<p>My d got into Bates ED, and we have been looking at winter coats and boots. We have had a very mild winter in the NY metro area. Can anyone recommend brands of Outerwear that will hold up to 4 years of Maine winters?</p>
<p>Love it! I have a client who travelled to Antarctica ON VACATION! this winter. She offered to give D her tour provided Antarctic Parka should D end up in MN for school.</p>
<p>Anything from LLBean. They replace items no questions, no receipt needed. Boots wear out, get them replaced…Same for backpacks/bags. Straps give under all the weight…it’s replaced.</p>
<p>Land’s End has good warm things too. I second LLBean. You can even go to the outlet on your way up to Bates.</p>
<p>You know, I would wait til your D is there and then order online. She will want to fit in I suspect and will want to wear the types of clothing other are. NY metro are clothing will surfice til she figures out what she wants.</p>
<p>Don’t know where you are from but I live in Maine and grew up in the midwest…Maine is not nearly as cold as IL, MN, or WI. </p>
<p>Bates is very close to LL Bean, everyone here in Maine (even the teenagers) wears LL Bean.</p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter on her Bates acceptance. My daughter is a freshman at Colby and her first purchase last Spring were her Bean Boots! Once there she asked for a Patagonia sweater fleece. I have also sent up some Smart Wool socks which she really likes. As far as brands go for jackets, north face and Patagonia seem popular, but really the kids at Bates and Colby seem to be individuals and I think function is more important to them then looking like everyone else. Besides a good pair of boots, I think whatever she would wear in NY is fine in Maine. it’s just that the winter season will be longer!</p>
<p>Stop shaving legs :D.</p>
<p>Please … no offense intended. I have a son - west coast kid - considering east coast schools. This is the same kid who went to Baltimore in November with his ‘winter coat’ - a sweatshirt! Wound up buying him a heavy ski coat with zip out lining. He in turn wore the outside of the coat and lent the liner to another California kid who brought their winter ‘sweatshirt’. Some of us really have no idea of what ‘winter’ means.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D!</p>
<p>3 cheers for Smart Wool - it has revolutionized my life!</p>
<p>My kids will not wear llbean clothing. They far prefer Northface, REI, and EMS brand outerwear…which is excellent and good quality. I would suggest you let your kiddo go to Bates and see what others have…then mail order it all.</p>
<p>They should have at least a week or two after school starts before the snow flies…</p>
<p>I lived in montana about 50 or so miles from the canadian border, so i have some idea of cold.</p>
<p>A good coat that fits right and has pockets. I cannot stress how important that is, even with gloves, your hands will freeze. Also, make sure it is made out of a material that can get wet and dry easily.</p>
<p>Personally i never wore boots, just tennis shoes, but i knew people who did. Get some with a good grip.</p>
<p>Hoodies are good for layers. Personally, i did not break out the heavy coat till it got below 0.</p>
<p>Leggings under pants for additional warmth when it hits -30 is good.</p>
<p>Oh yes, there are some cute long underwear these days! I would say quality pays off for cold weather gear…LL Bean, Patagonia, North Face, Helly Hansen and SmartWool socks can’t be beat. Arcteryx is expensive but good quality. There have been some really, really cute boots this winter from Sorel, Merrill and Keen that are snow and waterproof. If you want to see what the girls in Ann Arbor are wearing look at the Bivouac website they have already converted to Spring but the brands they sell are on a drop down. The key to staying warm is to layer up. Stormy Kromer hats were all the rage this winter in our snowy neck of the woods. I have boys…can you tell I’m living vicariously!</p>
<p>REI has recently opened a store in Soho if she wants to check out some stuff.</p>
<p>I’m from Maine, and given the winter we’re having this year, I would recommend a tank top and shorts. They’ll have to be from LL Bean though, because we don’t have any other stores (joke). </p>
<p>I had to laugh at the kid upthread going to Baltimore in November. Not at his attire – many teenagers in Maine spend the winter in hoodies – but the fact that he found November in Baltimore to be cold. That doesn’t bode too well for a northeast college selection, but you never know. They adapt!</p>
<p>wanna know something funny? I went out to my dads place a few years ago in virgina and it was springish and the weather was somewhat cold. All i brought was a couple of hoodies and they thought i was crazy lol.</p>
<p>My son’s in Northern Vermont and he wears an Eddie Bauer down jacket. He also has a pea coat. I would highly suggest letting him go with whatever he has now and decide around Thanksgiving what would be good. Most kids really don’t wear winter coats until it’s in the 40’s do they?</p>
<p>My daughter is a student in Vermont. It has been an unusually mild winter in New England, but we sent her off prepared for bitter cold (we live in the southwest). Layering is the key. The students wear fleece jackets and hoodies when it starts to get chilly. When it is colder they will add a weatherproof shell or an insulated jacket. When it gets really cold, which hasn’t occurred this year, they will replace the jacket with an insulated parka or coat. They will also have long underwear but it will be the newer synthetic type. The preferred brand of outerwear, including fleeces, seems to be North Face but LL Bean is acceptable. </p>
<p>If price is a consideration, as it was for us, the time to buy is off-season. We picked up some real bargains on North Face gear on eBay during the summer. The styles and color offerings change very little but they do change and the prices will be higher in the autumn for the latest range.</p>
<p>Make sure your student makes the choices; otherwise, the clothes, no matter how functional, won’t be worn. We sent our son off to university in England four years ago with very practical and attractive LL Bean outerwear, which he refused to wear because it was too obviously American. He sent photos of himself in the snow and sleet wearing a surplus wool overcoat and no hat.</p>
<p>^this</p>
<p>I got a $150+ coat for like $30 on sale during the spring. Can’t beat those prices.</p>
<p>Unless she’s going to be engaged in a lot of outdoor activity in the winter, long underwear is unlikely to be necessary in Maine. We sent D off to school with fall jackets, and when she came home for October break, we went winter coat shopping. That way she had a better handle on what the kids were wearing and what she wanted.</p>