One of the oldest fabrics in the world, the tradition and history of weaving linen in Ireland goes back hundreds of years.
It is made from the flax plant, which is a really versatile crop that’s cultivated for yarn and food (flax is where linseed comes from).
Linen is a sustainable, natural material, known for its cool, fresh properties. A staple for the summer season. It’s easy to dress up or down, taking you from workdays and warm-weather weddings to casual weekend adventures.
At our mill in Donegal, we design and weave linen namely for tailored garments – suits and blazers and for our range of fabrics by the metre. Suitable for use in apparel and home furnishing projects, this season’s Limited Edition collection features a muted pallet of soft, light colours in glen checks and herringbone weaves.
For shirting, we look to our friends Baird McNutt, another long-established mill in the north of Ireland. A timeless hopsack linen is used in our women’s Ella tunics and beautifully tailored men’s shirts. These are truly investment pieces designed and made to last.
Another long-established brand, founded in the 19th Century like us, Liberty of London have brought unique design and beautiful fabrics to the world since 1875.
We love working with the iconic Liberty of London and have been incorporating their original prints into our collections since the late 1990’s.
Luxury fabrics are at the heart of what we do at Magee 1866 with our own tweeds and linens, which we design and weave at our mill in Donegal, so it makes sense that we would look to Liberty of London to collaborate.
This season, Liberty of London prints complement the collection with watercolour and hand-painted florals, providing pops of unexpected summer colour in Liberty’s signature Tana Lawn™ cotton. A masterpiece of fabric technology, this fine cotton has a distinctive hand-feel and translucent, silk-like softness.
Highlights include the Hannah shirt in ‘Felda’, a dreamy watercolour print of meadow flowers, available in a delicate blue or soft pink.
Equally suited to the beach or weekend wear, the casual Ella Tunic brings summer vibrancy with the colourful prints ‘Oleander’– a tropical pink and green floral – and ‘Jungle Trip’ – a layered tangle of flowers and foliage in blues and yellows.
After a long break, due to restrictions in response to the pandemic, our three stores are now back open and to say we are excited is an understatement!
As a 5th generation family business, our customers are so important to us, over the years we have built up strong relationships and we are delighted to be able to reconnect again face-to-face.
We are very proud of our stores and teams who deliver a very special Magee 1866 experience, if you haven’t visited before, let us introduce you.
MAGEE OF DONEGAL
The Magee of Donegal store has stood on the same site on The Diamond in Donegal town since first opened as a draper’s store by John Magee in the 1800’s.
At that time business owners lived over their premises with their family and staff, one census records 12 residents including the Magee family, two milliners, four apprentices and John Magee’s draper’s assistant and cousin – Robert Temple, who went on to buy the business in 1900 and whose family are still at the helm today – Lynn, Charlotte, Paddy and Rosy.
Magee was founded on handwoven tweed and our weaving mill located just across the river from the shop on the banks of the River Eske, is still the beating heart of everything we do.
A true destination shopping experience, at Magee of Donegal we showcase our Magee 1866 men’s and women’s collections alongside our accessories and home interiors collections – designed and made in Ireland. Our Made to Measure area offers an oasis of calm while you select the perfect combination of luxury fabrics and trims for your own tailor-made pieces.
We also showcase various complementary brands across men’s, women’s and gifts. While closed we were busy working behind the scenes, updating the store and adding new brands and spaces for customers to explore. The biggest update was moving our gifts to the ground floor, giving more room to our special selection of Irish brands.
The Weaver’s Loft Bistro* focuses on a seasonal menu and home baking and is the perfect stopover for tired shoppers. * Currently closed in line with Government restrictions.
MAGEE 1866 AT ARNOTTS
Our first store outside of Donegal, Magee 1866 at Arnotts opened in 1997 and specialises in our men’s collection – originally, we focused on suits and jackets but now over half the space is dedicated to our casual collection.
We have been specialising in exquisite tailoring for over 150 years, our Made to Measure experts are passionate about tailoring and are on hand to help you find the perfect fit. Book an appointment here.
Over two floors, you enter the world of Magee 1866. The space is designed to reflect the Magee 1866 lifestyle – casual styles sit side by side with tailoring across both our men’s and women’s collections. True to our Donegal Tweed roots, an old swatch book from our mill is proudly on display.
South Anne Street also offers our extensive selection of accessories and home interiors along with our Made to Measure service, making it a one stop shop for quality Irish design in the heart of Dublin city centre.
The site of many launches, fashion shows and events over the past number of years, we look forward to gatherings again in not-too-distant future.
The health and well-being of our customers and our teams remains a priority. The current government guidelines around the wearing of masks and social distancing applies in all our stores.
If you have any enquiries our customer service team will be happy to help, simply get in touch via our social media or email info@magee1866.com. To make an appointment for our Made to Measure service, please book online or enquire in store.
Introducing the Magee 1866 Summer 2021 Collection ‘Halcyon Days’.
Summer always brings forth feelings of nostalgia for carefree days gone by, long sunny afternoons spent outdoors, the halcyon days of our youth. This year we harnessed this calm nostalgia and used it as inspiration for our Summer 2021 collection.
Living in Donegal we are spoiled with stunning landscapes – wonderous beaches and magical forests. In this collection we are capturing the freedom of the outdoors with bright colours combined with misty shades in our natural fibre fabrics, designed and woven at our mill.
Our men’s collection evokes an effortless calm with suave silk blends and casual Irish linens. This collection pays reverence to the nature we enjoy on our doorstep through colour, texture and the celebration of our own beautiful fabrics sustainably woven in Donegal.
Sage and mossy greens are accented with earthy tones in our stand-out silk and cotton blend herringbone Liffey Jacket, a lightweight alternative to Donegal Tweed. Our popular Cavan Gilet returns in a silk blend oceanic blue and pairs beautifully with a casual linen shirt for effortless summer style.
Lightweight tweeds are complimented by soft casual shirts in fun vintage prints and sun kissed hues. Combined with our range of bright cotton knits, this is an easy to wear collection with lots of personality.
Our blushingwomen’s Collection is inspired by the fragile beauty of woodland flowers and sun-bleached shades. A world in dreamy soft focus.
Key pieces include the Emma Coat in two misty shades of blue and grey, the first pieces in our new Magee 1866 X Irish Wool collection that sees wool sourced, spun, designed and woven in Ireland.
The longline Moyne Silk Blend Jacket in sky blue herringbone, offers a confident, tailored look when styled with the matching Tina Trousers. This suit looks just as put together paired with heels or crisp white trainers.
Liberty of London prints compliment the collection with watercolour and hand-painted florals, providing pops of unexpected summer colour in Liberty’s signature Tana Lawn Cotton.
Sustainability is at the heart of what we do at Magee 1866, and we are constantly inspired by the beautiful landscape that surrounds Donegal. Irish linen features heavily throughout the collection, in our range of men’s shirts as well as the fabrics woven at our mill in Donegal.
