Winter Coat Brands

[HIU8]

We live in the mid-atlantic. DD needs a new winter coat. In the past she has worn and off brand I hated, and LLBean and a TCP 3 in 1. I am not doing another 3 in 1 for DD this year. I got her a reversable fleece for the fall. I saw some nice London Fog winter coats at Burlington. I would like to get DD a Columbia Sportswear (like DS has), but last year they only had a 3 in 1 and it was white (and I'm not going to be able to get to the Columbia Outlet this year). Other than LLB, LE, TCP, London Fog, please name brands of winter coats that are not super bulky, are parka length with an actual hood (not the thin hood liner).

Thanks.

[Kindra178]

Surprisingly, I was pretty impressed with the Gap Warmest Jacket last year. This is from a mom who loves Patagonia (speaking of Patagonia, we have had so many zipper problems in four different coats and jackets and I pretty much done with them) for kids and has loved LLB and LE as well. I read all the reviews because I just didn't think a jacket from the Gap would be warm enough for a Chi winter. I found reviews from people living in Toronto, so I figured it would be ok. I saw many kids at my guys' school with it.

It has a real quilted hood, is fleece lined and was longer in the back to cover a backside. So not quite a parka, but it was longer than just a jacket. We had numerous sub-zero days, and even more days with a high of 8 or 10. In other words, a pretty brutal winter. It ran pretty big, as my 90th percentile 2 year old fit comfortably in a 2T. I bought the 3t at first and decided to keep it because I got it for $28 dollars in early November. It held up well for the year and we wore winter coats well into April this year. I assume DS3 will wear that 2T this winter, while DS2 will mostly likely wear the 3T I purchased last year. If for some reason I am not happy with how the 2T worn all last year looks (I think we may have had some sleeve issues toward the very end of the season), I will certainly buy another Gap one for DS2.

Worth the price, held up well, easy to layer underneath. I really can't recommend it enough, especially if you don't need to pass it down.

My friend got her guys each a Northface parka from Zappos. They all loved it.

[mecawa]

The best luck I have had with winter coats for my DDs is Obermeyer. I buy them during the summer for the next winter for like 25-50% off. It's the first coat that DD ever got more than one season out of. They also come with the grow system sleeves so you can add I think it's up to two inches to the sleeves of the coat (as well as the pants if you buy the snow pants). Most of there coats are parka length. We were huge LLBean fans for years and one year my DH found an Obermeyer kids coat at a ski shop for 50 % off, bought it and she got almost 3 years out of it. We just bought her another one for this year. They're the only coats that seem to really keep her warm, in other words, we don't have to layer as much when she wears those as much as we do with others.

I would stay away from LE, we have two coats from them, the first one that we bought when DD1 was only 2 is awesome however we bought her one again when she was like 4 and it was awful!!! THe zipper was terrible, we had such a hard timewith that coat that I won't buy another one from them, LOL!!!

[Green_Tea]

DS had a great coat from REI last year. Warm but not absurdly bulky.

[Kindra178]

DS had a great coat from REI last year. Warm but not absurdly bulky.

Was it REI brand?

[bubbaray]

We get the LLB Katahdin Parkas (http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/70014?feat=503537-GN3)for my girls for skiing. They are very thin (Thinsulate?) and not bulky at all, but warm enough for skiing at Whistler. They use them in town on the rare occasion that we have snow/cold temps. For their main winter coats, I get them the LLB Warmup jackets (http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/70018?feat=503537-GN3&productId=1170033&attrValue_0=Wild Orchid/Carnation)

[Green_Tea]

Was it REI brand?

Yup! I'll try to find something similar and link.

[HIU8]

DD has had that. I'm not a huge fan of that brand for her. I don't like that the hood is thin (sometimes you just want a nice hood and a hat or one or the other. The main issue, I had with it though is that it just never fit DD really well. I had one for DS that I loved b/c it seemed to fit him so well. I think it may fit skinny kids better than more solid round kids (DS compared to DD).

[Melanie]

Are Hannas too thin?

[ThreeofUs]

Northface. Patagonia. Really excellent clothes and can be found on the net, if you can't make it to an outlet.

Though I must say I miss the Ventura Patagonia outlet. ;)

Amazon has some good prices,

http://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Haute-Belle-Jacket-Little/dp/B003YSRW7E/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1312069585&sr=8-16

as does the Cabela's online outlet. Oh, Spyder and Cabela's own brand are also good.

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/browse/bargain-cave-kids-clothing-girls-jackets-parkas-pants/_/N-1102762/Ns-CATEGORY_SEQ_105735780?WTz_l=SBC%3Bcat105591780%3B cat105732180

[Melanie]

Northface. Patagonia. Really excellent clothes and can be found on the net, if you can't make it to an outlet.

Though I must say I miss the Ventura Patagonia outlet. ;)

I asked my mom to go there once for me, though she's a bargain-BRAND shopper, and she felt everything was still pricey. Is it worth it, for those of us who shop better brands, or just a small discount?

[momtoz85]

Hannas have wonderful coats!

[ThreeofUs]

I asked my mom to go there once for me, though she's a bargain-BRAND shopper, and she felt everything was still pricey. Is it worth it, for those of us who shop better brands, or just a small discount?


I hear you! Patagonia is really really pricey. Their outlet is a little less so, and if you go during one of their sales, you get down into the "reasonable" range, lol.

But if you just go to their outlet expecting what normally would be considered "outlet prices", like 75% off, you won't get those across the board. They always have some things that are big discount, but definitely not all....