Irish sweater ()

Buying an Aran sweater in Ireland is an experience at the top of many tourist lists. These all-wool cable-knit jumpers are warm, snuggly and stylish: perfect for the damp, chilly climate of the northern isles. But there is a misconception about their origin.

Myth: Aran sweater patterns indicate ‘clan’ affiliations, religious or auspicious meanings, ancient Celtic symbolism or family heritage.

It is often said that wives (or fiancées) from the fishing villages of the Aran islands in the west of Ireland would traditionally knit their fisherman husbands particular patterns (for any of the above reasons). This was the method by which a body could be identified when it washed ashore after a fishing vessel was lost at sea.

Reality: Ireland has a long history of wool craft, trendsetting and export.

Sheep have provided wool, milk and meat for people living in northern latitudes since prehistory, and the people living in Ireland capitalized on it. Irish wool was a hot commodity by the 1200s, highly valued and exported across Europe. In the 1600s, however, England asserted dominion over Ireland and created laws to prevent the Irish wool industry from competing with their own. This dramatically depressed the Irish economy and led to a vast smuggling operation. After the Great Famine and mass emigration to America in the mid-1800s, weaving was again encouraged as a scheme to alleviate poverty. Industrial, machine-made wool items quickly became a lucrative export in the 1900s, and that continues today.

Sheep grazing in Ireland ()

After Ireland’s independence from England in 1921, the creation of national symbols like a flag and currency also included other emblems that harkened back to an undefined and partially mythological era. The Aran sweater became one of these symbols. Irish-made cable-knit sweaters showed up in pop culture fiction of the time – a film, a play, a shop - based in the Aran islands. Soon Irish wool was synonymous with cable-knit jumpers and the nostalgia for a rural fishing village of a simpler time.

The popularity of Aran sweaters led to a search for meaning in the stylish patterns. A German textile worker who fled the Nazi regime theorized that the motifs were Celtic, and set up shop in Oxford, where ‘historical’ woolens sold well. Other commercial weavers discovered that cable patterns were extremely popular exports, especially when marketed as traditional styles for Americans. The Irish diaspora found a strong foothold in the States, and many Americans of Irish descent longed for a connection with a nostalgic ‘homeland.’ The modern creation of family or clan patterns has become a great selling point.

Variety of sweater patterns ()

In Ireland, wool heritage is strong, and the Aran jumper patterns can be seen to symbolize this past century of national identity. To some Irish people the sweaters are clichéd items for tourists that misrepresent their country as being stuck in time, others simply appreciate the natural warmth and water resistance from a practical piece of wool clothing.

I’ve worn my Aran sweaters on archaeology digs in driving wind and rain up on in the islands of Orkney. Mine have front pockets, which are super useful since I treat them as work clothes. They are not clean. The knit pattern is not symbolic. But they indeed live up to the promise of warmth, durability and comfort, regardless of their origin story.

Irish sweaters make for great archaeology clothes in the northern isles (Kat Nickola)

Reference: Carden, S. (2014) “Cable Crossings: The Aran Jumper as Myth and Merchandise,” Costume, 48(2), pp. 260–275