You can buy a real Aran sweater from any shop that stocks Ireland’s working mills and knitwear houses, and the test of “real” is simple: wool rather than acrylic, knitted in Ireland, with a named maker on the label. We stock Ireland’s Eye and Westend Knitwear in our shop on the West Pier of Howth, alongside Donegal tweed caps from Hatman of Ireland, and we ship all of it worldwide, because unlike our salmon, wool has no customs restrictions at all. This guide covers what makes an Aran genuine, the fisherman-sweater question, and what things cost.
What makes an Aran sweater “real”?
Three things: wool, Irish manufacture, and a maker who puts their name on it. The tourist-trap version is acrylic or a thin wool blend, machine-made abroad, sold on the shamrock rather than the stitchwork. The genuine article is dense, heavy in the hand, and comes from houses that knit as their whole business; ours come from Ireland’s Eye, a Dublin family knitwear company, and Westend Knitwear in Co Mayo. Expect to pay from about €70 for the real thing; a “wool-rich” sweater at half that price is telling you what the other half is.
What is the difference between an Aran and a fisherman sweater?
Nothing; they are two names for the same garment, with “fisherman sweater” the name that travelled abroad and “Aran jumper” the name used at home. While we are at it, the famous story that each island family knitted its own stitch pattern so drowned fishermen could be identified is folklore, not history: knitting historians trace the modern Aran to the 1890s to early 1900s on the Aran Islands, and the family-pattern legend grew out of a J.M. Synge play and some inventive mid-century marketing. The honeycomb, cable and diamond stitches are magnificent craft; they never needed the ghost story.
Which Aran sweater should you buy?
The classic crew neck is the safe buy and ours run €72 to €80: the Fearnóg Aran crew neck (€72, Ireland’s Eye), the Inish Mor crew neck (€80, Westend), and the men’s Aran crew neck (€80). For something less expected there is the Glenross waterfall cardigan (€140), the Aran Craft poncho (€85), and a proper kids’ Aran (€45) for grandchildren being claimed by the homeland.
Where can you buy a Donegal tweed flat cap?
From a Donegal maker, and ours come from Hatman of Ireland: the black Donegal tweed flat cap (€45), the grey patch (€50), and charcoal and green Dubliner styles (€45). Donegal tweed is the flecked wool cloth woven in that county, and the flecks are the point: no two caps read quite the same. At the other end of the wardrobe, the Jimmy Hourihan Donegal tweed cape (€450) is the showpiece.
What about smaller wool gifts?
Under €40 the wool options are strong: the Aran hat (€25), the merino honeycomb scarf (€30), the traditional honeycomb knit scarf (€35), the Patrick Francis Aran knit scarf (€20), and Donegal wool socks (€13). Foxford, the Co Mayo mill we also carry for throws, makes the classic camel merino scarf (€62).
Buying from abroad, or as a gift?
Wool travels where salmon cannot: knitwear ships to the USA, the UK and beyond with no restrictions, which makes an Aran the reliable diaspora gift when a hamper is ruled out by customs. If the gift is for a man and you are undecided, our gifts for men guide puts the knitwear beside the whiskey and the salmon by price band, and every order can carry a handwritten gift message.
Sources
- Aran jumper origins and the family-pattern folklore: Wikipedia, “Aran jumper”, citing knitting historians Richard Rutt, Alice Starmore and Vawn Corrigan
- Product details and prices: our own shop listings, checked in stock 2026-08-05
