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In 1933 Jim Kevin along with his partner Michael Howlin founded
the Tailors and Outfitters known as, Kevin & Howlin Ltd, at
39 Nassau Street in Dublin, providing top quality clothing and tailoring
while specializing in handwoven tweeds. In 1973 due to the redevelopment
of the premises – Jim’s son, Noel, who had taken over
the family firm, moved to No. 31 Nassau Street and decided to concentrate
exclusively on Tweed becoming one of the premier purveyors of tweeds
in Ireland. The tweeds are handwoven by Magees of Donegal specially
for Kevin & Howlin. Today the Kevin family is still the driving
force, Noel and his wife Joan, their daughter Sarah-Jayne and his
two sisters are all involved in the running of the business.
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County Donegal in the North West corner of Ireland is famous
for Handwoven Tweed a unique and beautiful cloth, woven by
hand on wooden looms. Traditionally, Donegal Tweed was woven
using the wool of Donegal sheep, today the use of pure new
wool in hand weaving has expanded to include luxurious natural
fibres such as a mixture of wool, mohair and cashmere. The
looms are entirely man-
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| ually operated and it is
a tribute to the original designers that the first recorded
looms differ very little from those of today. From one generation
to the next, the traditional skill and craftsmanship of handweaving
has been passed down through families in Donegal and is one
of the few ancient crafts surviving in the modern world. Weaving
is still carried out in the cottages of Donegal – it
is part of rural life along with farming and fishing. |
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