Byline: Yvonne Tarleton
HER father is one of our top businessmen and now she is following in his footsteps.
But where Michael Smurfit made his fortune out of paper and cardboard, Sharon Smurfit is focusing on the rather more stimulating world of fashion - and has discovered a trade that's ideal for a recession.
Fake Prada Purse HandbagsSharon has opened an upmarket, secondhand clothing store for women on Lower Baggot Street in Dublin city centre. Women can take their second-hand clobber there and exchange it for cash. The shop then resells the clothes to bargain-hunters.
Wear it Again will take shoes, handbags and clothes from those looking to cash in on their designer collections.
Sharon's business has got the thumbs up from her father, who described the venture as 'a very clever way to reinvent ourselves in the current climate'.
She said: 'I think the emphasis is now on people looking to get a little bit back in their pockets from investments they've made over the years.
'Everyone loves a bargain. People will still spend some money on themselves, especially the girls on their hair and make-up, but not at the same scale as they did before. Everyone has had to cut back a little bit and keep their money closer to their chest.
'A lot of my friends have given me clothes and a lot of the girls have already bought a good few bits,' she says.
t5 tube with ledShe was adamant that even though she was the child of a multimillionaire, she never took anything for granted. 'We always had to earn our pocket money. We had to cycle to school, were never chauffeured - we had to earn our own way.
'We grew up to value work and money and it was never sitting around the house willy nilly.
'This is my job, it's like anybody else working..
I have to work. I don't get chunks of pocket money every month from Dad.
'He wouldn't believe in that. I have my bills to pay and a family to feed. This is my business and it has to work like everything else.
'I'm not a huge spender on clothes. I always felt that you could buy just as nice on the High Street. My sister and I have never been people who bought a huge amount of designer wear. If I see something I'd like, I would consider making an investment. But I can safely say that I've never spent more than e600 or e700 on a pair of shoes.'
Sharon is a cousin of actress Victoria, who claims to have had a similarly frugal upbringing despite the family wealth.
In an interview with You magazine last weekend, Victoria (daughter of Dermot Smurfit) said: 'Growing up, we had this sense that people had this perception of us - but it didn't tally with the life that we were living. If you wanted 50 pence, you had to wash the car to get it. Okay,
embroidered patches the car was a Rolls, but I didn't know that when I was five.'
CAPTION(S):
Bargains: Sharon Smurfit in Wear It Again, her second-hand store on Baggot Street
No handouts: Michael Smurfit
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