€33k at Brown Thomas: RTÉ spent over €270k on wardrobe items in 2025
Ken Foxe
RTÉ spent more than €270,000 on wardrobe items last year, with transactions totalling €33,000 from Brown Thomas and almost €13,000 at Louis Copeland.
More specialised items were also purchased, with €135.76 paid to An Garda Síochána, €261 at an outdoor and military clothing retailer, and €434 at Party HQ.
There were bills too of around €1,000 from Hugo Boss and payments totalling just over €5,000 for items from the designer Karen Millen.
Other more thrifty purchases included €77 spent at Oxfam Cork and around €1,900 for products from online marketplace Temu.
Just over €1,200 was spent at the Costume Shop, around €565 at the Fabric Counter and €190 at the Art Hobby Shop.
The largest retailer total was with Arnott’s where transactions came to €45,000, according to records released under FOI.
A breakdown by programme shows that by far the biggest outlay came from the soap Fair City where nearly €43,000 was spent.
Spending of €17,400 was recorded for the Late Late Toy Show and just over €10,000 for the Late Late Show itself.
Also listed was €16,800 in costs from what was categorised as “marketing – creative production” and around €12,250 for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Other sizable bills included €18,000 for RTÉ’s weather services and €13,000 for the Today Show.
RTÉ said the database of costs included a large volume of returns where items were found to be unsuitable for use after purchase.
Overall spending totalled €440,000 but nearly €163,500 worth of items were returned, leaving a final tally of €277,000.
An RTÉ spokesperson said they constantly used and recycled items with wardrobe stock repurposed whenever possible to avoid new purchases.
They said items were carefully cleaned and maintained to remain in use over many years and when no longer required were donated to charity.
Bespoke garments like those used on the Late Late Toy Show were custom-made by the wardrobe department, recycling fabric when possible.
Clothing also needed to be selected for concealing mic packs, in-ear and sound cables and to be suitable when using special effects or visual effects like green screens.
The spokesperson added: “RTÉ requires clothing for a wide variety of projects and programmes across drama, documentaries, entertainment, sport, news and current affairs programming, and more.
“Right across RTÉ's schedules, and throughout the year, there are costs in producing TV programmes and providing costumes and appropriate clothing to host, present and appear in hundreds of hours of programmes every year.
“Audiences rightly expect that RTÉ programmes are high quality and professionally produced, something RTÉ remains committed to delivering, while also ensuring value for money.”
