Greg O'Shea on launching a sustainable clothing line

Love it, hate it - or really love to hate it - reality TV show Love Island has become a pop culture sensation over the past number of years, with viewers across Ireland and the U.K tuning in six nights a week every summer to watch a group of twenty-somethings scramble to find their one true love... and a £50,000 cash prize.

This year's villa welcomed three Irish contestants - Dublin woman Yewande Biala, Longford woman Maura Higgins and Limerick man Greg O'Shea - and all three knocked it out the park, providing endless entertainment, fashion inspiration and water-cooler moments during their time on the show.

In the end, after just two weeks of looking for love, it was rugby player Greg who was voted Love Island 2019 Champion alongside fellow Islander Amber Gill, earning them both a cash prize, new-found fame and an onslaught of career opportunities.

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Since leaving the island, the 24-year-old has made the most of his celebrity status by grabbing hold of every opportunity that comes his way. It seems that the Limerick man is astutely aware that nothing will be promised to him once the next batch of Islanders enter the villa, and now is the time to make hay.

From training with the Irish rugby sevens team in the hopes of making it to next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo to putting his career as a solicitor on hold to explore life in the media, Greg O'Shea seems to have a finger in every pie.

"It is mad, I'm not going to lie," he told RTÉ Lifestyle. "Everything is a bit crazy at the moment and I'm not getting much sleep but I'm young and you have to work while you're young and get on all these opportunities.

"There's going to be new islanders at Christmas time [on Australia's Love Island ] and I don't know if there will be any Irish contestant - I hope there will be - and next summer as well [on the UK's Love Island]."

Every weekday morning on RTÉ 2FM, you can hear the charming vocals of the amateur presenter as he temporarily joins Doireann Garrihy on the airwaves while Eoghan McDermott flies to Fiji to narrate Australia's Love Island.

"I never in a million years thought I'd be on a TV show and now a radio show, it's crazy. I feel very lucky that RTÉ have backed me and put me straight in as a super-sub for Eoghan McDermott and I don't know if I'm getting on alright but I'm sure the public will let me know," he laughed.

"Doireann is great," he continued. "I just want to learn from her and who knows what will happen afterward. Eoghan is coming back in about eight weeks after that but, hopefully, I might get another gig here and there."

Long term, if Greg's venture into YouTube videos (he has a series called A Day with O'Shea), radio broadcasting, reality TV show appearances and fashion (more on that later) doesn't work out, he plans to become a solicitor - as you do.

"Long term, I hope to qualify as a solicitor. I'm supposed to be doing the FE-1s [Final Examination] next month but with everything that's going on, I haven't put enough time and study into it and you have to give the FE-1s the respect they deserve so I'll probably push them out to March or next October.

"That's the long term plan but, at the moment, I want to capitalise on everything and RTÉ is a great place to work."

Greg is so serious about his career goals, in fact, that he has put his romantic life on pause for the first time in all of his 24 years.

"I don't have any romantic interests at the moment, this is probably the first time since I was about 13 or 14 that I literally don't have any romantic interests at all in my life so that's a new area for me as well. It's all great, definitely a juncture in my life and there are exciting times ahead."

He continued: "The big goal for me this year is to get to the Olympics with my sevens team, that will be huge. Since I was a little fella... any athlete out there [knows], the Olympics is the pinnacle of sport so that's the big one for me."

Not one to do things by half measures, the stylish Islander is also working on a venture into the fashion world but, unlike his fellow contestants who have landed collaborations with big online brands such as Boohoo, ASOS and Pretty Little Thing, Greg is looking into creating his own, sustainable, clothing brand.

"I'm not too sure if I want to commit to a brand right now because I'm also starting a clothing brand with one of my best mates so we're trying to get that up and running. It's called Too Politically Correct."

The sustainable clothing line uses organic cotton and recycled polyester and says that it has put a service in place to help reduce waste with regards to unpopular sizes.

According to the website, the clothing manufacturer is part of the Fair Wear Foundation, an organisation that supports workers in realising their rights to safe, dignified and properly paid employment.

"It was crucial for us not to overlook the people who are making our brand a reality, without them, there would be no TPC, so it is important that they receive a fair wage for their hard work."

Watch the video at the top of the page to find out how Greg unwinds every evening, his ideal first date activity, and his latest venture into fashion...

Greg O'Shea on launching a sustainable clothing line

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