The business started out focused as a luxury men’s brand for the tech sector
Ted 1942, a Co. Westmeath luxury fashion business, intends to expand its reach across Europe over the next year.
Ted 1942 was founded by spouses Kasia Gaborec-McEvoy and Brendan McEvoy in 2016. The Mullingar based business has three staff and has raised €390,000 to date.
The business is the reinvention of the business started by Ted Carberry, a saddlemaker and grandfather of Brendan McEvoy, who began working in the field in 1942.
“We’re a heritage luxury handbag brand. We discovered Ted’s story and decided to continue his legacy of creating luxury handbags and accessories. Everything is designed in Ireland and the Georgian door is our design inspiration,” Gaborec-McEvoy told the Business Post.
Company Details
Founded by: Kasia Gaborec-McEvoy and Brendan McEvoy in 2016
Staff: 3
Funding: €390,000
“Our new bags have a little door at the front and have a mechanism behind it. We worked with a company in Paris over the past 12 months to make it work.”
The business started out focused as a luxury men’s brand for the tech sector. This included developing wallets, satchels and briefcases.
“We incorporated tech features into the products but the market wasn’t there. People wanted more traditional bags so we moved back towards that. Even though we were a men’s brand, 75 per cent of our customers were women buying for men. They wanted us to design products for them,” Gaborec-McEvoy said.
“Brendan got the idea to incorporate the Georgian door into our design while stuck in traffic in Dublin. It’s a beautiful style of door. Behind every door there is a family with their own story. Our brand was based on a family story so it felt like a natural progression.”
The business was previously known as My Name is Ted but rebranded this year as part of its focus on international expansion.
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“We rebranded at the end of September to have a more international appeal. With that rebranding we also introduced a new collection. We felt Ted 1942 would be more appealing to international customers,” Gaborec-McEvoy said.
Ted 1942 is supported by Enterprise Ireland and Gaborec-McEvoy said the agency has been of substantial help.
“It has been a great partner. They have supported us with mentoring and I feel like I have created friendships for life through that. They have an extensive network in the markets we are targeting and they can help us with that too,” she said.
The business is selling to 23 countries online and has retail clients in the US and Singapore and Gaborec-McEvoy is confident of further growth.
“We will raise in the first quarter of next year. We know we need it but we’re still working out how much it will be. We’re so proud of the fact that we have been able to push the brand this far up to know,” she said.
“Within 18 months, I want people to consider us a staple for luxury across the US and Europe.”
This Making it Work article was produced in partnership with Enterprise Ireland
