Winter coats

[herodotus]

Just moved back to godforsaken Canada after more than 10 years in the Middle East. I've forgotten what winter's all about. Anybody know a good brand of coat that keeps out the raw wind as well as repels water from sloppy snow? And one that won't break the bank. Didn't really a bloody winter jacket costs so much these days. Thanks.

[Kurt]

I grew up in Wisconsin so that is almost like Canada.

I just bought used Wool coats from second hand stores. Wool is warm and repels the water and looking at photographs of me in 1992 wearing a coat I got for $5 I can safely say it does not look like 1992, it looks like it could be any time, so no need to worry about "future dork" factor with wool coats.

In NYC second hand places our scoured to the point where all that remains are things that no one wants like polyester towels so I ordered a "Cruiser" hunting coat from LL Bean and got a wool vest to go with it. It was a nylon / wool blend so it wore out in about five years and 15% of it would melt near a campfire but it was pretty good.

[vagabond]

I've heard this stuff is pretty solid:

http://www.66north.com/

I'm sure Dabbi can speak to the quality.

Or just wear whatever the rest of the Canucks are doffing these days.

[rickshaw92]

Mountain Equipment Co-op.

[diamondcutter13]

Mountain Equipment Co-op.

Yup, this. Great performance/value unless you want to go old school with the surplus stuff. I am partial to old M65 fishtail parkas myself and you can get them cheap from EBay etc.

[vagabond]

Mountain Equipment Co-op.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. The other way to spot Canadians abroad (beside their flags). Seems like sturdy stuff as well and probably far cheaper than the Icelandic stuff I mentioned.

[rickshaw92]

Mountain Equipment Co-op.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. The other way to spot Canadians abroad (beside their flags). Seems like sturdy stuff as well and probably far cheaper than the Icelandic stuff I mentioned.

I don't even bother with the flag anymore, not with the MEC logo on my big purple backpack.

[AztecDave]

can't go wrong with fur. some type of endangered species, i think.

[Woodsman]

Layer up, Wool is the best, but also expensive and hard to find in anything that looks stylish. Polyester is cheap and lighter and easily as warm as wool, but won't last you decades like wool does.

I live North of Canada.

(Southern Ontario :P )

[Sparky]

http://www.canada-goose.com/ Pretty well the best cold weather parkas money can buy. Well worth the extra bucks.

[AztecDave]

in jan '91 i'm at leavenworth going to CAS3 and i see a dude on base with a sheeepskin WWII style bomber jacket. cool as hell. said he got it in Itawon. fast fwd to summer of '92 i was walkin down the main drag in Itaewon and spotted a leather jacket store that had them for $120. had a quick deja vu all over again. i jewed Adashi down to $80 and walked out with one - the genuine thing. hung on to it and wore it that winter there. never froze my ass off as one is able to do in the land of almost right. I still have it. is the warmest thing possible and looks cool as hell. but sure as hell isn't tactically practical.

[Devlin]

I have always done well with Patagonia and Carhartt depending on the location and the activity.

[Dabbi]

I've heard this stuff is pretty solid:

http://www.66north.com/

I'm sure Dabbi can speak to the quality.

Or just wear whatever the rest of the Canucks are doffing these days.

Some of the stuff is superb, most of it is just fashion items.

[JITW]

Fuck brands, buy a heavy coat at wallmart for 60 bucks


~JITW

[Sri Lanky]

Exactly.