Inis Meáin is one of those brands which is an absolute expert in its field, the most remote luxury brand in the world.

It creates understated, best-in-class knitwear in muted colours and tones that can work for any man. It’s the sort of product you end up having for years and is far removed from seasonal trends. It’s definitely a brand that chimes with the emerging slower approach to fashion our customers appreciate.

A stylish knitwear boutique based where its heritage-rich clothes are made - the Aran Islands.

It’s a far-flung spot for a spending spree, but this knitwear boutique on Inis Meáin, one of the three Aran Islands at the mouth of Galway Bay in Ireland, is in a league of its own, being the most westerly and remote shopping destination in Europe.

Photography & Syling by Damian Foxe

Inis Meáin take bits and pieces of their very culture and weaves them into their knitwear

Tom Stubbs

Newish lines were impressive especially Inis Meain, with its inventive Donegal sweaters.

POP quiz: who’s more stylish, Usher or Cuba Gooding Jr.?

Only Barneys New York holds the answers to such esoterica. It’s the level playing field of fashion, appealing to magnates and celebrities and tourists alike, a brand that, for all its overreaching of recent years, remains remarkably durable.

We want pilgrims to come here, not tourists.

Local tradition kept alive by Tarlach de Blacam

“Customers today don’t just want to try on a garment,” Tarlach continues.

“They want to know exactly where it’s from, why it’s been made the way it has, and that’s maybe the most important thing for us to capture in the knitwear ... an attitude to life.”

Island luxe - Island life and workwear provide the inspiration for a sophisticated range of knitwear

"Sports coats for men are dead and jackets are making a huge come back"

... so says Tarlach de Blacam of Inis Meáin knitwear, the Irish island company described by designer retailer Mr Porter as the “world’s most remote fashion label”.

“As men’s dress gets more casual, but elegantly casual, it’s all about knitted jackets,” adds de Blacam, a view echoed by leading Italian menswear designer Maurizio Bal-dassari.

There is a big story to tell about Aran knitwear that is a lot more than the highly decorated sweater.

Now an international business selling to the likes of Anderson and Sheppard in London's Savile Row, Hollington in Paris and online via matchfashion.com, Tarlach de Blacam and his wife Áine continue to work on new collections every season, sifting through yarn supplies from places as disparate as Italy and South America.

"What we are looking for in the yarns, the styles, colours and quality is very much based on the idea of incorporating a little bit of heritage and tradition into our pieces," says De Blacam.

The 5 warmest sweaters a stylish guy can wear right now.

Inis Meáin is the kind of brand that can’t help but warm your heart, figuratively as well as literally.

The company is an Irish manufacturer specialising in handmade Aran sweaters that are inspired by tradition but not in awe of it.

Try the Trellis Cable Turtleneck or one of the exclusive Donegal Merino Wool and Cashmere Sweaters, and I guarantee you’ll fall in love with it.

The Inis Meáin Knitting Company designs these beautiful sweaters with beautiful colours, which they sell to shops all over the world, all from that little island where they design and make the whole thing themselves.

It’s quite incredible. The design of the factory and the materials they use are of the highest level. There’s nothing about it that’s stereotypical, yet it’s of its place, and it’s also completely modern. I came back with a lot of shopping bags, and so did my wife. I will go back to the islands again

Martin Hayes | The Irish Times

On a tiny Island, knitwear company Inis Meáin is making clothes with a global appeal.

The stark and tussocky Inis Meáin island lurks in the mouth of the Galway Bay in Ireland.

Remote from an already remote western coastline, the resourceful islanders have used their spare time over the centuries to elevate cable knitting to an art form with an intricacy unmatched anywhere else.

Today the islands have their own indigenous label, Inis Meáin, which sells its luxurious wares for top dollar at far flung locations like Bergdorf Goodman in New York.

What keeps any legacy alive is the people who continue to practice it.

One venture to preserve and promote Irish knitwear is Inis Meáin, a brand based on the island of the same name, on the west coast of Ireland.

While committed to sustaining the manufacturing history of the island, and continuing to learn from the people who represent the history of their craft, the owners Tarlach de Blácam and Áine Ní Chonghaile brought new fibres into the mix. Merino sheep, which provide the best wool, have comparatively little meat, and so historically, sheep-farming communities that wanted to farm for meat and milk have tended to compromise on their textiles.

Dispensing with the brush-stiff, scratchy wools of old, Inis Meáin turned to merino, cashmere and alpaca to knit old designs in more modern, luxurious fibres. The result is a more refined fisherman’s jumper, equally at home with jeans or tailored flannel trousers.

For knitwear, I can't recommend Inis Meáin Knitting enough. Worn by the local Irish fishermen since 1976, it is both an artisanal work of art and functional body armour all rolled into one. Land lubbers, you need this in your life!

An international beacon of knitted design and simple luxury.

The Inis Meáin Knitting Company sits perched near the edge of Europe, 30-miles from Ireland’s Westernmost shores and on the middling of the three Aran Islands, 4-by-2 mile Inis Meáin.

Warm-wearing against the wind and sea, Inis Meáin Knitting’s wares are mixed with silk, cashmere, alpaca wool and linen, sourced from mills across Europe and South America – imbued with further odes to a lifetime of simple, rural luxury.