The Ultimate Irish Sweater

For the past ten years or so, I've been doing tours of Ireland. They have since become one of my favorite and most popular trips. It began with several days in Dublin, between travels I was leading for a client to Norway and then Iceland. Soon enough, my tours began to form a bit of a triangle between Dublin, Cork, and County Kerry, before expanding up to Belfast and out to Galway. I started out with what I knew I wanted to see, and as I began to learn more, I wanted to see more. My fascination and resulting knowledge base has grown exponentially from that first trip to Dublin. When someone mentions Ireland, to me it has become a great deal more than shamrocks, leprechauns, and "St. Paddy's Day." Places like the GPO, Kilmainham Gaol, and Glasnevin replaced the touristy pubs of Temple Bar for a proper Dublin experience. And famous locations like the Cliffs of Moher, the Ring of Kerry, and Killarney were quickly balanced out by the gems of Kenmare, the Burren, and the Ring of Beara.

I fell in love with the Irish when I was a boy attending St. John's International School in Waterloo, Belgium. The school was staffed by several Irish nuns, but most importantly, my favorite teacher of my formative years was from Dublin. Patrick Tobin taught language arts and history to the fifth and sixth grades, and I had him for both years. He brought history to life in the most vivid and electric manner and quickly turned it into my favorite subject. He made me fall in love with the English language: with writing, reading, and poetry. And as I've told many an Irish person, he turned his students into disciples of Ireland with his trademark Irish mannerisms, wit, and sarcasm.

He also exhibited another trait that I have found rather special to Irish men: dress. Of all of the English speaking people I have encountered, the Irish have a flair for style. My teacher never failed to waltz into the school each day with a smart looking tweed suit jacket, a spiffy scarf around his neck, matched by his broad, reddish brown mustache and twinkle in his eye... All of the girls were in love with him - and all of us boys wanted to grow up to be just like him.

As I've travel all over Ireland with my groups to its many historic and scenic locations, there will be locations that have become wildly popular with big tour groups and their unmistakable herds of huge tour buses - and where they go, there you will find Irish goods for sale... namely clothing.

Of all of the Irish clothing that is sold, the most recognizable and popular of them all are the flat caps and a preponderance of sweaters...

Turns out that sweaters originated in Ireland and Scotland in the early 19th Century, as fishermen wore them to keep warm on the cold, windy waters of the North Atlantic. They have rapidly become part of everyday Western dress - and far beyond. When it comes to modern Irish sweaters, there are many regions that make them, few more famous than the Aran Islands. There are many different colors, lengths, and styles to what began as a garment of important utility to the men in their boats. Different makers are known for different weave patterns, and many are quite elaborate.

But at one location in my early travels, I found a sweater style that eclipsed them all. It was rugged looking, simple, and the perfect throwback, in my mind, to the original, manly style. I discovered this style of sweater and its maker at a little gift shop at the foot of the Rock of Cashel, a gorgeous cluster of ruins that is considered the home to the early Irish kings and is found just off the motorway between Dublin and Cork.

I began looking for this sweater in other shops at other locations, but to no avail. So after realizing that I may have stumbled onto a unique little gem of Ireland, I finally looked up them up on Google - though it took me a few years to decipher the letters on the label and know what name I was looking for.

Rossan Knitwear. I found it way up on the northwest coast of Ireland, off the path of every tour I had done. But I resolved to go to this little family run factory as soon as it was possible. It took about five years to finally work it into a tour, and finally, last fall, I took a great little band of travelers to see it firsthand.

It is located near what is claimed to be the highest sea cliffs in Europe, the Slieve League Cliffs. Photos just don't do it justice...

Rossan got its start back in 1970, when a family acquired a knitting machine and began doing contract work from a small room next door to their farm. In the early 1980s, at a very young age, two brothers John and Michael McNelis and their two sisters Pauline and Sarah, under the watchful eye of their Mother Mary decided to set up their own business. They have never attained the status or economic engine of Aran, but I rather love that. I've always enjoyed finding random t-shirts and clothing that are unique, and Rossan fits the bill perfectly.

When I arrived at the store with my group, I was genuinely excited like an eager kid to go inside, and I told the person at the register how I discovered their sweaters - and how this visit was a bit of a pilgrimage for me! And to my surprise and delight, she insisted on giving us a factory tour (but please forgive me for not knowing all of the many terms for the weaving process and sweater production!)

The Store - (click on the photograph to be taken to their official website).

My group loved the place - as well as this wonderful family who welcomed us in and showed us the entire process for sweater making - something you'd never experience at the many gift shops around Ireland.

I have resolved to work this into all future tours, for obvious reasons.

And while I live in the very hot and steamy city of New Orleans, I always welcome cold weather when we get it, like last year's epic snowfall - and I always take one of my Rossan sweaters when I head off to the Alps each year for my annual Christmas Market tours... I highly recommend you adding this to your own Ireland travel plans - or better yet, just join in on one of mine one of these years!

My collection, which began, of course, with the green sweater in front.