Hi, I am going to a boarding school in PA, I am from Florida so I do not have any coats. Can you please give me some suggestions on which coats to buy for the weather over there? I am guessing that we will need multiple coats for different temperatures, which ones are suitable for which seasons?
I bought my son a brand new winter coat for at the beginning of his third form at the Hill. I don’t think he’s taken the tags off yet. I also bought him a puffy vest, I know he hasn’t taken the tags off of that. He has a couple quarter zip sweaters and his sport coats, so with those he is fine most of the time. I don’t think you will need to go all out, maybe just a windbreaker/rain jacket and a winter coat and you should be fine.
I agree that kids seem to not wear coats unless it is really, truly freezing and tend to wear more sweaters or fleeces (esp the boys – I’ve seen shorts in February!). But in the NE and probably in PA too it really does get that cold from time to time.
You may want to check out LL Bean or, on the more pricey side, North Face or Patagonia, who have coats that come w/a zip-out inner insulation layer (down, thermoball, or primaloft) with an outer waterproof shell. SmallFry has one and wears the layers separately or if it is really bitter cold, together. There are a lot of good deals now on coats – you can check out REI, Sierra Trading Post, or Moosejaw online.
You didn’t ask about this but you may also want to look into boots – I think the traditional LL Bean boots are popular. If you are doing a revisit you can check out what kids are wearing.
Wait until you go to school. You won’t need the coat/jacket/vest right away, and you will want to see what others are wearing before shelling out the money for a coat. Vests are useful.