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.
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.
June is here and with it we hope some sunny, warm weather, although in Ireland today it is blowing a strong wind, accompanied by heavy showers and very intermittent glimpses of blue sky! With this unpredictable weather pattern we have selected a capsule 9 – 5 wardrobe which should hopefully cover all eventualities.
Blue is the perfect 9 – 5 colour that transcends all seasons and weather!
A key piece this summer for us is the Banagher Reversible Mac, featuring a navy-blue puppy-tooth summer weight cotton blend fabric (designed and woven by us in Donegal) and a showerproof navy on the reverse. Style with a grey structure knit and chinos for a casual look or dress up with our navy travel suit (the perfect wool blend suit for any business travel – this suit is renowned for its durability and ability to remain relatively crease-free even after hours in a plane or car). Complete the look with a crisp white cotton shirt, cotton knit waistcoat (a comfortable, yet smart alternative to the traditional suit waistcoat) and silk knit tie.
For the casual Friday look check our shirt collection – the Drumbar denim shirt is a wardrobe staple for work or weekend. Shop Shirts.
