Klassy Dress Hire, a formalwear company run by young Wicklow entrepreneurs Barbara and Sinead Osborne, has become the only provider in Ireland of exclusive dresses by American designer Bari Jay.
Twentysomethings Sinead and Barbara run their personalised rental service of formal party dresses based at their country home just outside Shillelagh, County Wicklow.
“Bari Jay supplies the couture dresses exclusively to us in Ireland so our customers are guaranteed that no one else will be wearing the same gown. People going to balls or weddings are looking for something different, original and personal.” explains Sinead Osborne.
“The goal at Bari Jay is to create elegant, affordable and versatile styles to complement and flatter the female silhouette. This beautiful collection features lush fabrics, rich colours and today’s fashion trends.”
Dresses for weddings, debutantes’ balls and graduations are currently the main core of Klassy Dress Hire’s business. Just for debutantes’ balls alone, the Osborne sisters rented out over 60 dresses in their first year of business. This season, the sisters estimate they will be providing just under a hundred.
However as the debs season has now come to an end the girls are concentrating on bridesmaids for 2007. “Having secured Bari Jay as a supplier earlier this year we’ve already expanded our bridesmaid lines. We also secured Raylia Designs as a supplier for 2007 enhancing our bridesmaid selection for Hire and we are also giving our customers the opportunity to purchase from either supplier”
The wide range of styles and colours makes the Osborne’s choice of party dresses appealing to all kinds of women. Even though they are based in County Wicklow, the Bari Jay website at www.barijay.com is attracting customers from all over the country, looking for smart options to social occasions. The customer can access the Bari Jay website to view the different styles and have the opportunity to change the colour of the dresses with the colour swatch’s that are available.
Up to now, the path has been very smooth for these two good humoured young entrepreneurs, even though getting suppliers of formal wear in Ireland was a tough challenge to begin with. “Finding good suppliers and good quality of formal wear in Ireland is still difficult,” admits Sinead, as innovation is a key element to upmarket fashion.
The next step for these young go-getters can only be going up. Incorporating more material for wedding guests and cocktail dresses is the upcoming stage on the solid building of the Osborne sisters’ success.
