As foreclosure projects move forward, the launch of a new range of adventure clothing to international markets from West Cork is quite impressive.

And that’s exactly what Cork-based fashion photographer Miki Barlok spent two years doing, taking inspiration from the West Cork wilderness to create a new line of clothing under the Gnarly Peaks brand.

Miki has now launched her new clothing line, selling online in time for Christmas, and plans to have her brand in stores in Ireland, Canada and her native Slovakia by mid-2022.

Miki, who came to Cork City “for just a few months” 15 years ago and is now married to a woman from Leeside, divides her time between Bantry and the city and has worked for a range of beauty and fashion brands Irish and international, including Brown Thomas, Armani, Calvin Klein, Chanel and Lancôme.

However, passionate about mountain biking, mountaineering and hiking since childhood, Miki has long dreamed of having his own fashion label.

And that dream has just come true with the launch of Gnarly Peaks, a range of high performance, water and weather resistant adventure clothing inspired by the rugged landscape of West Cork.

Miki also had the perfect location for the brand’s launch video and footage: the mountains above Glengarriff on the Beara Peninsula.

“We were very lucky to have a private track at a local farm that was created during the lockdown,” Miki told CorkBeo.

“Some guys got bored during the lockdown and managed to climb the mountain, like you!”

Miki says it took him two years to bring his brand to market, with many delays caused by Covid-19 as he worked day and night to find the kind of quality and durability needed to cope with the conditions the most difficult.

He is proud to be able to run the company from Bantry, although he is regularly in Cork and Dublin for fashion shoots and hopes to resume traveling abroad more regularly in 2022.

Due to the pandemic, Miki had to learn how to draw and sew his own patterns and designs, working prototypes himself on the kitchen table before launching the search for manufacturers.

There is already a basic Gnarly Peaks collection with jackets, pants, beanies and more.

Miki and the team are now working hard to expand the Gnarly Peaks collection with mountain bike specific clothing, expedition level jackets, softshell layers and functional base layers.

You can find out more on their website (just click the link above) – or follow them on Instagram – @gnarlypeaks for much more spectacular scenery of West Cork.