Where to shop for wool sweaters

We were advised to definitely go to Aran which we did, bought four sweaters for our family members. All the sweaters are still in perfect condition many years later.

Look in Duty-Free Shop at the Airports. I think that you can only make purchases when you are leaving the country. I'm guessing they might have some sweaters there. If not, they are missing a bet. You could maybe make an inquiry.

My favorite shop in Dublin is Cleo Handknits & Weaves, 18 Kildare Street, for both traditional sweaters and unusual finds.

I really loved Weavers of Ireland in Dublin. I bought a beautiful scarf that they weren't giving away. The shop was really nice. Though they do have multiple locations in Ireland, so it's not an independent shop.

My son bought a sweater on Aran while on a study abroad program. That summer was near 80 degrees. It was too hot to wear while he was in Ireland, and we live in So Cal so that beautiful sweater has never been worn.

I bought my authentic Aran irish wool sweater in the airport on the day we were leaving in May of 2023. It was on sale and very reasonably priced

My wife bought several sweaters on Inishmor, right at the harbor. Most were gifts but she's worn hers for six years and is constantly complemented. She can't remember the price, but I thought it was surprisingly inexpensive at the time.

Thanks all for the input. Of course I would love to go to Aran or closer to it, but as I stated I only have the options to shop in Dublin or Ennis. And I do understand the difference between a €100 Irish sweater, and a €500 handmade one.

On the budget side, look at Aran Sweater Market. I haven’t gone there yet but found the website in my research for Killarney in July. They have a store in Dublin. https://www.aran.com/aran-sweater-market-dublin

I was in Ennis last October. I went into The Woolen Market Shop in Ennis. I could not have been more pleased. I bought a sweater and cap there as a gift. For 10€ they sent it to my home in the US. It arrived in a week. Their quality is excellent and their prices are quite fair. The also have quite a selection. Well worth the stop in their shop when in Ennis.

I'm not a sweater/(jumper?) person; but someone at one of the stores explained the price/quality curve for me. Of lowest quality are the sweaters that look authentic but are made of man-made materials. Next higher are lower quality grades of wool, possibly not locally sourced. Next higher are locally sourced woolen sweaters that are made on loom. Finally, the highest cost are local wool and hand-knitted. These last ones were hard to find but were just were too expensive for my economic sensibilities. I got the beloved spouse a authentic irish pattern made on a loom using locally sourced, high-quality wool. It still cost a pretty penny.

Now you want to look into something called "mulesing." This is evidently an inhumane practice used by shepherds to eliminate parasites. Try to purchase from "mulesing-free" providers.

By the way; everything I said about Irish sweaters applied when I was looking at Norwegian sweaters in Oslo and Bergen this past summer.

I acknowledge this is slightly off topic as they don't do jumpers, but I think McNutt make some of the nicest scarves, shawls, etc in Ireland, if that's also of interest. They're based in Donegal but you can also order them online: https://www.mcnuttofdonegal.com/

We also went to the Woolen market in Ennis and were pleased with our purchases in Aug last year. They did ship everything to our house & because they were out of the size of an item we wanted they shipped everything at no charge.

I have since ordered scarves for friends since we got home & happy with the items. I don’t know what is a reasonable price? We paid over $100 for each sweater and they seemed good quality.