Our History
Welcome to our Aran Islands Knitwear website and thank you for taking the time to read about the history of our business.
We are extremely proud to be an Irish family run business, now in its third generation, selling quality Irish knitwear and gifts. We are thankful to our grandfather who started this business in 1938 and passed his knowledge, commitment and love of the business to our mother. Our parents, as well as rearing four children, strived to set up their own businesses along the Wild Atlantic Way in Connemara, on the Aran Islands, in the heart of Galway City and in Cong Co. Mayo. Their honesty, hard work and love of Irish Craftsmanship is what has led us to have such a wide network of suppliers and friends who provide our stores with handknitted and hand loomed Aran Sweaters and cardigans, Connemara socks, woollen hats, gloves, woven and knitted blankets and throws, sheepskin rugs and children’s wear. Our goods are of the highest quality, made from the best quality yarns, tweeds, lambswool, merino wool and Aran wool. Our customers can choose from a wide variety of warm, cosy, soft, luxurious, lightweight, heavy, oversized or fitted styles and we are always happy to give advice to our customers when choosing a look.
We continue our grandfather’s legacy and our parent’s ethos here at Aran Islands Knitwear by supplying genuine, traditional, handcrafted knitwear steeped in Irish heritage. If you pop into one of our stores in Inis Mór (Aran Islands), in the heart of Galway City (close to the famous Claddagh) or in Cong, Co. Mayo, (home of the Quiet Man) then we would be delighted to meet with you, have a chat and help you to find your perfect Irish product to take home with you. As it is a family run business you will be sure to meet with one of us or even with our parents who fail to retire. You may even be lucky enough to meet the next generation...our children often come to visit us at work and seem to have inherited our love of the business but are still too young to reach the counter!! We have returning customers from the U.S.A, Canada, Australia, New Zealand the United Kingdom and of course Europe. We feel that this is a testimony to our loyal, friendly, knowledgeable staff who always have time to speak with you. Please feel free to tell them what a wonderful job they are doing, otherwise feel free to drop us a line to info@aranislandsknitwear.com with any feedback, questions or queries that you may have.
We thank you for your support.
Kind Regards,
The ‘Mac Eochagáins’.