Some people believe that the Aran Sweaters you see in fashion at the monet have their origins deeply set in the past. A lot of that depends on your point of view. If you think 130 years is a long time ago then, yes they are very old but the myth around them seems to state that they are even older than that. Sadly this is not the case.
The reason that the Aran Sweaters are considered older than they are is because, in part, the cable stitching that is on the sweater looks like the Celtic knot and the designs that harken back hundreds of years. This is just an affectation that the orgonall knitters put into the designs. It’s only natural that they would “go with what they know” and want to put their own style on the pieces. You can still see this on the designs from Shamrock Gift on their Aran Sweaters.
The design comes from the island of Guernsey where it does date back several hundred years. The way to make them was introduced to the Aran islands by a Government board in 1891. This means that the sweater has not been with us for that long. There were two reasons for bringing the sweaters to the Aran Islands. The first thought was to help them build an industry and items to trade. The second was that the design and the wool would help to protect the men out fishing and farming.