A qualified personal stylist, designer and seamstress, Gail Doyle started a fashion blog on social media seven years ago. Now Gail’s Rails now has 100,000 followers.
As well as online image consultations and boutique and brand showcasing, the style maven is in-demand for group masterclasses and one-to-one styling and personal shopping.
SENSS, her totally new ‘sensible, simple, sustainable’ clothing range launched in October 2022, and a new online boutique has just followed.
From designing and making her own Debs dress, the mum-of-two got a diploma in dressmaking, in 2006, and went on to start an alterations business (Pin Pin Alterations) and a craft company, Crafty Couture.
In 2009 she did a diploma in personal styling, having established a reputation from her alterations business for her great advice.
Gail has also struggled a lot with her mental health, both anxiety and depression that immobilized her seriously until she found the correct treatment and medication.
After a two year break, in 2014, on account of her health, Gail picked up her business where she left off.
She resumed personal styling and personal shopping, starting her Gail’s Rails Facebook, offering free online tips and advice… many followers became personal shopping clients in Whitewater Shopping Centre and Kildare Village.
Brands began contacting Gail to collaborate and showcase their product, as a well-known digital influencer with credibility and trust.
She worked with charities staging fashion events and style talks, and raised over 22K for Women’s Aid, the Cancer Society, NCBI and The Jack & Jill foundation!
By 2019 Gail was running masterclasses all over Ireland, selling out GAIL’S STYLE STUDIO shows in large hotels like The Osprey in Naas.
Until the global pandemic hit! Overnight Gail’s business closed and she describes feeling that fashion then became ‘a dirty word’, no longer needed or necessary in our pared-back lives!
She signed on to the pandemic payment, kept the social media chats going, and offered her services free of charge to brands and boutiques she had previously worked with. The fashion shows continued in her home during lock-down, and she ran a CAPSULE WARDROBE LOCKDOWN CHALLENGE to get women out of their PJs and again shopping their wardrobe.
Following the pandemic, Gail set her sights on designing her own clothing collection, but not a single financial institution would support the idea!
She secured 3 new brand ambassador roles in 2021, one of which was well-known Irish fashion brand PAMELA SCOTT!
Richard Barron, CEO of Pamela Scott, became aware of Gail’s dream and offered to completely finance the collection design, and share profits from sales of THE GAIL COLLECTION.
After three collections with Pamela Scott, last year Gail felt it was time for her to do it alone! She had savings and applied for the Micro Finance loan of 25k to help develop her company. In 2022, she launched her own range of bamboo and organic cotton shaping and sculpting leggings, as well as bamboo casual T-shirts.
She had no infrastructure, worked from the guest room, and packed orders on the kitchen table, with the help of her partner William!
The full SENSS (sensible, simple, sustainable) collection sold out in less than 24 hours!
In December 2022 Gail decided to move away from brand collaborations for other boutiques and department stores and started her own online boutique, sourcing and selling product and brands she had worked with in the past.
This successful move has also helped finance the development and design of her own brand, SENSS, and she is engaged with global manufacturing and marketing consultants who provide the support and security that gave Gail the confidence to go big, and grow her fashion brand in the direction she always wanted.
The Gail Collection Boutique aims to ‘keep it simple’, with classic staples that are flattering and timeless, while keeping all body shapes in mind and incorporating key seasonal colours and styles.
The wannabe Irish designer has seen her dreams come true. Gail Doyle’s focus never went ‘off the rails’ and her business plan is now very much back on track with The Gail Collection!