Shopping in Ireland

[changy]

Hey guys,

I'm heading to Ireland in a few weeks. Dublin, Galway and Donegal are on the itinerary. Can some one recommend good places that I should check out for tweed? I've seen John Molly being mentioned in the past. Any other noteworthy purveyors?

Thanks,

 

[lefty]

Inis Meain

lefty

 

[jawboneofa]

If you're heading to Galway and can spare a day, I highly recommend heading out to the Aran Islands. It's not for tweed, but on Inis Meain is THE Aran sweater factory. It's also the most desolate of the three islands and there isn't much else to do there (besides go to a small pub and get stared at and talked about in Irish by the locals), but it's a neat experience to visit the factory and the showroom. They have lots of knitwear, not just sweaters.

 

[jawboneofa]

Lefty, you beat me to it...

 

[cptjeff]

The Aran Sweater Factory has a nice selection, and you should visit the aran islands, but the absolute best are at O'Maille. You could be talking 3x the price of the other hand knits, but they're stunning sweaters. The owners put a lot of effort into buying from the absolute best knitters, as well as helping ensure that younger knitters are trained (most are old women, if you visit the islands you'll see them sitting around chatting in shops and whatnot as they knit). When I was there this summer, the owner showed me a sweater knit by, in her words, one of the best knitters ever. The tiny little details on that thing were just stunning- the ribbing at the bottom had alternating designs of cable knit, a feature that was described to me as, "just showing off". And it was the thickest and densest sweater I have ever held. Encounter one of those things, and you'll never look at a 'heavy' sweater the same again.


They also did the wardrobes for The Quiet Man, back when that was filmed in the area, and have stuff like tweed jackets and other traditionally irish clothing. Certainly worth a stop.

 

[changy]

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately I dont have enough time to go to the Aran Islands, but will definitely check out O'Maille.

 

[NotoriousMarquis]

Kevin and Howlin near trinity college