With the progression of technology, the knitwear manufacturing industry is capable of producing Aran jumpers on a mass scale.  Some of the jumpers look very similar to the real deal, with machines able to knit a range of designs at the rate of millions of stitches per minute.

However it is impossible for machines to make an exact replica of a genuine Aran sweater. Here are just a few ways to spot an authentic Aran jumper.

• machine knit jumpers use finer wool. A genuine Aran sweaters should feel heavier than you expect when you pick them up
• traditional stitches cannot be recreated by machines, therefore only on authentic Aran jumpers are the intricate historical stitches truly visable
• mass produced Aran sweaters loosen with wear. Hand knit or hand loomed Aran jumpers are more tightly knit making them longer lasting
• although in the past Aran sweaters were made from untreated undyed sheep’s wool, these were found to by itchy and uncomfortable. Now it is more common to use treated and dyed pure wool which is tightly twisted and not too soft to the touch. Machine knit jumpers use softer wool which will lose stitch definition over time. This will not happen with real Aran sweate