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Douglas & Grahame at 100: moving with the times in menswear

In the first in a series celebrating Douglas & Grahame’s 100th anniversary, we return to the humble roots of the Northern Irish menswear brand house.

From left: Douglas & Grahame managing director Adam Finlay, executive chairman Donald Finlay and brand director Michael Finlay

Northern Irish menswear brand house Douglas & Grahame is a third-generation family-owned and -managed business. Today, it sells its nine tailoring, lifestyle and schoolwear brands to more than 450 independent retailers across the UK and Ireland, having successfully evolved with the waves of the fashion industry over the last 100 years.

Douglas & Grahame was founded by William Charles Douglas and Hugh Grahame in 1924, and was based in the heart of Belfast city centre, just off the capital city’s Great Victoria Street. This was an area known as the Linen Quarter and was the heart of Ireland’s textiles industry.

In its early years, Douglas & Grahame was a fabric wholesaler. It became a trusted supplier of premium fabrics to the tailors and crafters of Belfast, whose formalwear garments, at the time, were all bespoke or made to order. The business grew, built upon principles of trust and reliability, which were key to building strong relationships within the community.

In the mid-1940s, Richard Finlay Snr, better known as Dixie, joined the business as menswear buyer. He is the father of Douglas & Grahame’s now-retired former managing director of 35 years, Richard Finlay Jnr, and of executive chairman Donald Finlay. He is also grandfather to Donald’s sons – and the firm’s third generation of entrepreneurial leaders – managing director Adam Finlay and brand director Michael Finlay.

Dixie joined the firm as the industry was beginning to shift: menswear no longer focused on bespoke or made-to-order tailoring, as the era of ready-made suits and other garments arrived. Keeping up with the changing times, Dixie spearheaded the company’s “ready-made” division, as it was called, and supported its eponymous founders with this seismic shift. It was to become a definitive moment for the business and its future success. It transitioned from sourcing, stocking and supplying fabric to working with manufacturers, and procuring ready-made suits, jackets and trousers.


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In 1946, during Dixie’s tenure, the first own-brand label of the Douglas & Grahame stable was launched, and for the next 40 or so years, everything it produced, from tailored suits, to classic tweed blazers, to schoolwear was branded as Wellington. Today the Wellington brand continues to produce suits and tailored overcoats with relaxed fits aimed at the company’s more mature customers.

In the mid-1960s, co-founder William Charles Douglas died, and his business partner, Hugh Grahame, decided that, having built the business together, they would exit together, and so, after having a transformational impact on its growth and expansion, Dixie was offered the opportunity to buy the company. This marked the beginning of the Finlay family’s multi-generational ownership and leadership. Richard Finlay Jnr joined his father in the business in 1966, aged 18. His younger brother, Donald, joined later, in 1977, aged 21. Dixie continued to lead the business until he died in 1979.

In 1973 the company expanded beyond its home nation, across the border into the Republic of Ireland, and soon after, in 1982, it broke into the mainland UK.

It was in the 1980s, as consumer brand culture took hold of the fashion and retail industry, that Douglas & Grahame once again recognised the market-driven tides of change, adapting to the wants and needs of the menswear consumer.

It launched several brands, starting with schoolwear label 1880 Club in 1983. Further brand launches followed into the 1990s, including upmarket classic menswear Douglas, more affordable tailoring Daniel Grahame, casual-leaning Drifter, and the company’s best-selling, Italian-inspired Remus Uomo.


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Douglas & Grahame remained a business-to-business (B2B) operator for much of its history – and still is to this day – selling its products to independent retailers across the UK and Ireland, and eventually internationally overseas.

However, it once again spotted an opportunity in retail’s evolution and made its foray into direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales in 1995 with the opening of its first bricks-and-mortar Remus Uomo store in Belfast’s CastleCourt Shopping Centre.

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, it would further expand this DTC arm, opening Remus Uomo stores in Belfast’s Victoria Square in 2008, in Glasgow around the same time and in Dublin in 2017.

In 2011, Adam Finlay, now managing director, joined the business, while his brother, Michael, now brand director, entered in 2017, together plotting the course for the future.

Richard Finlay Jnr retired in 2016, the same year he was recognised with his Drapers Independents Lifetime Achievement Award for services to the fashion industry. That same year, Douglas & Grahame’s flagship brand, Remus Uomo, celebrated its 25th anniversary and was named Menswear Brand of the Year.

Having survived world wars and recessions, and evolving into the menswear powerhouse it is today, Douglas & Grahame has laid the foundations for the next 100 years.

An extended family

In addition to the Finlays, Douglas & Grahame’s success is built on its wider family of long-serving staff.

Christine Mcmurran joined Douglas & Grahame on her 16th birthday in 1974. She began her career in an entry-level admin role in the finance department. She progressed to become credit controller – a role she has occupied for most of her career.

This summer, she celebrates 50 years with the company.

What do you enjoy most about working for Douglas and Grahame?

When I look back on these 50 years, what I see is decades of really good friendships with colleagues and strong relationships with customers who have grown alongside us.

What have been the biggest changes?

As a 100-year-old business, we’ve experienced so much change. Technology is up there as one of the biggest.

When I joined, everything was done by hand: invoices, for example, were written and posted. So even the introduction of email was a massive shift and made everything so much more efficient.

Why do you think you stayed with the business so long?

The company has looked after me through the years. When it came to starting my own family, my needs were accommodated to help find a balance between work and home life. That afforded me the space to grow personally and professionally

 

David Lovell joined in 1975 and remained with the business for 48 years. He started as an entry-level trainee in the Douglas & Grahame warehouse and then moved into sales. He progressed to senior commercial manager – a role he occupied until his retirement in 2023.

What were the biggest changes in your time?

The transition from wholesaler to building brands. I’ve also had the privilege of working alongside three generations of the Finlay family. With each younger generation that comes through there are new ideas and energy, which really pushes the business forward.

Why did you stay with Douglas & Grahame for so long?

We were a close-knit team, all bought into a shared vision. You really did feel part of something, part of a family. I never considered moving because there was no reason to. The company has evolved so much over the years that I feel I’ve had three or four different careers. If you had drive, then you had opportunity.

What did you enjoy most about working for the firm?

There was a real family atmosphere within the company. Colleagues became friends. I spent a lot of time on the road, meeting customers from all over, and many of them became good friends, too.

For more information, please contact Matt Rawlings at matthew.rawlings@douglasandgrahame.com (Great Britain) or Arron Potts at arron.potts@douglasandgrahame.com (Northern and Republic of Ireland)

Douglasandgrahame.com

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