All about Niall

Niall O'Farrell is one of Ireland's most successful entrepreneurs. Owner of Ireland’s premier suit hire chain, Blacktie, Niall is also a property developer, luxury shirt retailer and food and beverage distributer.

You can’t beat valuable experience and for Niall O’Farrell, it has been tantamount to his remarkable success. Niall never considered himself as being the ‘university type’ and was always keen to get into straight up business. His original intention was to follow his father Robert, into his estate agency in Ranelagh. However fate had other ideas and a downturn in the property market led him to seek other opportunities. Niall found himself working in menswear and a new adventure began.

He earned his stripes at Frewen & Aylward, one of the last old-school tailoring houses in Dublin. Starting in hosiery, he was only allowed to sell socks at the beginning but he quickly impressed his boss and mentor Fonsie O’Byrne and moved into shirting and then tailoring.

Keen to earn more money, Niall was quick to spot a niche in the market and realized that suit-hire could be a viable business. He had £2,000 saved from part-time jobs and availed of an enterprise scheme which gave him a grant of £30 a week for six months and a small government-guaranteed loan. He rented a room from his father over the estate agency for £20 a week and from there he started the business with 17 suits.

His first week’s turnover was £32.50, for one suit rental of £15 and the sale of one shirt for £17.50. The following week Niall only made £15 for one suit rental and in the third week he made nothing at all. So Niall thought fast about how he could market Blacktie and turn it into a stronger brand on the street. He devised a plan to present ‘Blacktie’ to the Irish public though it were an established UK brand with a new Irish outlet. Before he knew it, he was soon opening shops all over the country. He built the company to 17 shops nationwide, Jermyn Street Shirts in Picadilly and a multi-million-euro turnover.

Niall has also been building his property portfolio since the age of 22. He owns many landmark buildings in London and Ireland. His latest venture is a drinks and snack food business called Simply Direct. Niall says that going out on his own at such a young age means that he really understands entrepreneurs.

Niall is Mr. Retail and is always keen to make good, solid investments with his fingers in lots of pies. His inquisitive nature ensures that he has an interest in everything but if he doesn’t see the € sign or the potential to market your product, he’s out.