Exhibitions

Dressing Dublin: Made in Blackrock
 
Dressing Dublin: Made in Blackrock explores the former local textile industry, the people who worked in it and how it was influenced by national and international economic forces. The project showcases the small area around Brookfield Terrace and Carysfort Avenue which produced, until the 1980s, locally-made textiles, hosiery, shirts, workwear and much more. The history of the factories; Apex, Blackrock Hosiery, Glen Abbey, and Real Brook sits within bigger stories - the industrial ambition of the new State, the movement of industry internationally during the 1980s, the rise in fast fashion and contemporary challenges around sustainable clothing.
 
An audio guide focusing on a small area of Blackrock and its former clothing and textile industry, a 30 minute film captures this story through interviews with former employees, Liam Dodd and Christine Fitzachary, and an interview with a former employee of Apex Manufacturing Co. Ltd. can be watched on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s YouTube Channel.
 
Funded by the Heritage Council, Creative Ireland and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport as part of the County Heritage Plan’s ambition to platform untold local stories and support creative approaches to heritage.