<p>I don’t have a problem with being fashionable; as long as the product performs well and North Face stuff does perform well from what I’ve heard.</p>
<p>I personally think that LL Bean performs better. Son has had an LL Bean coat for five years and it’s worked very well - he loves the thing but he doesn’t care about fashion. Daughter loves North Face. If it keeps her warm and fits well and looks good, and she is happy, then I’m happy.</p>
<p>I thought North Face was a joke; we’d all had Columbia jackets for years and they were at least $100 less. Oldest D wanted a North Face in the worst way & I told her I’d give her the amount of money I’d pay for a Columbia but she’d have to come up with the rest. She did and I quickly realized that there was a huge difference. So now DH, DD1, DD2 & I all have North Faces (and I apologized to D1 and paid her back the difference.)</p>
<p>The Uggs popularity have caused a problem in my house in that D2, who has some circulation issues, refused to get any because all the girls at school had them for fashionable purposes (and that is so not her thing.) I just bought her a pair for Christmas & had her wear them in the house for a day to humor me. She has reluctantly admitted that her feet are not cold when she wears them. So she’ll keep them & her feet won’t turn weird colors :)</p>
<p>Interesting about the North Face comments. Trust me, ds has no fashion sense, but he did notice what was worn on campus after the first snowfall. Said he saw mainly Columbia and North Face, with more North Face. If the brand is showy and preppy, this will be the first preppy piece of clothing he’s ever had!</p>
<p>I have just about talked him out of the mittens, though he said everything he’s read says that mittens are warmer. The REI-brand gloves he wore for his first campus snowball fight got soaked pretty quickly, he said, and so were fairly worthless.</p>
<p>We still haven’t done our family Christmas yet, so I think we’ll just make this stuff part of his Christmas present. Thankfully, I hadn’t bought a lot of other gifts as of yet.</p>
<p>OP some future advice (if you’re still reading the thread): when making a winter jacket or snowpants or gloves purchase, prices are a lot cheaper in the spring (at least where I’m from- Illinois). I don’t know if the North Face store will necessarily lower their prices, but places like Macys and Kohls probably will. </p>
<p>Last spring at Macys I got a Columbia jacket (170 retail) for 30 bucks new :)</p>
<p>YDS: One of the great things about REI is that their staff really know their stuff. If you can go in there and talk with one of the salespeople, I’m sure they’d steer you in the right direction.</p>
<p>I’ve found that the best time to buy a winter coat is in July at a physical store in the clearance section. I got my daughter her NorthFace on clearance in the spring at an online place.</p>
<p>This past fall, the local Sports Authority had a ton of North Face stuff and I suspect that it will be discounted heavily by mid to late spring.</p>
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<p>Speaking as a fellow Texan, while we might be able to find actual warm coats at stores like REI or Dicks, the department stores are useless. The light little things that they sell would keep one warm down to about 50 degrees. When I wear my "Texas " gloves in Illinois, I feel like I might as well have nothing on, for all the good they do.</p>
<p>^^^ Agree. Even the woman at our local Cabela’s said they stuff they sell isn’t what you’d get at the Cabela’s in MN and recommended we not buy anything at her store.</p>
<p>Keep an eye on deal sites (I like slickdeals, myself). Last spring I saw North Face Denali black jackets on sale at great prices. Well, great prices for North Face. 
And sometimes you can strike it lucky on craigslist–someone’s moved, or their taste has changed, or they got a duplicate as a present.</p>
<p>I didn’t read the whole thread, so sorry if someone said this before but: Long underwear would be a very good buy. Preferably a couple pairs of shirts and a couple pairs of pants. They seem dorky, but on really cold days in Massachusetts it was such a boon to be able to slip them on underneath my jeans. They keep you very warm without adding any extra bulk, and they allow you to wear a lot of your normal clothes (jeans, t-shirts, etc) without sacrificing warmth. </p>
<p>I also think it would be a good idea to either buy your stuff at a proper outdoors store like REI or buy it at stores in Minnesota when he arrives. Also, maybe consider getting him a gift certificate for one of those stores in Minnesota so that he can pick up extra little things he may find he needs as the weather turns. For example, having extra hats and gloves are always nice, as those tend to get lost.</p>
<p>For long underwear, I’d recommend the tech stuff which keeps you warm outside but doesn’t heat you up when you are inside.</p>
<p>I’m wearing a tech long-sleeve shirt today under my dress shirt in the office today. It has thermal management so that it doesn’t feel warm in the office but does add warmth when I am outside.</p>
<p>agreeing with smithie. i called them ‘thermals’ earlier, but i think the proper term may be either ‘longjohns’ or ‘long underwear’. the terms are pretty much used interchangeably here in southern cal (where the need for them rarely arises!). they are thin, flexible, soft, warm and comfy for males and females. essential for cold weather.</p>
<p>For long underwear, I like Winter Silks. Check them out on line. They are very cozy, and come in different weights, style and colors. Even in SoCal a house can get a bit chilly at night, so rather than turn the heat on, I’ll slip on a light weight pair of Winter Silks under my other clothes and be very comfy.</p>
<p>When setting out to get winter gear, remember that in cold climates, they can really crank up the heat in dorms and classroom buildings onc campus, so once again, dressing in layers is the way to go. When we Skype with S, who goes to school just N of Chicago, I never see him wearing anything bulky when he’s inside a building and have heard not one complaint about building temperatures this winter.</p>
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<li><p>I got an Alpine Design jacket a few years back on the sale rack at Sports Authority for ~$20. It’s served me well for extended outdoor recreation in temperatures from 30 above to 20 below zero. They may have discontinued the model, but I can’t resist recommending that jacket. REI brand jackets are good as well.</p></li>
<li><p>Mittens are warmer than gloves, but they are also more awkward to use. Having a pair on hand for emergencies isn’t a bad idea, but I would invest in a good pair of winter gloves. Costco sold some very nice HEAD gloves last season, and I think I saw them again a few weeks ago.</p></li>
<li><p>One of the nice things about places with true winter (Minnesota, Alaska, etc.) is that you are less likely to get damp than in places like Boston or St. Louis. The powder snow usually won’t melt until you go inside, so learning to shake it off before it gets a chance to soak through jeans or sneakers is a good skill to develop.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m not a big fan of snowboots, mostly because sneakers work fine if you follow the advice in #3 and they are more comfortable. However, a cheap pair of boots might be a good investment just in case a big dump of icy snow comes down, perhaps during the spring.</p></li>
<li><p>Nobody is going to wear snowpants around campus for day-to-day activities. However, they can be handy for messing around in the snow and are a good safety item in any case.</p></li>
<li><p>Many northern colleges have tunnel/skyway systems connecting classroom buildings, which can make going to class a bit warmer.</p></li>
<li><p>Keep a pair of cheap fleece gloves in the pockets of the jacket. That way there will always be gloves available.</p></li>
<li><p>Hats are much better than hoods for keeping warm, especially if it is windy. An inexpensive fleece hat would be a great investment.</p></li>
<li><p>Keep in mind that less-warm clothes are needed when exercising. That’s why I like jackets that are warm when sealed up but not too hot if you open them up. Long underwear is still a good idea.</p></li>
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<p>My coat has a down-lined hood + velcro wraps that cover your chin. That + hooded sweatshirt + chem lab goggles will keep you head pretty warm (sometimes too warm) and allow you to wander around outside in very windy conditions without getting blinded.</p>
<p>Another thing to remember…ALL cold weather places have stores…and your student can also purchase online if needed. SO…get what you can find, if you can find it, and then don’t fret. The student can fill in the blanks at either a store or by ordering online.</p>
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Eh, I think the advantage of a hat is that it keeps you warm but is otherwise flexible - you can still rotate your neck or stay loose while running.</p>
<p>In very cold weather - think -30 or below - a hat and a warm hood work well together. But I would generally try to avoid being outside at all when it’s that cold.</p>
<p>BTW, I can’t resist asking: do you ever get funny looks because of the lab goggles? ;)</p>
<p>The problems that I have with hats are: constriction, they absorb scalp oils, they are easily lost. Some of my coats have glove pockets or you can clip them to your coat when you are inside.</p>
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<p>I think that most people walking around in a blizzard with 30 mph winds have enough trouble just trying to see where they are going.</p>
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A fleece hat is usually pretty easy to wash but is cheap enough to replace if you forget to put it away. I got several of my hats for free, so I worry a bit less about that.
Point granted. We don’t really get those kind of conditions where I live. The winds are either hurricane-force but warm (SE) or bitterly cold but with sunny skies (North). In the latter case, I wear sunglasses.</p>
<p>Hmmm. How about swimming goggles? Would those work as well? More compact than lab goggles.</p>
<p>For those of you laughing, you should know that I keep some in the kitchen for when I chop onions, and they work a treat.</p>