SLIGO’s landscape boasts adventure.
For the explorer in us, you need solid equipment to take on the waters and the wild of our natural backdrop.
A Sligo designer, Ashleigh Smith has launched a company with that very goal in mind- to create bags which are robust, fashionable and practical for use in the harsh and beautiful terrain of the Atlantic coast.
Ashleigh spoke to The Sligo Weekender this week of how she came up with the idea for her product.
“I came up with the idea after studying in Limerick. I did a degree in product design. Then from there I went to the Netherlands where I studied industrial design for two years. My thesis for the course was brand development for a company so I finished that in 2013 and I came home then and there were a few of the pieces of the puzzle in place.
“I had a lot of the hard work done by then so it was a case of founding the company and designing the initial collection and launching it in April 2014,” Asleigh said.
Since then the company, The Atlantic Equipment Project, has had a winter collection and now Ashleigh has her sights fixed on a spring collection for the coming season.
For Ashleigh, the mantra of her brand is simple.
“The emphasis on the brand is really good quality carrying equipment for the adventures on the Atlantic coast,” she said.
“I am fortunate to be one of those people and a lot of my friends are too. I grew up Sligo on one side of Benbulben so in that regard I was engrossed in the environment since I was very young. The company when you look at it is a progression of that,” Ashleigh commented.
The full interview with Ashleigh, and how to order Atlantic Equipment Project gear can be found in this week’s Sligo Weekender- out now.
