Creating Parish

An Irish streetwear brand rooted in heritage & community

Overview

Parish is an independent streetwear brand my creative partner and I have been developing over the past year. Our goal is to create something fresh and distinctly our own by combining our experiences growing up in Ireland with the global music, fashion and subcultures we discovered online.

The project has allowed me to work across brand strategy, creative direction and content production to create the kind of clothing I wished had existed when I was growing up. I developed the initial briefs and concepts behind the logo and wider brand identity, while also working collaboratively on the clothing from concept through to development.

As we have only recently launched, much of the work is ongoing behind the scenes. We have a number of designs currently in development and production, with a full schedule of releases planned for the year ahead. I’m particularly excited to shape the campaigns and shoots around each launch.
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Our Approach

Photography: Finn Harney

As designers, we are less interested in building the next luxury label than in creating work that says something. Our aim is to use clothing as a way of responding to the many social, cultural and economic issues that young people face in Ireland. For us, clothing is simply another medium, like film, photography or music, and one that feels natural to the way we think and create.

The Local Tour

To celebrate our launch, we wanted to do something that reflected both the name and the community-focused approach behind the brand. With my partner based in London and myself in Galway, we organised back-to-back pop-ups in both cities, giving the communities around us a first look at what we had been working on.

Each pop-up featured live screen printing, where people could bring their own clothing to be printed. Alongside this, we previewed upcoming Parish pieces including logo tees, custom airbrushed polos and cut-and-sew three-quarter-length shorts. We also brought a traditional music session into the space, with complimentary drinks provided by High Noon. The aim was to make the launch feel less like a conventional retail event and more like a gathering built around the faces and places behind the brand.

Event Artwork

Design: Randy Linskens
Creative Direction: Jake Carroll

Design: thebeatupface
Creative Direction: Jake Carroll

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