*The footage shown here has no audio.
A Gaeltacht village shop is bringing Aran knitwear to consumers across the country and attracting tourists.
‘Broadsheet’ visits Standun Gaillimh Teo, a shop on the outskirts of An Spidéal in County Galway, famous for its Aran sweaters and knitwear.
Standun, established in 1946 by May and Máirtín Standún in An Spidéal in the Connemara Gaeltacht, quickly became synonymous with Aran knitware, attracting customers from all over Ireland.
To meet the needs of its client base, Standun has over 500 home knitters on their books. These knitters produce a wide range of Aran knitwear with its distinctive patters using cable, moss and trinity stitches. Aran knits are made from báinín wool, which is an uncoloured yarn containing natural sheep lanolin.
Knitted items are collected from the home knitters around the country and brought to the shop in An Spidéal where there is a finishing factory for Aran sweaters. Here employees add finishing touches to the garments which are graded, sized and packaged.
The finished items are given an official Standun label. On one side is written;
This garment was knitted by me in my cottage in the West of Ireland.
The label is personally signed by the person who knitted it, in this instance a woman named Ann Costello.
Outside the shop a number of people gather, each wearing examples of Aran knitware.
This episode of ‘Broadsheet’ was broadcast on 22 February 1963.
‘Broadsheet’ was a magazine programme which went out on weekday evenings during the 1960s.
Credit to : CR’s Video Vaults
