Choosing what to wear out in the field can be a challenge in warm weather, when you need all the technicality and protection of winter field wear, but you don’t want to break out into a sweat – or compromise on style. The new Purdey Summer Sporting collection draws on centuries of tradition and experience to translate the brand’s signature designs into ultra lightweight fabrics and breathable layers that are fine-tuned for rising temperatures.
Balancing protective and functional details, with sleek and dynamic designs, the collection is created for simulated clay days, falconry and shooting trips in warmer climes.
The Purdey team took design inspiration from a 19th-century illustration, first published in 1897 by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son for Vanity Fair, that hangs in Purdey’s Hammersmith factory. It shows a debonair chap decked in taupe breeks and a khaki jacket, with a falcon perched on his gloved arm. The designers riffed on this image of classic British style while looking firmly to the future, introducing a host of all-important technical details and trimmings.
Lightweight and breathable outerwear
The khaki Summer Field Coat transposes some of the functionality of its Autumn/Winter counterpart into a lighter version with a new construction, made in the UK. The outer layer is crafted from breathable dry waxed cotton, lined in feather-light Ventile fabric to give it a breathable but shower resistant body. Barely there, yet robust and protective, it will fend off showers and keep the scorching sun at bay.
The Summer Safari Jacket, cut from the same dry wax cotton, is completely unlined to make it even lighter. It is a slightly shorter fit, making for a dynamic alternative. Meanwhile, the cotton Sporting Vest, with a v-neck for men and a high collar for women, takes sleekness to a new level. Technical cotton-twill Summer Breeks for men and trousers for women are tucked into the signature Purdey Twin Strap Boots in nubuck leather, made to smartly handle all terrain. Meanwhile, men can fasten their double-cuffed shirts, inspired by tradition, with game-inspired cufflinks. They can add a Madder Silk Tie printed in the UK with an oval motif designed specially for the collection.
The trimmings
To ensure you are good to go on the day, the Summer Sporting collection includes a beautiful walking stick with hazel-wood shaft and stag-horn handle. It can be paired with a Canvas Gun Slip for clay days and shooting trips in warm locations, crafted in sustainable nettle cotton to lighten the load for your shoulders.
Our trimmings also include luxurious falconry “furniture”: gloves and the hoods used to cover the bird’s eyes. As the Gyrfalcon swoops in, it can land on a deerskin Purdey Falconry Glove – soft and subtle, yet impenetrable to those razor-sharp talons. Our hoods are handcrafted from the finest quality deer skin, edged in gold.