Dermott Rowan

Dermott Rowan is the managing director and co-owner of fashion brands Orla Kiely and Olive & Orange. His wife Orla Kiely started the brand in the early nineties as a women's bag designer.

Dermott Rowan
Dermott Rowan at the Orla Kiely store in London, 2017
NationalityIrish
Alma materUniversity of Cape Town, South Africa
OccupationManaging director
Spouse(s)Orla Kiely

Rowan was born in Dublin[1] where he attended Clongowes Wood College, and graduated from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He worked as a financial controller before 1997 , when he and Kiely founded the Orla Kiely Partnership, which would become Kiely Rowan Plc. in 2004.[2][3]

He is responsible for international business negotiations for the company,[2] and the supply of the 550 US stockists.[1] He is focused on the Japanese market, following the lead of Paul Smith.[4] With Kiely he won the UK Fashion Exporter's Exporter of the Year Award 2008.[5] In 2009 he was a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards International category.[6]

Rowan lectures on international brand building and export strategy at colleges in the UK in addition to being a regular guest speaker to the UK Fashion Exports, the Japan Institute, the Entrepreneurs Club of Hong Kong, Limerick University and Westminster Business School.[7]

Personal life

He and his wife live in Clapham with their two sons.[2] [3]

References
  1. O'Clery, Cathy (28 June 2008). "In the bag". The Irish Times. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  2. Walshe, Barbara (February 2008). "Orla Kiely: The Irish Charm". Coutts Woman. Archived from the original on 21 February 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  3. Emling, Shelly (6 June 2009). "A Designer's Gift for Understatement". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  4. "HSBC to pay for business owners to learn from international mentors". Daily Telegraph. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  5. Bumpus, Jessica (28 July 2008). "Kiely's Big Plans". Vogue. Archived from the original on 23 August 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  6. "Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year". RTÉ Television. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  7. "Past Speakers". The Entrepreneurs Club. Retrieved 6 July 2010.


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