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The company, which began as a denim clothing manufacturer called Montex Holdings, was originally created to supply locally manufactured designs to some of the UK’s largest stores.
But about 10 years ago, says McMorrow, market conditions shifted. “Manufacturing became quite difficult here in Ireland.” McMorrow looked for ways to stay competitive. He recognized that while there were challenges in the changing landscape, there were also opportunities.
“We launched Rant & Rave, developing the design teams we had here. We knew we had a core of amazing Irish design talent. And we decided we would do it under our own labels.”
Today, the creative impulses of Rant & Rave’s Irish design team are translated into fashion in far-flung locales, including China, Bangladesh, India, Turkey and Portugal. “Our main design line is our ladies collection called Rant & Rave,” says McMorrow, “inspired by local poet Patrick Kavanagh ‘on the stem of memory imaginations blossom.’” The company also produces menswear lines, Kingpin and Outrage; Diesel sports for men and women; and a children’s line called Diesel Kids.
“Our denim wear comes primarily from China,” explains McMorrow, and while price was initially the most important factor, it’s no longer the key driver of that decision. Instead, it’s because “companies in China tend to be flexible and easy to conduct business with,” he says. “They respond swiftly to correspondence and when you have a problem they face up to it and work hard to solve it.” He calls the expertise of China’s textile businesses “probably the best in the world.”
The one downside, he says, is that lead times for shipments from China can stretch to five months—especially during the Chinese New Year period.
“Everything shuts down for a month and then it takes factories another month to get back up and running.”
For their top of the line garments, McMorrow relies on business partners in Portugal and Turkey. “The European mills tend to have a more expensive hand-feel than fabrics out of China.”
When working on budget items or within tight margins, the company looks to business partners in India and Bangladesh, but, he says, with partners in these countries, “Delivery schedules and communication can be trying at times.”
The company’s fashions are currently distributed to about 300 independent retailers throughout Ireland.
A typical fashion industry manufacturer will produce samples for an upcoming season a year or so in the future, then take those samples to fashion shows, only later producing the garments in quantity, and only those that customers have ordered in advance.
McMorrow says that Rant& Rave operates very differently. “In our case, we actually produce our entire collection without pre-selling. Our customers enjoy being able to purchase within the season instead of six to nine months in advance.” And, he adds, “We’ve been very successful.”
But McMorrow plans to expand into the UK and other countries in the next couple of years, and that means switching to the more typical approach of producing samples and manufacturing to order. “Ours is probably a difficult model to scale going forward if we want to export. The risks would be very high.”
The rewards that come from such an ambitious expansion seem likely to more than justify the change. Current plans call for launching in the UK in autumn-winter 2017, and Australia and South Africa in spring-summer 2018.
The biggest challenge, he says, isn’t so much altering Rant & Rave’s business model as “finding the right partner and being comfortable with them, when you haven’t actually done business with them yet,” says McMorrow. “When you go abroad, you’re going to be dependent on another company in building up those relationships.”
Membership in Webport Global is one way the company hopes to find and build those new relationships.
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| CRV8LLH/3AS NTN | 4.826 | 12.7 | 10.3 |
| CRV96XH/3AS NTN | 63.5 | 152.4 | 84.2 |