Jack Murphy Christmas Gift Guide: Irish Country Style for Aussie Riders

If you're hunting gift ideas for horse lovers that won't end up folded in a tack-room drawer by February, Irish country brand Jack Murphy is about as close to a sure thing as Christmas shopping gets. Three generations of the Murphy family have been cutting waxed cotton, quilted jackets and Donegal tweed on Ireland's east coast, and the pieces they make suit the Australian rider's off-horse life: the feed runs, the float trips, the cold June mornings at the gate. Everything in this guide is stocked at iRide EQ with prices in AUD, from a $25 pin brooch up to a $780 tweed coat, and every price here is live in-store today.

A quick word on framing before the wish lists. Christmas here lands in high summer, so nobody's wearing an Irish winter coat on 25 December. That's not the point of it. Jack Murphy pieces earn their keep through a southern winter, on highlands evenings, and on every early start where you're outside longer than you planned. The lighter pieces (felt hats, scarves, detachable hoods, brooches) are genuinely useful Australian summer gifts, no seasonal awkwardness at all. Order early rather than at the deadline; felt hats and mid-range gilets are what sell out first every year. For the non-clothing side of the stable, our gifts and homeware range runs alongside this brand guide.

An Irish Family Trade, Three Generations Deep

The story starts with a garment trade in post-war Skerries, the fishing town north of Dublin where Jack Murphy himself ran a drapery business cutting cloth for the locals. The company as it exists today, Jack Murphy Limited, was built by his son Michael Murphy, still the brand's lead designer, and the third generation now runs it: Jack's granddaughter Sarah Murphy is chief executive. Founding dates get argued about online, and honestly the family's own version is the better one anyway: three generations of one trade, and the clothes are the evidence.

The brand has famous fans. Queen Camilla and Kate Winslet have both been photographed in Jack Murphy coats, which says something about where the label sits in the country-clothing world. But the reason it travels well to Australia is the fabric policy: Donegal tweed from sixth-generation weavers Molloy & Sons, wool from Abraham Moon & Sons (a mill running since 1837), waxed cotton from Halley Stevensons (milling wax cloth since 1864), and Woolmark-certified wools through the range. The positioning is slow fashion, made to last, and in practice that means a coat you re-wax rather than replace. This is country and lifestyle wear that sits beside the rest of your casual wear. It is not competition kit, and it doesn't pretend to be.

The Gift Shortlist

Here's the curation, sorted roughly by budget. Prices are live AUD verified in-store this week. If you're buying for Christmas, order early and don't gamble on the last week of the courier peak.

Gift	What it is	Price (AUD)
Jack Murphy Pin Brooch	A small branded brooch for a lapel, hat band or scarf	$25.58
Women's Hoods, Heritage Collection	Detachable hoods made to match the Heritage coats	$47.95
Malvern Waterproof Hat	Waterproof hat, three colourways	$83.75
Galway Felt Flat Cap	Wool felt flat cap in navy	$92.70
Bonnie Wool Scarf	Wool scarf in blue marine	$119.55
Kildare Felt Trilby	Felt trilby hat in brown	$128.50
Leah Puffa Gilet	Puffa-style quilted gilet in navy	$262.75
Molly Quilted Jacket	Quilted jacket in navy	$334.35
Archie Wax Jacket	Waxed cotton jacket in olive	$531.25
Pamela Tweed Coat	Tweed coat in green herringbone	$781.85

Few brands survive being gift-wrapped, because a wrong size means a January returns queue. Small accessories are the low-risk end of Jack Murphy, and they're where I'd start for anyone you don't know the measurements of. The felt hats run from the Galway flat cap through the Kildare trilby to the Boston felt hat in burgundy, so there's a shape for every head and a price point under $150 for every wallet.

Jack Murphy Jackets: The Heritage Collection

The Heritage Collection is the brand's in-house line of quilted and waxed jackets, and it's the natural home of a serious Christmas gift. The Molly Quilted Jacket is the one I'd pick for someone who spends winter mornings at the stable: quilted, light enough to drive in, warm enough over a jumper for the feed run. Hoods detach, so the same jacket handles calm cold days and proper rain. On the waterproof side, the Malvern Waterproof Coat in deep claret is the more formal shape of the two, and it looks just as right at a winter showground canteen as it does anywhere else.

The honest take: for Australian conditions you'll get more wear from a quilted jacket than from a heavyweight Irish winter coat. Our winters are shorter, and the cold actually bites on the early mornings, not all day. A quilt over a base layer handles most of what an Australian winter throws at you, and it packs flat for the float. If you're set on a jacket, the whole range is in the Jack Murphy collection here.

Jack Murphy Gilets and Body Warmers

Gilets, or body warmers if you grew up calling them that, are the quiet workhorse of the range. The Leah Puffa Gilet in navy is a puffa-style quilt that layers over a long sleeve without bulk, and the Conor Quilted Gilet in olive is the more country-classic shape of the two. What I like about a gilet for stable work is the arms-free cut: you can halter a horse, lug a feed bin and do up girth straps without ever fighting a sleeve. On a southern highlands property in July it's often the single most-worn item in the feed shed.

As a gift, the gilet is also the most forgiving piece of outerwear to buy blind. Fit matters less than it does on a tailored coat, the navy and olive colourways suit nearly everyone, and at $262.75 to $298.55 they sit in that middle band that feels generous without being extravagant. If the person you're buying for already owns a wax jacket, a gilet is the layer that makes it wearable more of the year.

Jack Murphy Coats for Men

The menswear side of the range is smaller than the womenswear, but it covers the two bases that matter: waterproof and waxed. The Michael Waterproof Jacket in navy is the everyday option, a proper rain jacket rather than a fashion piece, and for the waxed-cotton traditionalist there's the Jodie Wax Coat, a longer navy wax coat that ages the way wax cotton is supposed to. There are men's Heritage hoods too, and further waxed options in olive and tan sit at the top of the $530 to $585 band.

One practical note for gifting: the mens range moves slower than the womenswear in Australia, which is good news in December, because the common sizes are actually still there when you get organised early. Pair either coat with solid boots from our riding boots range and you've gift-solved the man who claims he doesn't want anything.

Statement Gifts: Waxed Cotton and Donegal Tweed

This is the end of the range for the person who has earned a proper gift. Wax first. The Sally Wax Jacket in tan and the Erin Waterproof Coat in olive are the two I'd weigh up between themselves, but the piece that gets talked about most is the Archie Wax Jacket. Archie is the brand's most-searched waxed jacket, and it's the gift equivalent of handing someone twenty years of service life in a box: waxed cotton that softens and darkens with age, in an olive that wears in rather than out.

Tweed is the other statement. The Pamela Tweed Coat in green herringbone is the flagship of the range at $781.85, and it's the only thing on this list I'd describe as an heirloom purchase. A tweed coat is the piece that gets handed down, and with royal and celebrity wearers documented in the Irish press over the years, the brand has the track record to back that up. If that's out of budget, the waxed jackets give you most of the same longevity for less.

How to Wash a Jack Murphy Coat

This is the question every wax-coat owner asks in the week after Christmas, and the answer is mostly: don't. For waxed cotton, the rule is a cold-water sponge clean. Never machine wash it, never dry clean it, and re-wax it periodically with a proper wax dressing to keep the waterproofing alive. Machine-washing wax cotton just once strips the coating, and that single mistake has ruined more good coats than a decade of honest wear. For the waterproof and tweed pieces, follow the garment's care label: that's the label-first answer, and no retailer should invent brand-specific instructions beyond what's on the label.

A re-wax once a year is genuinely all the maintenance a wax jacket needs. It's an autumn job, about an hour with a tin of wax dressing, and the jacket comes out looking another five years younger. The reality is these coats reward a little care with decades of service, and that's the whole Jack Murphy pitch in one sentence.

Christmas morning for most riders I know starts in the stable, not the lounge room. A hat that keeps the 5am drizzle off, or a scarf you can do morning feeds in and still wear to lunch, is the kind of gift that gets used the same day it's unwrapped. The Jack Murphy felt pieces sit in our caps and hats range alongside the rest of the shelf, and the brand's scarves live with our scarf collection if you're building a smaller bundle under the tree.

Frequently Asked Questions