A month ago time magazine, not a publication usually noted for its interest in sartorial matters, ran an eight page report on new fabric technology and its impact on fashion. "Nowadays," the piece asserted, "a seriously stylish woman may be wearing nylon or viscose, or - get ready - it might be Olefin, a paper like fabric also used to make Federal Express envelopes." Such a development ought not to make much of a difference to traditional Irish style, which is really outside the vagaries of fashion and occupies its own seemingly timeless place in the international clothing market.

But no sector of the industry has been untouched by the fact that in the West we dress very differently from the way we used to do earlier this century. In particular, we wear fewer and lighter clothes. Fabric technology for the past decade has focused on producing blends which are durable, versatile and extremely fine. They are also predominantly made from new artificial fibres.

This is bad news for traditional Irish dress, based as it is around heavy natural fabrics worn in layers. In an urban environment, such clothing is inappropriate and uncomfortable and as a result, Irish style has come to be associated with weekend, off duty and casual times.

But, rather as groups like The Corrs have taken traditional Irish music and given it a contemporary edge, some clothing designers and manufacturers in this country have chosen to adapt traditional forms and fabrics to new circumstances. One of the first companies to take this path was Inis Meain, the knitwear company based on one of the Aran islands. Its owner, Tarlach de Biacam, has moved out of hand made items and concentrated on producing machine knits of the highest quality. But more importantly, while keeping to the spirit of traditional Irish style, he designs new ranges twice yearly, keeping abreast of changes in taste and seasonal colours. In addition, Inis Meain sweaters tends not to use the heavy gauge wools traditionally favoured by Irish knitwear manufacturers, but opts for lighter blends of silk and linen - or 100 per cent alpaca.

An even more radical approach has been taken by designer Lainey Keogh, probably the most internationally successful knitwear producer in Ireland. Keogh's work began by adhering closely to traditional colours and shapes, but she soon moved away from these without sacrificing the Irish quality of her work. While her designs are still all hand knitted, like Tarlach de Blacam she has been quick to use fibres other than the usual heavy wool.

This season, for example, Keogh's most popular pieces come in a stretch cashmere, a blend made by adding four per cent each of elastane and nylon. Yet by continuing to produce work with strong surface pattern interest and single block colouring, her sweaters continue to be identifiably Irish.

This feeling for an evolving tradition is equally apparent in the menswear ranges designed by Pat McCarthy. His jackets and coats are in texture rich tweed but the weave is much lighter than would usually be the case, and his shapes are altogether softer and less structured than their predecessors. McCarthy is happy to work in the traditional dark toned Irish palette of autumnal colours which avoid any oppressiveness by coming in similar blends to those used by Inis Meain alpaca and wool for sweaters, and wool and cotton for shirts.

EVEN a fabric seemingly so resistant to change as linen can prove adaptable in the hands of the right designer. Two years ago, Wendy Smyth set up a shirt company in Belfast named Smyth & Gibson. Although the product is manufactured in Irish, linen - a material which currently enjoys little favour because it demands high maintenance - Smyth & Gibson shirts now sell well, not just in Ireland, but also abroad, because their designer is conscious of the need to bear, changing tastes in mind. Not only does she offer a range of shapes, such as a casual collarless variety, but her colours include not just sensible white but vibrant lime green and cobalt blue. Smyth & Gibson's success demonstrates that traditional Irish style does not have to exclude imagination or innovation.