Summer deserves more than whatever happens to be on sale
Each summer, the season invites us to reconsider the small rituals that shape daily life — what we wear, taste, smell, and read. The Irish Examiner has gathered a quiet constellation of choices, from an East London label landing in Dublin to a Kerry chocolate factory open to wanderers, reflecting a broader cultural turn toward the artisanal, the considered, and the restorative. These are not merely products but small arguments for living with more intention during the months when the light lingers longest.
- Summer's arrival creates a familiar pressure to refresh every corner of life at once — wardrobe, table, shelf, and bookshelf included.
- A wave of Irish and international artisan brands is quietly displacing generic seasonal staples, from Cavan aromatherapy to Kerry chocolate tourism.
- Wellness concerns sharpen as hayfever season peaks, pushing sensitive-skin and functional-food products from niche to necessary.
- Consumers are navigating toward experiences as much as objects — factory visits, limited-edition bottles, and novels seventeen years in the making.
- The cumulative picture is one of a market landing on quality and story over convenience, with price points that remain accessible rather than aspirational.
Summer arrives with its own quiet demands, and the Irish Examiner has answered them with a curated sweep of seasonal picks — practical, indulgent, and chosen with the conviction that the warmest months deserve more than whatever happens to be convenient.
For the office that hasn't fully surrendered to casualwear, East London label Aligne — newly arrived at Brown Thomas — offers the Daphne knit in sleeveless form for €115, contemporary without being trendy. When the working day ends, peplum lavender tops and structured off-the-shoulder pieces suggest the evening has been considered too. On the wine front, Château Minuty from the Saint-Tropez peninsula brings its signature Provence rosé in a limited-edition bottle designed by Lucia Vinti, blending grenache, cinsault, and syrah into something pearly pink and naturally suited to summer tables. It retails at €24 across stockists nationwide.
In Cavan, Flower Child founder Alex Kelly crafts aromatherapy tealights, soy candles, and fragrance sprays from her farm at Turra Lodge, all entirely natural. Her Morning Blossom spray — inspired by cherry blossoms — has reportedly interrupted yoga classes with its quiet insistence. Further west, the Skelligs Chocolate Factory on Kerry's coastline operates as both working production facility and open invitation: free tastings, a café, a shop, and complimentary tours, seven days a week.
For breakfast, Cork duo Jayne Ronayne and Sarah Sexton have followed their runaway protein balls with a Collagen Crumb — a soft, functional granola alternative made with peanut butter, oats, whey protein, bovine collagen, and dark chocolate, designed to be scattered over yogurt or porridge. At €18 for ten servings, it addresses both taste and the kind of quiet bodily maintenance summer tends to demand. As hayfever season sharpens sensitivities, Dundalk's fourth-generation skincare brand Elave offers fragrance-free, sulphate-free formulations covering every life stage, with a Hydrating Cream Cleanser at €16.95 and an Intense Moisture Surge at €21.95.
And then there is the matter of what to read on those long evenings. Kathryn Stockett, whose debut The Help became a cultural phenomenon in 2009, returns after seventeen years with The Calamity Club — set in 1930s Mississippi, following an eleven-year-old girl whose mother vanishes on Christmas Eve. Early responses suggest the wait was justified. It costs €17.99, and it may well be the most anticipated thing on this list.
Summer arrives with its own set of demands: what to wear when the weather turns warm, what to drink when the evenings stretch long, what small pleasures might make the season feel less ordinary. The Irish Examiner has assembled a collection of things worth considering—some practical, some indulgent, all chosen with the idea that summer deserves more than whatever happens to be on sale.
For workwear that doesn't feel like a compromise, Aligne, an East London label that arrived at Brown Thomas in April, offers the Daphne knit in sleeveless form for €115. It's contemporary without being trendy, available in bold colours and new shapes that actually work for an office that hasn't fully abandoned the idea of air conditioning. When evening comes and the office closes, the options shift toward peplum lavender tops and structured off-the-shoulder bandeaus—the kind of pieces that suggest you've thought about what comes next.
On the wine front, Château Minuty sits on the Saint-Tropez peninsula, one of the defining estates of Côtes de Provence. The Matton-Farnet family has spent four decades building the global reputation of Provence rosé, and their signature slender bottle now wears a limited-edition design by Lucia Vinti that pays homage to Mediterranean living. The wine itself blends aromatic grenache with fresh cinsault and syrah, creating something pearly pink that pairs naturally with summer salads and seafood. It costs €24 and appears in stockists across the country—World Wide Wines in Waterford, Bubble Brothers in Cork, Avoca, and O'Brien's Wine locations nationwide.
A Cavan brand called Flower Child has built itself on the idea that nature can heal us while we heal it. Founder Alex Kelly works from Turra Lodge Farm, where she creates aromatherapy tealights topped with dried flowers grown on the property, alongside soy candles, essential oil blends, and fragrance sprays—all 100 percent natural. The Morning Blossom fragrance spray, inspired by cherry blossoms, apparently stops people mid-yoga class to ask what you're wearing.
In Kerry, along the coastline at St Finian's Bay, the Skelligs Chocolate Factory operates as both a working production facility and a tourist destination. Visitors can watch chocolatiers at work, taste chocolate for free, sit in a café for hot chocolate and pastries, and browse a shop stocked with bars like the white chocolate with sharp raspberry pieces. The factory opens seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and tours are complimentary.
For breakfast, the Cork company oac—founded by friends Jayne Ronayne and Sarah Sexton—has moved beyond the protein balls that sold 250,000 units in under a year. Their new Collagen Crumb is a functional topper designed to replace overly sweet granola. Made with peanut butter, honey, oats, whey protein, bovine collagen, and dark chocolate, it's soft and crumbly, meant to be sprinkled over yogurt, smoothies, or porridge. The collagen supports skin, hair, and joint health. A 300-gram container costs €18 and provides roughly ten servings.
As May arrives and hayfever season peaks, sensitive skin becomes a real concern. Elave, a fourth-generation Dundalk brand, builds its formulations without sulphates, soap, perfume, alcohol, or artificial colours. It's PETA-certified cruelty-free and covers every stage of life—face, body, sun care, baby products, hair, and scalp. The Hydrating Cream Cleanser at €16.95 includes Vitamin B5, Vitamin E, and calming aloe vera. The Intense Moisture Surge costs €21.95.
Finally, there's the matter of what to read. Kathryn Stockett, who published her blockbuster debut The Help in 2009, has waited seventeen years to release another novel. The Calamity Club returns to the American South, this time to 1930s Mississippi, where an eleven-year-old girl named Meg must fend for herself after her mother vanishes on Christmas Eve. Early reviews suggest the wait was worth it. The book costs €17.99.
Notable Quotes
The brand is born from the realisation that not only can we benefit from nature but we can simultaneously benefit nature itself.— Alex Kelly, founder of Flower Child
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a summer style guide need to include chocolate and skincare alongside fashion?
Because summer isn't just about looking good—it's about feeling good. The heat, the sun, the longer days, the allergies that come with May—they all create real needs. A beautiful linen top matters, but so does a cleanser that won't irritate your skin when you're sweating through hayfever season.
The Skelligs Chocolate Factory seems like an odd inclusion in a lifestyle guide. It's a tourist attraction, not a product.
It's both. You can buy chocolate there, but the real product is the experience—watching craftspeople work, tasting something made with care, sitting in a café by the Kerry coast. That's what summer is for. It's not just consumption; it's the chance to see how things are made.
There's a lot of Irish brands here. Is that deliberate?
Absolutely. Flower Child, oac, Elave—these are companies built by people solving problems they noticed. They're not massive corporations. There's something about summer that makes you want to support things that feel real and local.
What's the significance of Kathryn Stockett's new novel appearing in a summer guide?
It's permission to slow down. Summer can feel like it's all activity and consumption. A book that's been seventeen years in the making says: sit with something substantial. Read something that took time to build.
The wine recommendation mentions the family's role in pioneering Provence rosé globally. Why include that history?
Because it changes what you're drinking. It's not just a pink wine—it's the result of four decades of people refining a style. That context makes it taste different.