An Irish company selling unique fashion pieces to women across the world claims 2012 is the year to celebrate their Irishness, their independence and the power of women.

In 2006 a group of female friends became business partners after founding a product – the Wonder Boa – which became an overnight hit with fashion savvy women worldwide.

The Dublin-based team continued to produce similar accessories, clothing and luggage, in-keeping with their signature style, and watched their success soar, despite the economic crash in their homeland.

And while they admit tightened purses have seen customer demand dropping in Ireland of late, the four-strong group prefer to keep a positive attitude to the business and ban any talk of the recession in the office!Instead this month they rebranded themselves as Republic Of One (RO1) and set about their plans to tackle the British market over the coming year.

We spoke to Anne Marie McAuley, A Co-Meath native, who joined the team most recently. She explained: “We have had a very busy 2011 – our luggage range was picked up by Neiman Marcus in New York and is about to go into Selfridges in London, we had a really successful pop-up store in Dundalk over Christmas and our original product, the Wonder Boa, still remains one of our most popular items.”

The mother-of-one added: “We believe in keeping the product fresh and great value. Of course we have lost some retail clients in Ireland due to the economic challenges, however this has driven us on to redevelop our brand and offer to help support the growth of our business.“We are reinvesting in our business and are developing new avenues of opportunity in the ever changing fashion industry.”

The team are launching a charm offensive in Britain this year with stalls booked at trade shows in Birmingham and London in the spring to showcase their new branding and their summer 2012 collection.“2012 is all about celebrating that we are Irish, Independent and women,”

Anne-Marie told us.“We are celebrating that we are an ideals driven company who believe in the strength and power of women and our products reflect that.“Our products are unique as they are all multi-wear and sizeless; they represent value and affordability and give the wearer a sense of confidence while at the same time retaining their own sense of style.”

She added: “We recently renamed our company to better reflect what we stand for- the new name is Republic of One.“This represents women standing together as one and also that we are based in the Republic of Ireland.“In the past our product has been rebranded at store level by the individual retailer. Going forward all our products will be branded and packaged with our logo which is another important step for 2012.”

The determined team of independent women at RO1 boast a range of ages and backgrounds.It consists of Anne Marie, in her 40s, 30-somethng Dubliner Sara Banks, Wexford-born woman Caroline McCarthy, how is now enjoying life in her 20s in Dublin and fellow 20-something Shekha Boolay who was born in Mauritius but now also lives in the Irish capital.

We will no doubt be hearing more from the ladies this year – as the gang says: “the best thing about having your own brand is that you call the shots and you can see dreams realised. Success or failure is up to you.”

The RO1 team is preparing to launch a new website, in the meantime visit www.wonderweave.ie or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further information.