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05 Sept 2025
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05 Sept 2025
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Ruth Duignan is a fashion designer, researcher and educator - she has a BA in Fashion Design from Limerick Institute of Technology and an MA in Business Management from University of Limerick.
"I think a lot of the gloss has come off the fast fashion industry and I think sustainability is one of the most exciting areas to be in," Ruth Duignan told the Leitrim Observer.
Ruth is a fashion designer, researcher and educator - she has a BA in Fashion Design from Limerick Institute of Technology and an MA in Business Management from University of Limerick.
She tells us that her mother taught her how to sew and knit at a young age and her interest in creating garments blossomed and after completing a PLC in Galway she went on to Limerick. In her third year, which included a six-month long placement in Tokyo, Japan. Her graduate collection won an AIB business development award and she set up her own business after college, crediting organisations such as the Council of Irish Fashion Designers and Design and Crafts Council Ireland as being "pivotal in supporting young designers, young brands and companies in providing new skills, contacts and giving you events to work towards etc."
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Two years later, Ruth moved to Paris working with Irish designer Sharon Wauchob who collaborated with EDUN, a fashion brand founded by Ali Hewson and Bono in 2005 to promote trade in Africa by sourcing production throughout the continent.
Ruth had started to think more about the direction she wanted to go in after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory building in Bangladesh - the worst ever industrial incident to hit the garment industry with over 1,100 people – mostly garment workers- losing their lives.
"I think issues around sustainability and the ethics of fashion are starting to come to the fore. I became interested in socially responsible fashion," she said.
She is now a lecturer at her former college with a strong focus on fashion sustainability and is currently completing her PHD in sustainable fashion.
A mother to two little girls, who are "always in hand-me-downs", Ruth said that "Irish consumers are particularly high consumers of fast fashion clothing " and added that charity shops can no longer "deal with the amount of donations because much of the clothing isn't fit for recycling because they're made from multiple blended synthetic and natural fibres. Only 1% of the textiles in the world currently are recyclable."
She said that for those who want to solve these problems and there is "massive scope for people; people who are interested in innovation and maybe a bit more data driven or scientific and research driven. These people are all required in the industry."
She said the current generation are "a lot more comfortable in second-hand clothing" and companies like Vinted and Depop are leading the way for change and the renting of once off items like wedding dresses, becoming more common.
She stressed however that "the consumption rate is still alarming high" and that there is "legislation coming into Europe to penalise some of the fast fashion retailers" however this is yet to be implemented.
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She added that while personal responsibility is important when it comes to purchasing clothes, "it's been enabled by the technology we have available to us; you can go shopping at 4am for example. Also, I think a lot of these companies have been able to write their own rules for a long time. Around 80% of a garments environmental impact over it's life cycle will be decided at the design stage so designers are the people making these decisions. It's very important that regulations are in place so that the decisions in those design studios make a better garment."
She concluded: "There is massive scope and potential for Ireland within the sustainable fashion area. I remember when Rana Plaza happendd and thinking 'Well that's it; everything is going to have to change now and it didn't and that's 12 years ago. The rate of consumption in the last 12 years has increased at an alarming rate with new players like Temu. I'd love to think that we will start to make more inroads but I think it has to come through regulations in the industry."
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