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