Local craft is ‘pride of Kilkenny’ as wins bespoke EU Presidency gift contract

Cushendale Woolen Mills, in Graignamanagh, has been appointed to provide one of the corporate gifts that will be distributed by the Irish delegation - a beautiful, bespoke scarf.

In a move that’s been lauded as ‘a source of enormous pride’ for the area, 4,500 scarves will be taken home to countries across Europe in the coming months.

Miriam Cushen, who is the sixth generation to helm her family business, described winning the contract as “incredible.”

Being chosen was a process that took months. Last November Cushendale Woolen Mills was approached by the Department of Foreign Affairs to provide samples and information about the company’s authenticity and sustainability. This led to them being invited to take part in a tender process, with other Irish mills and knitters, to make a special scarf.

This thorough process was overseen by the European office in Dublin.

Cushendale submitted a few designs for the scarf and set out the origins of the materials they use and the process of dying and weaving in the Graignamanagh mill.

It was only at the end of April Miriam heard they had been successful.

“It’s really positive for us,” Miriam said.

Over the summer months Cushendale will be making and delivering the 4,500 scarves that will be presented to various dignitaries.

The scarf itself is a unique design with a custom colour, all created in-house at Cushendale.

The scarves will be presented in “beautiful packaging” - custom boxes with specially designed labels and tissue.

It was very important to Miriam that the whole team at Cushendale were part of the process and the story of the product. So a new staff photo was taken and it now adorns a postcard included with every scarf, to tell the recipient not only where the materials came from, but who crafted them.

Every tag is also personally signed by a member of the team.

“We want to ensure that attention to details translates through because it’s important we share the Cushendale story and also in recognition of all the work we do today and that was done here in the past.”

Recipients of the scarf will see a QR code that will bring them to the Cushendale online story and allow them “to step inside our world.” That is not just the mill, but all of Graignamanagh, Miriam explained.

Miriam is grateful to Cushendale’s suppliers for working with them to ensure all was in place and orders for things like packaging were turned around quickly.

“It’s quite incredible. We got the first delivery out in a few weeks. We’ll be busy working on that for the summer. It’s a lovely piece of work.”

As an artisan, vertical mill Cushendale control their whole colouring, design and weaving process. “We can be a little bit more nimble and can customise,” Miriam said.

Winning the contract is important to the family-owned business.

“It’s putting us on the map a little bit more, for Irish visitors and others aswell,” Miriam said. “Hopefully it will open more doors for us in Europe. We’re still a very unknown entity, even in the Irish market.”

In the coming months Cushendale Woolen Mills will be represented at the Shoppe Objet design show in Paris and being able to talk about this EU commission, to say that they were chosen by Ireland, will add to the presentation.

Miriam said they want to see Cushendale Woolen Mill grow as a sustainable business, concentrating on what they are passionate about, the skills and authenticity they have in a consumer world.

“We’ll use this as an opportunity to reinvest. Small is beautiful,” Miriam said.

Carlow-Kilkenny TD and Leas Ceann Comhairle John McGuinness congratulated Cushendale Woollen Mills on securing the contract to produce the official scarves that will be presented as corporate gifts during Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Deputy McGuinness highlighted the achievement in the Dáil, describing it as a tremendous endorsement of one of Kilkenny's oldest family businesses and an example of how Irish craftsmanship can compete successfully on the international stage. “Cushendale’s success is a source of enormous pride for Graignamanagh, for Kilkenny and indeed for Ireland,” the deputy said.​