
Where Heritage Meets Innovation: Inside the Quiet Revolution at Purdey
Two centuries of craftsmanship meet quiet innovation as Purdey incorporates HD Wool®, redefining performance, sustainability and British style for the modern age.
- Words: Harry Jarman
When you’ve been perfecting your craft for over two hundred years, you learn a thing or two about what lasts. James Purdey & Sons, the venerable British gunmaker established in 1814, has built its reputation on exactly that, a mastery of form and function that’s as relevant today as it was in the days of top hats and horse-drawn carriages.


But Purdey has never been about standing still. Behind the heritage and hand-engraved shotguns lies a quietly modern spirit, one that prizes innovation just as highly as tradition. The latest example? The house’s forward-thinking use of HD Wool®, a performance material that’s as smart as it is sustainable.
The Future of Wool
This is wool, but not as your grandfather knew it. HD Wool® regulates temperature, breathes naturally, and flexes with you, keeping things cool when the action heats up and warm when the weather turns. Every fibre can be traced back through The Woolkeepers™, a network ensuring farmers are paid fairly and the land is cared for properly. It’s a modern take on integrity, the same values Purdey has always stood for.

You’ll find the fabric at work across the collection: in the Cambridge Quilted Gilet, the Clarges Vest, and those iconic Purdey Field Coats, garments that balance British elegance with all-weather performance. From shoot days and school runs to weekends at the rugby, these are pieces built to move with you, and to last.
As Creative Director Giles Deacon notes, HD Wool® “is the modern equivalent of the ‘best materials only’ ethos that has always been integral to the Purdey standard.”
Because real luxury, as Purdey reminds us, isn’t about showing off. It’s about craft, character and quiet confidence, qualities that never go out of style.
Explore the full HD Wool® Collection at purdey.com



