Liz grew up in Dublin, and she lives with her two children, Hannah (18) and Sam (16), and long-term partner, Paul. Carolyn, who is originally from Tullamore, is married to Sean, and has three children, Lily (14), and twins, Jack and Harry (12).

Carolyn on Liz What I remember about Liz in college was that she was very precise and particular, and had very definite notions about what she wanted to do with her designs. She hasn't really changed in that regard. Liz was one of the more creative people in the class, and she was always very focused. We weren't as friendly with each other then as we became later, because Liz was from Dublin and she had her own social life and friends. I was up from the country and only finding my feet, and I went home a lot at weekends.

When we left college, I was having a lot of fun with my shop, while Liz was doing the 95 routine. When the lease was up on my shop, we decided to team up and opened Ritzy on Trinity Street. We get on very well together, and our relationship is like all partnerships . . . we have to work at it and it's just like a marriage really. We're off to Milan and Paris for the next two weeks looking at fabrics for summer 2007. It's very intense, and some people just stay at their hotels in the evenings and eat there. Liz and I both love cooking and food, and we try to find the nicest, coolest places to eat out every night.

We stay right in the heart of the cities and get involved in them.

Liz is a great friend . . . she's very loyal and has a great sense of humour. She's very determined, sometimes to her detriment . . .

she'll go through a brick wall to get what she wants, and sometimes you wish she'd stop at the first hurdle. Liz enjoys life to the full, but she's the worst time-keeper in the world. When we're travelling, I'm usually a bit nervous and I'm always there on time.

She messes up the plans because she comes ambling along, perfectly relaxed . . . there have been times when she has even come out to the plane with the pilot in his little buggy!

We've just come out of a period of two months of really hard, intense slog, and it was fire and brimstone at times. At the end of the day, the objective for us is to get a collection on the rails that's as fabulous as we can make it, and we both keep that in mind. We have a practical approach to working together. There are two designers involved and two creative brains, even though there are times when we disagree with one another. We let each other have some leeway to do our own thing, and we both know what will end up on the rail in the end and what will sell.

Liz on Carolyn Carolyn and I were about 19 when we first met and I instantly took to her. I was very interested in her design ideas, and she stood out as being a very hard worker and being very into the course. We were quite risque and radical in our fashion ideas back then, but over the years, we've become more commercial in our fabric choice and everything else, because we have to sell our garments. Carolyn was always great fun, but yet very serious in relation to her career.

After college, I got a job in the trade and Carolyn started a little shop in Harcourt Street. I was very envious of her having her own shop, and I started making some clothes for her. Eventually, we joined forces and we opened our own shop, Ritzy. We were there for eight years and it was a fantastic experience, because we both ate, drank, and slept fashion. We got on very well and worked very hard, and we were known for producing very avant-garde, brightly-coloured garments.

We pretty much run all aspects of the business together, which makes us very interchangeable, although Carolyn would have more of a flair for knitwear than me.

We buy all the fabric, design the collection, and dish out the chores together. We're very much in sync with our ideas, although on occasion, we would each have ideas that the other wouldn't like, but we agree to differ. If it looks good within the collection it stays, and we give and take. The label is what has to win at the end of the day, not us personally. It doesn't matter if it's my design or Carolyn's that's getting all of the praise, because it's been mine and been hers at various stages, given that we've had so many seasons together.

Carolyn and I spend so much time together during the working week, we don't socialise together much at the weekends.

We are with each other in the same room, all day every day, and we both have families.

It was fantastic when we were both having our children, because we didn't have them at the same time and were able to cover for each other when the babies were very young.

We have been working together for almost 25 years now, and obviously we've had our disagreements and arguments. It isn't always easy because the rag trade is a very stressful business, and the deadlines are tremendous. Carolyn is always very loyal and extremely hard-working, and she's very tolerant and kind. We can have a good old laugh together. There's a very happy atmosphere in our workroom, even during the frantically busy times. Even if something turns out disastrously, everyone will just roll around laughing. It's not the end of the world . . . we'll both bounce back and try something else.