help IDing vintage fisherman sweater
Saw this sweater in an article and loved it. Is this like a donegal fisherman knit? In the article it just said "vintage fisherman sweater".
Any idea which brands make stuff like this? New or vintage is fine. I tried Google Lens but didn't get great results.
8 Replies
That’s a beautiful one! I actually prefer the speckled Aran sweaters over the uniform coloured ones!
There are several ones that make/ used to make Aran sweaters. John Molloy / Kinvara / Aran Sweater Market are some of the companies that come to my mind.
Forgot Aran Crafts, too!
Original Guernsey sweaters are really nice too, and can look quite similar to the Aran Fisherman Sweater (Le Tricoteur or Guernsey Woolens Ltd are two companies that make them)
Carraig Donn is another maker of Aran sweaters (I think they renamed to Aran Crafts or Aran Sweater Market at some point?)
Very expensive, but completely legit is Inis Meain knitting co, they're located on the Aran Island Inis Meain and make luxury high quality knits inspired by traditional aran knits of the island they're located on.
This seller on Ebay has tons of vintage Aran sweaters: https://www.ebay.de/str/rerunvintage
eBay
Re Run Store | eBay Shops
Here at Re-Run Vintage we sell top quality sourced vintage clothing from around the world. All items listed are sustainably sourced & quality checked prior to being sold. As per eBay s trading terms, customer return/refunds are offered.
Aran sweater market it high production lower quality, but has a flagship on inis mor and a storefront in galway, and for the price on sale they're awesome seaters. Their handknit clan sweaters are really nice, I'd recommend taking a browse through those (the knit patterns being clan specific is just marketing)
Molloy knitting is in county Donegal, and also does some really nice handknit sweaters, but they wouldn't be aran sweaters because they aren't from the islands. Still 100% Irish, though, and pretty nice
But if you have YOLO $$ to drop on something like this, I'd go with Inis Meain knitting co, they are by far the best knitwear makers in ireland and they're actually on one of the aran islands, so buying from them directly supports Inis Meain's people and economy
Aran Sweaters are not a protected geographical trademark though, which is why John Molloy can also call their sweaters original Aran sweaters.
Huge ty for the pointers
That's very true, it's just something to keep in mind. I don't know how much the op cares or doesn't, but it's good info in know imo
Gaeltarra is another maker of Aran sweaters! They seem to pop up on Ebay quite regularly too!