Aran Islands

That is my plan when I'm in Ireland. Also, Blarney Woolen Mills (Bunratty and next to Blarney Stone) is another good place to purchase sweaters and Irish crafts. There was multiple warnings to purchase sweaters from Aran Island shop in cash, something about charging double on card. FYI

We didn't plan to buy one while we were there, but while walking back down the hill from one of our tour stops (may have been Dun Aengus but I forget) we happened to walk by a cottage where a nice local lady was sitting on her porch knitting them. Walked over to say hello and wound up chatting with her for about 20 minutes (my wife is a knitter too). After a very pleasant interlude we broke down and bought a couple from her. I have no idea whether we scored a great price or not, but the experience of buying the sweaters directly from the person who was making them was one of the highlights of our trip...and makes for a great memory every time we wear them.

www.aransweatermarket.com

www.blarney.com

If you want to browse.

You can buy Aran sweaters all over Ireland, as well as online. I can't wear them myself because, even though it gets cold here in the winter, they are just too hot for me. We have purchased from Aran Sweater Market online, also.

We bought several sweaters at the Aran Island Sweater Market on Inishmore last September and found the selection to be quite impressive--better than the Blarney Woolen Mills in Bunratty as I remember. They also offered free shipping for purchases over a certain amount (I think it was $100) which is great if luggage space is at a premium, but be aware that you may receive a customs duty bill from DHL after you get home. One other point to make about the sweaters--there is much discussion on line about hand vs machine knit sweaters. The former are naturally quite a bit more expensive and not as east to find. We found some in a small room in the back of the gift shop at the base of Dun Aenghus but we opted for the machine made variety at the Sweater Market and are quite happy with them. Some folks have complained that a lot of the machine knit sweaters available throughout Ireland are not actually not made there anymore, but the ones we purchased all say Made in Ireland on the tag.

Thanks all for your replies

We went today and there is a small little shop on Inishmore that has a nice but limited selection. There is a sweater/wool shop in Galway near Shop St. that has a great selection at decent prices.

We also bought sweaters for us and our friends when we were at the Aran Island Sweater Market back in October 2015. We were on a holiday in Ireland with my wife and 2 sons and we all got a sweater from a different Irish clan which was superb. I think the sweaters had moderate prices as after all they are specific for this region and are a trademark.