Cúpla
Cúpla is the fashion and design brand brought to life by twins Brodie and Mirren McFeely. It’s taking the world by storm thanks to designs featuring slang iconography and Irish pure legends like Daniel O Donnell.
Worn by international popstars like CMAT, and with each drop selling out, Cúpla is a brand that’s certainly on the rise.
Where did the inspiration for Cupla come from and how did the brand start?
We always knew we wanted to work together. When Brodie answered a call-out from our friend Bry at Creative Grind, we designed an Is Breá Lion Guinness jumper and an I Heart Belfast jumper and tee. The response was mad, we were flooded with DMs from people wanting the shirts. That’s when we thought, we may as well just start now! Working together was always something we were building towards, and it’s worked out really well for us.
Can you describe your design process, from the initial, raw concept to the final, produced piece?
It’s so helpful that there’s two of us to bounce ideas off. We both have a similar process we love looking at primary sources, especially our parents, and pulling references from there. We mess around with ideas, shapes, and concepts first. Mirren would definitely have the more graphic head, so fonts and visual identity tend to lean her way, while Brodie focuses more on shape and structure. It comes together really naturally like that. Of course, nothing’s perfect on the first go, so there’s always a bit of trial and error before we land on the final piece.
When do you feel most "in the flow" during your creative process?
Honestly, probably when it finally starts to come together! A lot of our designs go through loads of trial and error, so the “flow” doesn’t really hit until we can see the full picture forming. Once it clicks, though, it’s the best feeling.
You've had some wonderful publicity with Irish legends CMAT and Daniel O Donnell wearing and loving your designs. Did you plan these pairings, or did they happen organically?
Oh God no! we never saw that coming at all! It was completely organic, and we were just buzzing that they both enjoyed it. We didn’t even think Daniel would see it, as the piece was originally made for a final-year uni project. As Donegal girls, we’ve grown up loving Daniel, and we’ve been fans of CMAT since 2021, so it felt like such a surreal crossover.
Our friend actually made a TikTok trying to get it to CMAT for All Together Now, and her team picked it up that’s how the iconic music video moment happened. The video itself was made by another brilliant Letterkenny woman, so I think it was genuine love for Daniel and a real sense of home that brought it all together.
Cupla is famous for using quintessentially Irish slogans and faces in your designs, will this celebration of our rich creative talent continue in future collections, or do you intend to take the brand in new directions? Some Donegal landscape dresses perhaps?
We don’t think we ever intended for it to go in such a strong Irish direction but here we are! Funny enough, neither of our final year degree projects had anything to do with being Irish. It just happened naturally. We draw from what we genuinely love about being Irish, but we never want it to feel too on-the-nose, it’s always meant to be cheeky and fun.
As we grow, we’d love to explore new silhouettes and bigger collections, maybe even those Donegal landscape dresses! But the Irish identity will always be tied into what we do in some way.
How do you select fabrics and materials, and how do they inform the garment's design? Or do the designs dictate the fabric?
It really depends on the context. If something’s commissioned, that usually dictates the fabric especially if it’s for a specific setting like TV or a music When we’re designing for ourselves, though, it’s normally the design that leads, and then we choose fabrics that best suit the idea. We like to have fun with it first and then figure out what makes the most sense practically.
Your clothes consistently sell out really quickly and so are clearly loved by many. What kind of emotional reaction do you hope to trigger in someone wearing your clothes?
It’s honestly class and not something we ever imagined. It’s mad how many people love Donegal and Belfast even people living all over the world! We hope when someone wears our clothes it makes them feel connected to home, or to a place that means something to them. There’s such a strong sense of place tied to those locations, so if we can capture even a bit of that and immortalise it in a T-shirt or a scarf, that’s really special to us.
What is in store for Cupla, what can fans of your work expect next, and where will you take the brand in the next year or 2?
There are loads of secret projects in the works which is the worst because we’d love to spill everything! But when they’re out, it’ll be very exciting. Beyond that, we just want to keep growing steadily and become a really well established brand, while still keeping the heart of what we do intact.
We ask this of each of our interviewees in an attempt to inspire readers, so if someone was thinking of starting their own fashion and design brand, what advice would you give?
Just do it. Neither of us had a clue what we were doing at the start. We created Cúpla because there weren’t any creative jobs going, and we thought we’d make our own opportunity. If you know in your heart that it’s what you want to do, follow it. If you genuinely love what you’re making, that passion carries you through the hard bits. It might not happen overnight, but it will work out.
