New licensing deal sees a €422k Irish Fairy Door loss
By Maurice Garvey
CLONDALKIN business The Irish Fairy Door Company has moved to a new licensing deal with Allied Imports with the shift contributing to a loss of €422,011 last year.
Director with the Irish Fairy Door Company, Niamh Sherwin Barry said they have “transitioned to a licensing model with Allied Imports” and changed their “supply chain, staffing, and sales and marketing models to reflect this, all of which carried costs for 2019.”
Irish Fairy Door director Niamh Sherwin Barry
Dublin-based Allied Imports own Tipperary Crystal among other brands.
Ms Sherwin Barry said the company have been working with them over the last six months to develop lots of brand new products.
One of these is the kid friendly Fairy Glisten Hand Sanitising Unit, launched in recent weeks.
Ms Sherwin Barry said they have a full range of new products in the works, following the success of products like the worry plaque.
Covid-19 has had a negative impact on business with toy stores closed during the early stages of the pandemic and then restricted opening hours.
Numbers directly employed by the company last year fell from 11 to four, with Ms Sherwin Barry explaining that the new licensing model allowed for fewer staff.
“Moving to an outsourced and licensing model with Allied Imports means that we don’t carry the staff as full-time employees and instead have a number of outsourced and contract recruitment models that give us the talent we need, when we need it.”
She expects revenues and staffing levels, to increase significantly this year.
The Irish Fairy Door Company, which was established in 2014, had a shareholders’ deficit of €1.4 million at the end of last year.
Ms Sherwin Barry said: “It really is about adapting. Innovation continues to be the key.
Being able to pivot when you need to, being brave when you need to be and following your gut are possibly the most important things when it comes to owning and operating a small business. If Covid has taught us anything, it is that.”
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