Sarah Lorraine adds. “She came back home from Glasgow after her husband passed away. To be able to provide for her family, she set up that shop to sell her designs. Coincidentally, it was also tweed clothing!”
Sarah Lorraine is hoping to have the grand opening of the shop later this month.
“It was important for me to keep the heritage going as well, the fact that Annie Bonner had done this in the same place that I am going to do it,” she adds. “So, there is a sentimental element to it as well.”