Former X Factor judge Louis Walsh is making a music comeback with a new boy band who he is tipping for the top.
The star is managing Next In Line after selecting them from around 2,000 auditions last year.
The group performed at the grand final of fashion competition Junk Kouture last week, where Louis has been a judge for more than five years.
It came as an Irish duo Joshua Osabuehien and Solomon Eduard were crowned the first-ever World Sustainable Designer of the Year with their design Back to the Future, at the event.
Walsh said he was determined to ensure his boy band go all the way.
He added: “I want to get a really good producer and a really good songwriter that suits their sound and create a new show.
“Obviously, pop music, but their own type of sound, and I want the boys to be involved in everything - the writing and the playing, the singing, the whole lot. That’s why we haven’t rushed anything.
“I want to go to a record company, ready finished with like, five or six hits.
“It’s so different than years ago, I want to present everything to them.”
He said the band are influenced by singers such as Harry Styles and Billie Eilish and pop-rock band The 1975, but are not like Westlife or Boyzone.
Walsh said he was invited to have the band perform at Junk Kouture after the organisers saw pictures of the group.
The contest sees creative high school pupils recycle materials to create haute couture designs, and has now drawn international entries.
Walsh said: “It’s a very interesting thing because it’s all young kids, making these amazing clothes out of junk.
“It’s quite incredible when you see it, the work that goes into it, and I think it could be a global thing.”
Junk Kouture said it has recruited 100,000 teenagers to date and saved 40,000kg of waste from landfill.
This year contestants have used trampolines, plastic sanitary wrappers, mannequin busts, ATM receipts and moss to make clothes, and Walsh said the Irish contenders have a strong chance of success.
He said for a “small island, there’s an awful lot of talent here, in fashion and in music, or in the arts generally”.
