Stitched Into History: Northern Ireland's textile legacy reimagined.

What the Titanic carried, what Ulster made, and how today's designers are reinterpreting that legacy 

Northern Ireland has a rich and varied textile heritage shaped by generations of skilled makers and industries that once employed thousands across the region. Linen became the most famous of these traditions, with Belfast developing one of the world's greatest centres of linen manufacture during the 19th century. Across Ulster, flax was spun, woven, and finished into everything from fine damask and household linens to clothing and decorative textiles. In Donegal, generations of spinners and weavers transformed local wool into hard-wearing cloths, developing the distinctive hand-woven tweeds for which the country became internationally known. Rich in texture and flecked with colour, Donegal tweed remains one of Ireland's most recognised textile traditions.

Today, this legacy is being revisited and reinterpreted. Titanic Belfast has become a setting for that conversation, using exhibitions, installations, and fashion collaborations to connect Northern Ireland's industry past with contemporary design while exploring the human stories embedded in the textile history. 

Jack Murphy Clothing 

Tweed provides the heritage thread running through Jack Murphy clothing, a third-generation Irish family business known for classic tailoring and enduring outerwear. Traditional herringbones, checks, and Irish wool tweeds are reworked into contemporary coats, jackets, and separates, continuing the long relationship between Irish woollen cloth and practical, beautifully made clothing while embracing a modern approach to slow fashion.