‘I'm learning Irish, I wear Beir Bua': The brand combining Gaeilge, GAA, and fashion

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4 hours ago

Belfast-born clothing brand Beir Bua was founded on a love for the Irish language, a passion for fashion, and a deep connection to the GAA.
The brand has gone from strength to strength since it burst onto the Irish fashion scene, having recently launched a retro GAA jersey in collaboration with Beamish.
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Speaking to
BreakingNews.ie
, founder Tony Connolly said he previously saw nothing linking his interests together, and felt that he had no "niche" of his own.
'I always felt like I had no niche. I was into a lot of things. I was into sport, I was into jerseys, I was into fashion.
"I was into art, photography, music, and the Irish language. But I kind of didn't have a niche in any area and, at some point, it just clicked with me that I could combine them all into one.'
Beir Bua seeks to champion the Irish language through clothing, while also celebrating Irish culture in a broader sense by drawing inspiration from GAA jerseys for its pieces.
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'What you see in Beir Bua is really just an amalgamation of everything I'm into and there's nothing there that isn't authentic," Connolly said.
Photo: Beir Bua
"Even to do with the photography stuff, it's all at places where we drank or went to, or where I played hurling. It's all kind of semi-reflective of my life because I know there's a lot of poserism in some form in this kind of area.
'Even when it comes to the Irish language, like there's mistakes in some of the Irish I use and I want that to reflect and show that it's okay to make mistakes.
"It's about the journey of relearning Irish. Rather than being like 'I'm an Irish speaker, I wear Beir Bua', it's more like 'I'm learning Irish, I wear Beir Bua'.'
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The birth of Beir Bua
Connolly explained that the concept of Beir Bua came about as a result of him learning the Irish language.
"I suppose it started when I started learning Irish around 2018. I started going back to Irish classes in Belfast, I was doing night classes at the time. I was just getting really into the Irish language and I saw there was a brand, Art of Football, over in England who were doing a lot of stuff with football culture and clothing at the time.
"I think something just clicked in my head with the ability to combine the Irish language and promoting the Irish language with clothing. This came a few years after I'd really started learning.
"Beir Bua was picked for the brand name because it's a sign off message and so you put it at the end of a letter or an e-mail.
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"It's actually old Irish. 'Beir bua agus beannacht' is the full phrase, which means take victory and a blessing. 'Take victory' - I just always liked the way it sounded and looked, and putting it at the end of an e-mail. I just thought it was perfect.
I was just getting inspired by a lot of Irish culture at the time. And I sort of had the idea to have the Irish language, the promotion of Irish language, really been the forefront of what Beir Bua was supposed to be about.
'There's a massive wave of Celtic revivalism at the minute going on, which has kind of been bubbling under the surface, probably for the last seven years maybe.
"There have been lots of people that came before me, so I don't see myself in any way as like super original or anything like that. There was already lots of stuff being done with the Irish language and, to me, the Irish language has always been cool.
"But the Celtic revival, it has kind of allowed me to get a full breakthrough, which is just lucky for me. So yeah, I definitely stand on the shoulders of some people who came before."
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Kneecap, Gaeilge, and plans for the future
Connolly said the goal of the brand is to get more people into speaking and learning the Irish language.
"As I said, I always thought the Irish language was cool, but there's young people who, maybe to do with the way it's taught to them at school, aren't fully interested in Irish language.
"You obviously have this Celtic wave that's kind of helping them decide that it's something that they want to be into and that's something I want to do too. Maybe to show that part of it, even though I feel like it's always been something that was cool."
The Beir Bua founder said Kneecap cannot be left out of the Celtic revival conversation, as they inspired the younger generation to take an interest in the Irish language through their music.
'You can't mention the Celtic revival without mentioning Kneecap. They've been utterly instrumental in all of this, and I'd be lying if I said they didn't inspire me to push ahead with this plan as well.
"As well as Kneecap and the movie industry and the music industry, you know, you have bands like Fontaines incorporating Irish language into some of their stuff as well but, apart from that, there was a whole wave of people before that that sort of brought the momentum into the culture.
"You had An Dream Dearg champion Irish language rights in the North and I think all the hard work from groups like that and grassroots organisations have helped hold that up. Maybe people aren't really seeing that. But they allowed these things to come up through the culture and into the mainstream."
Speaking about the future, Connolly said he intends to keep making garments that people are interested in wearing, and is open to more collaborations after the brand's successful partnership with Beamish.
Photo: Beir Bua
"Honestly, my plan is to keep making cool stuff. My mantra is to just keep making stuff that you would wear, stuff that you would like.
I'm massively inspired by retro GAA jerseys and things like that, and I use my own taste to judge whether or not a design is something I would want to wear something myself.
"We've actually done a collab with Beamish there recently which was our first collab. It was huge for us. In terms of other collabs, I'm listening to anyone who's talking basically. But, I suppose an obvious answer would be someone like Kneecap.
"The two brands, the two entities, you could say, would be a good fit together I think, especially both being from the North as well. I just think it would be great, but who knows."
Small business struggles
Connolly highlighted some of the difficulties that come with running a small business, namely the balancing act of business costs and the cost of clothes for customers.
'It can be hard because it's a one man business here. So, I'm basically working on my own. And so it can be hard. Obviously, everyone has to start out somewhere," he said.
"We're getting to the point now where we might be able to take on more, but the challenge at the minute is really just the financial struggles of running a tiny business, especially in modern day Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The cost of living has gone up massively, and some of the pieces can be expensive to get made, and you don't want to charge through-the-roof prices for people who can't afford it.
Connolly said it can be hard to find the right balance between making something that's worthwhile while ensuring that it's affordable for people, specifically Beir Bua's target demographic of 20- and 30-somethings.
'I don't come from money. I didn't get any leg up with this. It is just something I started very, very small and I was at a full-time job at the same time.
"It's just about trying to grow bit by bit by bit with baby steps and, at some point, I suppose I'm just hoping that it will be a self-sustaining business."
Beir Bua is a brand to keep an eye on. The brand has already come on leaps and bounds since it started out, and there will undoubtedly be more to come in the future.