THE Sweater Shop - there are six outlets - has rearranged things, shoving the Arans to one side as the tourists dwindled, putting basic lambswools (from £23) in neat rows and arranging the eye catchers, the fabulous knits by Irish designers, in a prominent position.
They can't be missed. A Mary Lavery cotton and linen affair in the Wicklow Street shop confronts the shopper. It has a small skirt and top with a cobwebby back. Demand is for black, maybe dark brown (top £109, skirt £75). It is the first hint that things have changed here.
In fact, they have changed quite a bit but it is still a place to browse. It is somewhat untidy because as fast as they fold, another browser will fling everything around again. That's great, that's the way we like it. Keep on flinging, keep on folding.
But now that they have introduced several top Irish designers, there has to be a sense of style, a semblance of order.
Mary Higgins of the Irish Style label wants her hand knit chenilles in their subtle greens, golds and faded reds (£148) given due respect. And they deserve it. These loose tunics in traditional stitches are fabulous.
And Deirdre Maguire's pure (absolutely pure) alpacas are so beautiful, they would make you weep. The feel, the fall, the splendour. And the price? Never mind that. It's worth £300 odd for the long skirt, the cowl neck sweater tunic and the big shawl collared coat. They come in dark grey or pale cream. Either way, they look drop dead smart. And it will have to be well displayed.
Deirdre Maguire is more than a smooth sophisticate. She can also turn basic Donegal flecked tweedy wool into a jumper with a difference by adding bits of chenille and silk so it becomes very designerish indeed.
It takes Cait Conlon and Foxglove to do something smart with a heavy knit, which could simply be boring. Conlon's big number is sparsely patterned with little fish, mere minnows but nicely done, on an oatmeal background. That would be nice to wear (£99). It is the detail that counts and little fishy detail adds a lot.
The introduction of the designer names, among them LynMar and Joan Millar, has certainly brought extra interest to the Sweater Shops. Now instead of the intended lambswool polo neck jumper, it could just be a chenille tunic in mistletoe green, a little swinger, an absolute sweetie.
They are at the front. They will stop you dead. You can't miss them. Funny how a lambswool polo suddenly loses its charm.