The Donegal twins dressing CMAT, celebrating county pride and keeping things playful
Last month alone, Brodie and Mirren McFeely of Cúpla Designs dressed CMAT, fielded calls from Danielle and Majella O’Donnell, and sold out of stock entirely. With only a year in business under their belt, it's safe to say their star is rising exceptionally fast.
We’re Cúpla Designs, founded by us twins, Brodie and Mirren McFeely. We’re originally from Donegal but are now based in Belfast. Our backgrounds are in different but complementary fields. Brodie studied Textile Art, Design and Fashion with a specialism in Knitwear, while Mirren studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Ulster University.
In 2024, we decided to bring our skills together to create Cúpla (which fittingly means twin in Irish). It’s something we’ve always wanted to do; combining our creativity and working side by side feels natural to us. The brand allows us to merge knitwear, illustration, and design into pieces that feel playful, personal, and distinctly ours. We’re excited to keep pushing ourselves, experimenting, and building Cúpla into something that continues to grow and evolve.
Brodie always knew she wanted to be a designer. She was always sewing away when we were younger and went straight into Fashion and Textiles. She’s always known this was her path. For Mirren, it was a bit different. She dabbled in sewing here and there; her strength has always been more in having the eye for design rather than doing the making. That mix is exactly what makes Cúpla work so well. Brodie can get stuck into the making, sewing, and pattern drafting, while Mirren focuses on the graphics and design direction. Between the two of us, we basically make one full designer! And honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
At the moment, we’re actually out of stock (which we’re very grateful for!) but we’ve built up quite a catalogue already. So far, we’ve released our ‘I [heart] Donegal’ and ‘I [heart] Belfast’ t-shirts, plus our ‘Feck Off’ scarves, which people really loved. We also offer custom knitwear at the moment. Right now, we’re working hard on bringing out our ‘Sucking Diesel’ tanks, they’ll be launching very soon. We’re also planning to drop a brand new scarf design this winter, and there’s a potentially exciting collaboration in the works too… so definitely keep an eye out!
The ethos
Honestly, our approach is pretty simple. We just want to make clothes that are fun. A little tongue-in-cheek, a little playful, and always something that feels good to wear. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, and that’s part of the joy of Cúpla. Our mission is to keep having fun while we design, create pieces that anyone can enjoy and keep pushing the brand to grow in new directions. If we’re enjoying the process, we know that energy will shine through in what we make.
Donegal is at the heart of everything we do. It’s home, it’s where we feel most ourselves, and it’s a constant source of inspiration. Even back in Brodie’s graduate collection, she explored ideas of belonging and for us, nothing sums that up better than Donegal.
Irish design has been having such an exciting rise lately, but we noticed there wasn’t much celebrating county pride. Of course, Ireland as a whole is brilliant, but we wanted to shine a light on Donegal in particular and do it in a way that’s fresh, fun, and with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour. Donegal can get overlooked at times, but anyone who’s spent time there knows it leaves a mark, whether that’s from the beaches, the pubs, or just the craic. People universally love it.
Since moving to Belfast, our own love for home has only grown stronger, so Cúpla has become our way of bottling up that Donegal spirit, plenty of pride, plenty of humour, and maybe even a bit of “sucking diesel” along the way.
CMAT (!!!) and wee Daniel
That whole experience has honestly been so surreal. We’ve been fans of CMAT since 2022, when we first saw her in Limelight in Belfast, so to see her actually wearing our designs still feels mad.
It all kicked off when ‘Greetings from Donegal’ was exhibited. Our wonderful friend Éabha made it her mission to get CMAT into the Daniel O’Donnell dress at All Together Now and it was a TikTok that really set everything in motion. CMAT’s team saw it, got in touch, and asked to use our pieces for her ‘When a Good Man Cries’ music video. We can’t thank Katie McLaughlin Robinson enough, she styled CMAT for the video and pulled our looks into it. We were buzzing to find out that a load of her team are actually from Letterkenny too!
Even when the teasers for the video dropped, the buzz was unreal. Seeing CMAT and the Sexy CMAT Band in our designs was just crazy. Then on August 28, she played the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast. We were so lucky our friend Jodie managed to get us in, because we’d made CMAT her own custom Daniel O’Donnell dress after Katie had mentioned she loved it on set. We reached out to her team, and they told us to wait after the gig so she could collect it herself. Handing it over to her in person was amazing; she was genuinely buzzing, and of course, so were we. It was so lovely being able to talk her through the pieces.
To top it all off, her team put us on the guest list for Belfast Vital, where she was supporting Sam Fender that same day. We didn’t expect her to actually wear the dress on stage, so when she came out in it, we screamed like lunatics. The reaction from the crowd was brilliant, and then seeing it all blow up on social media was just the cherry on top. To make it even more surreal, the music video dropped the very same day. It honestly felt like one of the best days of our lives. We’ll never forget it, and we’re just so thankful to Katie and CMAT for making it all happen.
The reaction has honestly been insane! The very same day CMAT wore the dress, we restocked our ‘I [heart] Donegal’ t-shirts and they sold out in under ten minutes. The love for the ‘Sucking Diesel’ tank and the Daniel O’Donnell dress has been just as wild too. People keep asking when they’re coming, and we promise they’re on the way, we just want to make sure they’re absolutely perfect before we release them.
Even online, the reaction has blown us away. Our Instagram and TikTok completely exploded, and it’s been so lovely to see other people’s videos from the gig where CMAT wore the dress. Reading through the comments and seeing all the love has honestly been one of the best parts.
It makes us feel so proud and gives us such a push to keep going. The support has been fantastic, it feels like people really get what we’re doing, and that’s the best motivation we could ask for.
For the longest time, we hadn’t heard anything back from Daniel O’Donnell on our design. We’d even reached out to his team before the show and went through the proper channels (including buying the rights to the photo), because we wanted to do everything the right way. But we never got a response from Daniel or his team, so we just thought that might be the end of it.
Then on September 1, Mirren kept getting calls from an unknown number. She finally answered, and it was Majella! She was ringing about the dress, and said that both she and Daniel absolutely love it. We were over the moon. When CMAT’s music video came out, they’d apparently been bombarded with photos of the dress but hadn’t known who had made it. So to actually speak to Majella, and to hear how much they loved it, was just surreal. It means so much knowing they can see it comes from a genuine place of love and admiration.
The Irish brands to know
We’re obsessed with the Stoned to Death’s Claddagh pint ring. It’s absolutely gorgeous! The Pellador Jack Russell zip-up is definitely calling our names as well. CALLAN Knit has some amazing Irish stamp jumpers that are 100% on our list, and we’ll always keep an eye out for anything by Aoife Cawley. We’re also really excited to see Callum McCabe’s new collection drop soon, and of course, Seeking Judy is always on our radar. There’s so much exciting talent across Ireland right now, it’s hard not to want everything!
On Instagram, there are honestly so many fun fashion and design accounts to follow. Some of our favourite designers would have to be @gardenoflilley, our friend Eve makes incredible work, and @kittenish_knits, because Emma’s pieces are just stunning. We can’t mention design accounts without shouting out @thecreativegrind_. What the whole team does there is phenomenal, and they’re all so lovely too.
On the fashion side, we love keeping up with Lucinda Graham. Her mind is just next level. @arannmc is honestly one of the best photographers in the business and Belfast is lucky to have her now! @eoin.gavin is the realest stylist out there, and we’re obsessed with how he puts looks together. And of course, @notzeda. We’ve been following her for ages, she’s amazing at what she does and genuinely one of the sweetest people. And of course, Katie Bryce @kkittybb — her styling is always on point, and her work on Saoirse Monica Jackson’s wedding was just stunning. She has such an incredible eye. @sonofafoxx, his designs are just beautiful and he works with colour so well!
There’s so much talent out there that our feeds are basically just constant inspiration. We love @ditsybitss, her work is so class! Also, @gracenimheallain‘s work is insane, the shirts are bloody class! Everyone doing DIFW to be honest is fab, from Aisling Duffy to Seeking Judy, their works are just incredible. And @sewphie.ie’s work on jerseys is unreal, we need to see a Donegal one!
Brodie’s best fashion purchase wasn’t technically a purchase — but now she couldn’t live without them. Our best friend Eva picked up a pair of vintage Levi’s low-rise jeans in a charity shop, but they didn’t fit her. She passed them on, and honestly, they’ve turned out to be the best jeans ever. They’re one of those pieces you just know will stay in your wardrobe forever.
For Mirren, it’s nothing particularly high fashion, but two pieces that have become absolute staples — an ancient black Joy Division skirt and a long white skirt found in a charity shop. Nothing insane or flashy, but they’ve become such a part of her everyday style that they feel like an extension of her.
The logistics
Funding always was and, honestly, still is now, a big concern. We both work full-time jobs, and Cúpla started completely from our own pockets. Luckily, what we sell now allows us to put money straight back into the business, but it’s definitely not easy. We’re fortunate to have supportive parents who we know would help us out if we really needed it, but the reality is that it’s tough. Getting rejected for grants can be disheartening, and not coming from a hugely well-off background means funding is always a stress at the back of our minds. But we believe in what we’re building, so we just keep pushing forward. The support we’ve had so far reminds us why we’re doing it and gives us hope that one day, the brand will be able to fully sustain itself.
The best business advice we’ve ever been given is just to go for it. It’s so easy to overthink things and worry about whether people will actually buy what you’re making, but if you love it and you’d wear it yourself, that’s reason enough to put it out into the world. We’ve really taken that to heart with Cúpla. Every design starts with us asking, “Would we actually wear this? Would this make us smile?” If the answer is yes, then we run with it. Taking that leap is scary, but it’s also where all the magic happens.
We had zero business experience going into this, so trust us, we’ve made plenty of mistakes! But we’d probably say there are two big learnings. The first is to just accept the mistake. When we first started printing our t-shirts, we had some absolute disasters. It was so frustrating getting it wrong, but what we learned is not to dwell on it, just accept it’s messed up, move on, and start again.
The second is about working with other people. If someone has a different idea or wants to try something a certain way, let them run with it. If it works, amazing. If it doesn’t, at least you didn’t waste energy fighting over who was right. Both lessons have made us a lot more resilient and a lot more chilled as we keep building Cúpla.
The legacy
Our proudest moment so far has to be CMAT. We’ve had so many amazing moments, from being featured in magazines, to fun photoshoots, to selling out our work and we’re genuinely grateful for every single one. But working with CMAT has truly been the highlight of our journey so far. From seeing our pieces in her music video, to meeting her in person, to watching her perform on stage wearing something we made, it still feels surreal. We’re so thankful to her and her team for believing in us, supporting our work, and giving us an experience we’ll never forget. Moments like that make all the hard work, long hours, and challenges completely worth it.
I want our brand to be remembered for having fun and not taking anything too seriously. Of course, our commitment to design is important, but if people remember anything about Cúpla, we hope it’s that it’s playful, cheeky, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. That energy is what makes the brand feel like us, and we want it to shine through in everything we do.
If we could have anyone wear our designs, it would probably be Fontaines D.C. for Brodie — she’s obsessed. For Mirren, it would be either Graham Norton or Nicola Coughlan, both absolute icons in our eyes.
Follow Cúpla Designs on Instagram at @cupla_designs.
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