Our talented in-house design team look to the rugged land and seascapes that surround Donegal for inspiration when creating our range of throws, which are then woven at our mill.
Here is a little insight into some of our favourite patterns.
Cavalry Twill crossed with an oversized plaid
Directly inspired by a pattern in our weaving archive, the intricate weave creates a Cavalry twill plaid. The steep double twill lines, which define the term ‘Cavalry twill’ are flecked with unexpected pops of colour throughout.
The ‘Cavalry twill’ design was originally developed for use in riding breeches/pants for military uniforms – it was stretchy and durable, and made in wool or cotton blends.
St Brigid’s Cross
A well-known symbol in Irish heritage, our team have recreated the elaborate St Brigid’s cross in a range of natural colourways drawn directly from the local landscape.
St Brigid’s day is celebrated on 1st February and traditionally a cross, often with a diamond in the middle was woven from rushes or straw. It was hung in the rafters of a house and left there for protection for the rest of the year.
Oversized Houndstooth in Irish wool
A contemporary take on a timeless classic, the exaggerated houndstooth makes this a real statement piece in Irish wool.
We are committed to developing Irish Wool for use in our textiles and have been working with our yarn supplier on sourcing wool from farms across Ireland. This wool is spun locally by Donegal Yarns and designed and woven into luxurious fabrics at our Mill in Donegal Town.
Fern
Taking inspiration from the flora of the rugged landscapes that surround us in Donegal, the unexpected flecks of colour in the weft delicately encapsulate the traditional character synonymous with Donegal Tweeds.
Painterly Herringbone
One of the two “true” Donegal Tweed patterns, herringbone is said to have been inspired by the fish caught in the Atlantic Ocean by the part-time fishermen and part-time weavers. These throws feature a contemporary oversized herringbone with subtle flecks.
We are so excited to share our new baby blanketswith you, these are something we have been wanting to do for a long time and they were worth the wait.
Designed and woven at our mill in Donegal in 100% lambswool, these luxuriously soft blankets are available in seven gentle tones. The intricate diamond herringbone pattern highlights the colour throughout.
An heirloom piece to cherish for years to come, our baby blankets make the perfect gift for a new arrival.
This year, we are offering 20% off online and in store* as part of our Black Friday event.
We always encourage considered shopping, and investing in quality pieces, so want you to use this opportunity to find something you will enjoy for years to come.
Donegal Tweed Jackets & Blazers
Crafted in tweed, designed and woven at our mill in Donegal, our selection of Donegal Tweed blazers for men and women are designed to stand the test of time. We pay special attention to the fit and comfort of each garment. The fabric is luxuriously soft, washed in the peaty waters of the River Eske. Fabrics are colourful – country inspired greens and browns crossed with blue and burgundy checks, classic Salt & Pepper urban blacks and greys with a hint of seasonal red and a range of timeless blues – from navy to contemporary micro checks.
Organic cotton and cashmere are blended for a touch of luxury in this selection of lightweight knits. The high-quality, natural fibres make these pieces ideal for layering, making them go-to styles you will reach time and time again. Styles for men includes 1970’s inspired turtlenecks, polo necks (a great alternative to a shirt) and for women classic crew and V-necks. Colours include black, honey yellow, spice red, navy, moss green and grey.
A classic shape, the belted Rebecca shirt dress looks just as chic with leather boots in winter as it does with trainers in spring. A style you can wear all year round in two striking Liberty of London prints and a lush striped Irish Linen, designed, woven, and finished at our mill.
Renewable and biodegradable, linen comes from an all-natural source, offering a rich, soft feeling that cannot be imitated by synthetic fibres. It is also truly sustainable – requiring less water and land to grow than cotton, for example, and it can be processed without chemicals.
The relaxed look of linen and its natural breathable properties make it the perfect choice for pieces we wear close to our skin like shirts. We love to style a linen shirt under a Donegal Tweed jacket or gilet for a put together look
Designed and woven at our mill in Donegal, our talented designers look to the local land and seascapes for inspiration when creating our range of throws. Crafted using the finest natural fibres, these cosy throws make a great gift for friends, or for yourself!
Our carefully curated gift guides have something for everyone this Christmas. Bringing together a luxurious selection of ideas from across our collections, you can be assured that each piece has been designed and made with longevity in mind and will be enjoyed and treasured for years to come.
As a 5th generation Irish family business, we are acutely aware of the importance of spending time with family and stressing about gifting should be the last thing on your mind. Our collections focus on slow fashion and high-quality pieces that will stand the test of time.
For Her
Contemporary tweeds, designed and woven at our mill in Donegal, are paired with timeless styles in the women’s range of jackets and coats. These are show stopping pieces that will bring a smile to anyone’s face on Christmas morning.
Lightweight and luxuriously soft, our new range of organic cotton and cashmere blend jumpers are available in two styles – the Imogen and Eve – and a range of festive hues. For fans of colour, look no further than our selection of Liberty of London print shirts and tunics in a deliciously soft cotton.
One of the key characteristics of Donegal Tweed is the colourful neps you find in the threads, originally made using natural-plant dyes found in the surrounding landscape, this season we have brought this ‘Donegal fleck’ through to our knitwear. New styles the Clifden turtleneck and Port fisherman rib cardigan both pay homage to Ireland’s long standing fishing traditions and join a range of knitwear focusing on natural fibres including lambswool and organic cotton and cashmere blends.
There is always space in his wardrobe for a beautifully made shirt, from Irish Linen to super soft flannel and traditional checks, you will find something to suit his style. These styles pair perfectly with our signature Donegal Tweed jackets, choose from tailored or classic fit and for someone extra special, explore the pieces in handwoven tweed.
Our weaving mill in Donegal Town, on the banks of the river Eske, is still the beating heart of everything we do at Magee. we are proud to support a tradition of weaving and manufacturing textiles in the northwest of Ireland, bringing a contemporary edge to an age-old craft. Our exclusive range of scarves, pashminas, and home interior throws are designed and made in Ireland in a range of colours and patterns inspired by the land and seascapes of Donegal.
Look to our Donegal Tweed accessories for fantastic stocking fillers, from notebooks to teddy bears to the classic tweed cap, available in two styles – the flat cap and baker. Fill their home with luxurious scents with a selection of candles and diffusers, made in Ireland. And if you are just not sure, you can’t go wrong with a gift voucher.
Our Winter 2022 outerwear showcases the best of what we do, taking our unique fabrics, designed and woven at our mill in Donegal, and creating timeless pieces.
These versatile and adaptable pieces are designed to be styled multiple ways and to integrate well into your existing winter wardrobe. We dipped into our weaving archives and revived some exciting patterns, adding a contemporary slant.
WOMEN’S
Nessa Quilted Coat
Josie Tweed Coat in Oversized Glencheck
Jessica Donegal Tweed Coat in Charcoal Grey Herringbone
Cara Parka
The women’s outerwear centres on design but also function. New to the collection, the Nessa quilted coat is a future wardrobe staple. A relaxed fit finishing mid-thigh, this is the style to wear while on the school runs or shopping at the weekend. Another new style, the Cara is a more put together take on the parka coat, a sophisticated silhouette featuring a wide, oversized collar, deep patch pockets in a wool blackwatch check, designed and woven in Donegal and coated with Teflon for protection against the elements.
Constantly developing new and interesting styles in our own fabrics, theClodagh overshirt is a triumph. Simple, unstructured, and utterly stylish, the Clodagh is presented in a modern blue check with pops of silver lurex and a luxurious baby alpaca and lambswool blend herringbone, a cloth which pays full homage to our heritage.
MEN’S
Corrib Tweed Coat in Glencheck
Melvin Donegal Tweed Jacket
Erne Donegal Tweed Coat in Blue Salt & Pepper
Sheelin Quilted Jacket in Blackwatch Check
The men’s outerwear offering is enhanced this season by two new casual styles. Ideal for seasonal transitions, the Sheelin quilted jacket is a short lightweight style available in two showerproof styles – faux suede and a luxurious Blackwatch wool check, designed and woven in Donegal, coated with Teflon. Heavily influenced by Chairman, and 4th generation family member, Lynn Temple’s love of the outdoors, the Melvin is a chunky shirt jacket in tweed, lined with a lofty fleece. A wardrobe workhorse, this style, in two rich winter checks, looks just as good in the great outdoors as it does on a city break.
Joining classic coat styles like the Erne and Corrib coats in signature Donegal Tweeds, the Moross duffle coat is a heavier weight style for colder months. The ultimate winter coat in a navy and charcoal Glen check tweed, the Moross features all the details synonymous with a duffle coat, this cosy style is a timeless investment piece.
Complete the look with our selection of scarves and pashminas, designed and woven at our mill in Donegal using the finest natural fibres.
Every year in September we take time to celebrate our rich heritage and as a 5th generation family business first established in the 1800s, we have lots in the archives to reflect on. This year, we will be focusing on design and what has changed in over 150 years.
In the 19th century, founder John Magee, a wholesale cloth merchant, would visit monthly tweed markets across South-West Donegal, trading directly with the weavers. The then hardwearing, coarse fabric was handwoven across Donegal in the homes of part-time fishermen and farmers as the perfect fabric for dissipating the damp and cold weather, so often found in the North-West of Ireland, a far cry from the luxurious cloths being produced today.
Traditionally, there have always been two ‘true’ Donegal tweed patterns – Salt & Pepper and Herringbone (said to be inspired by fishbones), but that didn’t mean it was always the same, there was lots of opportunity to add colour and personality with the signature neps, the defining characteristic of Donegal Tweeds. The yarn was dyed with natural dyes made from lichen, flowers, berries, and other plants which reflected the natural beauty of the Donegal landscape, and these colourful flecks were created during the yarn spinning process.
Robert Temple, John Magee’s apprentice and cousin took over the business in the early 1900s and made some revolutionary changes. Robert brought the handweavers in-house, opening a tweed factory where the design and quality could be more closely controlled, ensuring consistency across repeat fabrics. This move is seen by many as having saved handwoven Donegal Tweed from extinction.
Moving forward to the middle of the century, and the next generation, we were still focused primarily on handweaving and handknitting, but fashions were changing. We started tailoring in the 1940’s with a focus on men’s jackets and suiting. Magee 1866 stood out from the many others producing dull, grey ‘de-mob’ suiting at the time with our unique and colourful fabrics.
The Magee thronproof suit
We were then established in international fashion in the 1960s due to the relationship between Col. Bob Harris (brother-In-law of Howard Temple) and the Irish designers Sybil Connolly and Irene Gilbert. They began to use Donegal Tweed, which had previously been seen as a ‘functional, hard-wearing fabric,’ in their collections which appealed especially to the US market. This launched Donegal Tweed on the global fashion scene, and it has grown from there.
Irene Gilbert designs in Magee Tweed. Photographer unknown.
Vintage Magee 1866 ads
As continental competition grew in the 70s and 80s, our weaving mill shifted gears and we became a more fashion orientated business. Power looms were introduced, allowing us to develop lighter, softer, more luxurious cloths in more intricate designs, paving the way for the introduction of our first women’s collections in the 1990s.
The classic salt & pepper and herringbone designs are still very much part of our collections today, and we are always looking at ways to adapt these timeless designs into modern pieces.
Our weaving mill in Donegal Town, on the banks of the River Eske, is still the beating heart of everything we do at Magee and we are proud to support a tradition of weaving and manufacturing textiles in the North-West of Ireland, bringing a contemporary edge to an age-old craft.
The design process
There is much to consider when preparing a collection. Our designers in the mill work closely with our clothing designers, looking to our rich heritage, extensive archive, and the inspirational landscape of Donegal, this is balanced with new trends and the needs of our many customers. They plan what we would like to convey through the collection deciding on core fabrics to develop and the stories we wish to tell with each cloth, design and finished product.
Mood boards are worked on – snippets from magazines, old photos, colours swatches, archive fabrics and yarns are collated. Then the technical aspect starts -the detailed fabric design and colour balance, the fit and styling details on a garment. Sampling starts both through our mill and with our garment suppliers. The mill tends to work over twelve months ahead of the next season, while our clothing collection are six to nine months ahead.
Magee 1866 Autumn Winter 2022 Collection
Since we started in the 1800s our focus has always been on slow fashion and natural fibre fabrics – wool, lambswool, alpaca, cashmere, and linen.
Our fabric and clothing collections have certainly evolved over the years, the 1940s embraced the thorn proof suit, moving into the 70s/80s and bold checks took over. Today, we work towards creating lifestyle collections for both men and women – taking elements of the past and working them into a variety of products. The casual movement is global, and we are now making our incredible fabrics into unstructured, light, and beautiful crafted pieces. In the early 2000s we launched our throw and scarf collection; these luxurious products are extra special as they are 100% Irish made.
In the beginning, our fabric was used locally and then sold into the UK, today, thousands of metres, designed and woven in Donegal, are used by international fashion brands, and shipped all over the world. With all this innovation, we are proud of the fact that we are also still handweaving in Donegal.
We are passionate about the preservation of the heritage of weaving and design in Donegal. Trends evolve, but Donegal Tweed is timeless.
Follow our journey throughout the month on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and #Magee1866Heritage and sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about new arrivals.
Autumn Winter 2022 is designed to showcase the best of what we do, taking our unique fabrics and creating timeless pieces.
“We look to the past to inform our future, our ethos as a company has always been one of ‘slow fashion’, with high quality, natural fibre fabrics our focus. This season we dipped into our archives and revived some exciting patterns, adding a contemporary slant.
Continuing on from our Spring Summer collection there is an emphasis on the more casual, comfortable pieces including fleece lined shirt jackets, Scottish knitwear, drawstring trousers, quilted jackets and of course, new styles in Donegal Tweeds.
However, there is a time for dressing up and we love to dress up! Highlights in our men’s luxury tailored collection include Donegal Tweed suit and a blackwatch dinner jacket.
We continue to draw inspiration from our surrounding land and seascapes. Each piece is carefully executed from concept to design to make, ensuring that these products stand the test of time and can be worn in conjunction with past and future collections. These are pieces to buy now and keep forever. “
-Design Director, and 5th generation family member, Charlotte Temple.
The collection is divided into colour stories, key base colours of blue, green, brown and grey are highlighted with seasonal pops of orange, yellow, plum and oat. We designed the versatile and adaptable pallet to be styled multiple ways and to integrate well into your existing winter wardrobe. As always, the fabric collection embraces natural fibres – wool, cotton, cashmere, linen and merino, much of which is designed and woven at our own mill in Donegal.
WOMEN’S
The focus of the women’s outerwear range is timeless design but also function, with two notable new additions.
The Nessa quilted coat is a wardrobe staple, a relaxed fit finishing mid-thigh, this is the style to wear while running weekend errands over jeans, a luxurious piece of knitwear and trainers.
The Cara is a more put together take on the parka coat, a sophisticated silhouette featuring a wide, oversized collar, deep patch pockets in a wool blackwatch check, coated with Teflon for protection against the elements and a navy cotton twill.
These new styles join favourites such as the Jessica tweed coat in a bold twill and the popular Josie short coat, introduced last year, in a classic check.
Lightweight and luxuriously soft, this season sees the introduction of a range of organic cotton and cashmere blend jumpers. Available in two styles – the Imogen and Eve – and a selection of capsule wardrobe-worthy colours. These styles are designed to pair perfectly with our Donegal Tweed jackets such as the Milly or Mourne.
We are always developing new ways to incorporate our own fabrics in more casual styles, this season the Clodagh overshirt is a resounding success. Unstructured, simple with clean lines and patch pockets, this style is available in a modern blue check with pops of silver lurex and a luxurious baby alpaca and lambswool blend herringbone, a cloth which pays full homage to our heritage, Herringbone being one of the ‘true’ Donegal Tweed patterns. Here it is enlivened with colourful neps of gorse yellow, sky blue, burnt orange, moss green, lavender, and ruby red, offering endless opportunities for coordination.
MEN’S
Alongside our classic coat styles in signature Donegal Tweeds, the men’s outerwear range is enhanced this season by two new casual styles. Ideal for seasonal transitions, the Sheelin quilted jacket is a short lightweight style available in two showerproof styles – faux suede and luxurious blackwatch wool check with Teflon.
Heavily influenced by Chairman, and 4th generation family member, Lynn Temple’s love of the outdoors, the Melvin is a chunky shirt jacket in tweed, lined with a lofty fleece. A wardrobe workhorse, this style, in two rich winter checks, looks just as good in the great outdoors as it does on a city break.
A heavier weight style for when the temperatures begin to dip, the Moross duffle coat is the ultimate winter coat in a navy and charcoal glencheck tweed. Featuring all the details synonymous with a duffle coat, this cosy style is a timeless investment piece.
One of the key characteristics of Donegal Tweed is the colourful neps you find in the threads, originally made using natural-plant dyes found in the surrounding landscape, this season we have brought this ‘Donegal fleck’ through to our knitwear. The Clifden turtleneck and Port fisherman rib cardigan both pay homage to Ireland’s long standing fishing traditions available in a seasonal mulberry red speckled with yellow and blue and timeless oat grey with navy and ochre flecks. The range of knitwear is designed to pair with the selection of chinos, cords and flannel shirts for a winter layering look.
Forever styles, designed to last. Shop in store or online from August.
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Father’s Day is a time to take a step back and acknowledge the dad in your life. Usually falling on a bright summer’s day (we hope we don’t jinx this!), it is the perfect time to gather around and spoil your dad.
We asked some of the Magee 1866 team how they will be marking Father’s Day this year.
Charlotte – Creative Director
“With three young kids we have a very busy house, this Father’s Day will be like every Sunday, lots of sport, family time and an attempt at a civilised Sunday lunch! Alongside homemade cards and gifts, the kids will be getting their dad one of ourIrish Linen Shirts. Versatile enough to wear to the office or on the weekend, I love the look of linen and its natural and sustainable virtues cannot be beaten. ”
Daniel – Ecommerce Manager
“The summer for us is all about time together at the beach. I’ve been dropping hints about our new Dungloe chino shortsand Marfagh polos, they would make a great addition to my summer wardrobe. As for the day, I’ll enjoy some fish & chips by the sea with my wife and three boys. “
Rosy – CEO Magee Clothing
“This Father’s Day myself and dad will be biking across Northern Norway. We’re both really sporty and the love of the outdoors is something we have always bonded over, whether it’s daily swims down at our local beach or weekend cycles across Donegal. Although it’s bright for 24 hours a day at this time of year there, it can get chilly at night, so I’ll be packing a Shannon cashmere blend crew neck jumper for dad’s Father’s Day gift. Lightweight but warm and easy to pack on a bike!”
Don’t forget – Father’s Day is Sunday, 19th June 2022. For more inspiration, explore our Father’s Day gift guide.
Natural fibre fabrics are central to our collections and this season is no exception with Irish Linen making up a large part of Spring Summer for both men and women. The ultimate versatile fabric, linen is synonymous with summer and perfect whether you’re relaxing on the beach or working in the city.
“Linen is one of the oldest fabrics in the world and the history of weaving linen in Ireland goes back hundreds of years. It has many sustainable values as it uses considerably less water than cotton, for example, and will grow on poor land. Flax, the crop it is made from, is really versatile too because it is cultivated for yarn and food (this is where linseed comes from). We have been designing, weaving and finishing Irish Linen at our mill in Donegal since 1975, its cool, fresh properties make it perfect for our spring summer collections and it complements our Donegal Tweeds perfectly.”
Patrick Temple, CEO Magee Weaving, 5th Generation Family Member and President of the Irish Linen Guild
We have been designing, weaving and tailoring luxurious fabrics and clothing in Donegal for five generations and over 150 years. This season we looked to the beaches, cliffs and piers that are dotted along the 1,000km of coastline of our home county for inspiration when designing the Spring Summer 2022 collection – ‘COAST’. The nautical theme is reflected in the choice of colours, naval and sea blues are contrasted in this collection with timeless, neutral shades of natural linen, greys and oat.
Renewable and biodegradable, linen comes from an all-natural source, offering a rich, soft feeling that cannot be imitated by manmade fibres. It is also truly sustainable – requiring less water and land to grow than cotton, for example and it can be processed without chemicals.
Alongside the pieces crafted in Irish Linen, designed, woven and finished at the our weaving mill in Donegal, this collection also features styles in Irish Linen from Baird McNutt, another long-established mill who design in the harbour village of Downings in County Donegal and weave in their historic mill in County Antrim.
New to the women’s collection the Aoife is an unlined and unstructured jacket in a cheerful pink herringbone linen, and the Patty Irish Linen top in gingham complement favourites like the Tina drawstring trousers and Louise Grandfather collar shirt.
The Rebecca dress is a real showstopper, mid length in a nautical oat-grey with a chalky green and pale blue stripe, this shirt dress can be styled just as well with white trainers as it does with heeled sandals for a day out.
Highlights in Irish Linen for men include the new Dingle four pocket jacket an unlined and unstructured style, perfect for layering when the sun goes down. Wardrobe staples the Kilbeg shirt and Straid drawstring trousers are available in a range of versatile colours and when styled with the coordinating Finn jacket in dark inky blue linen, make an ideal look for a special occasion.
Linen can be divisive due to its tendency to crease, but for us this is one of its charms, a unique characteristic that we should embrace. The relaxed look of linen and its natural cooling properties make it the ideal choice for pieces we wear close to our skin like shirts and tops.
This collection is designed to maximise your summer and as always with Magee 1866, expect colours and textures that will transport you to a sandy shore, looking out at the wild Atlantic Ocean.
The European Commission are proposing a framework to protect the intellectual property for craft and industrial products including Donegal Tweed.
At Magee 1866, we are delighted to see the announcement from the EU Commission on the preliminary steps towards providing geographical protection for “craft and industrial products that rely on the originality and authenticity of traditional practices from their regions”. This framework will cover Donegal Tweed as well as products like Murano Glass and Porcelaine de Limoges and is similar to the protection offered to Champagne, Feta cheese and the Waterford Blaa under their “Protected Geographical indication” (PGI) status.
Patrick Temple, 5th generation family member and CEO of Magee Weaving, has been active in this campaign, starting with initial submissions to the EU a decade ago. Since then, Patrick has been working closely with other weavers in Co. Donegal, with vital support from the Design & Crafts Council Irelandand marketing and business consultant Muiris Kennedy, to champion this cause. This will be of huge benefit to weavers in Co. Donegal and to the long-term brand protection of Donegal Tweed.
“Europe has an exceptional legacy of world-renown crafts and industrial products. It is time that these producers benefit from a new intellectual property right, like food and wine producers, that will increase trust and visibility for their products, guaranteeing authenticity and reputation. Today’s initiative will contribute to the creation of skilled jobs especially for SMEs and to the development of tourism also in the more rural or economically weak areas.”
Donegal Tweed is an iconic part of the counties’ centuries old weaving tradition and is unique as a woven fabric due to the contrasting colourful neps/bur spun into the yarn which is then woven in a plain or twill weave, otherwise known as Salt & Pepper or Herringbone, respectfully. Rooted in the land and seascapes of Donegal, the colours were historically drawn from our surroundings and the unique Herringbone pattern is inspired by the fish caught in the Atlantic Ocean or patterns in the sand after the tide goes out. The Salt & Pepper design is inspired by the speckled landscape of the countryside.
Today, Donegal Tweed, as a vibrant, natural fibre and sustainable fabric, continues to form a principal part of our Magee 1866 collections. Our weaving mill in Donegal Town, on the banks of the River Eske, is still the beating heart of everything we do at Magee 1866. We are proud to support a tradition of weaving and manufacturing textiles in the northwest of Ireland, bringing a contemporary edge to an age-old craft.
