Hi all,
Does anyone know what we need to equip a student for winter in Minnesota? I live in CA and now till Feb might be the only time for me to find some good amount of winter clothings. I don’t want to do shopping in MN when we send her there in August because I will only have a week’s time. Any suggestions? People from MN? Current or graduated Carls? Thanks a lot in advance!
*please also recommend stores and brands that work great for students in MN (the ones that I can find in CA or online).
Yes, it’s a great idea to purchase winter clothes now. I spoke with several parents of new Carls from CA when school started this year and they had a hard time finding winter apparel in the Minneapolis stores in September, since these stores had not started selling heavy winter clothes yet. You can try stores/online REI, North Face, LL Bean, Lands End, and backcountry.com. For thermal underwear Patagonia Capilene 3 works well. An insulated (down or primaloft) jacket is a necessity. See Insulated Outerwear: How to Choose: http://■■■■■■/1Ry3sy3 (on REI website) Also, gloves, scarves, boots etc. Dress in layers and remember to stay away from cotton, as cotton traps water inside its fibers, keeping your body wet. http://■■■■■■/1Zja9FI
Wait the links didn’t work @CollegeGrad79
Yes, not sure if you want to buy a year ahead but REI, LLBean, North face, Lands End are places to look. Sorel boots seem to be big around here.
@kchendds I guess CC doesn’t allow links. First link was from REI, “Insulated Outerwear: How to Choose” second link “Why cotton kills A Technical Explanation”
Got it! Thank you so much. @CollegeGrad79
You could probably buy everything you need in half a day at the Mall of America on the south side of the Twin Cities. It will be warm when your student arrives, so they can also easily order things on the Internet. That might be easier than buying and transporting heavy clothing.
@intparent Did you mean I can have them ship to her school if I buy things online?
If you have a Sports Basement near you, you can find lots of ski/winter things right now, often at a discount. (And if you have a AAA card they give you an additional 10% off). Mine went from CA to the east coast, and a good friend went to Carleton, so we went through this last year. I bought everything (even dorm room things) at a discount in December/January/February and the savings more than made up for the cost of shipping things in August. My D has a 3-in-1 from North Face, but the friend at Carleton got a longer winter coat (also North Face) since it’s much colder there. Not sure where you are but Patagonia has some outlets in CA with huge savings (I’ve seen $400 winter coats on sale for $120). I would definitely recommend looking during the winter.
@MamaBear16 Great advice! Thank you so much.
The Sports Basement stores are all in N.Cal and they don’t sell anything online, right? I live in OC though.
I’m not sure, but you could call them and ask. Glad to be of some help. Also, we ordered boots from LLBean and they were on backorder – our January order arrived in May (plenty of time for us, but not for the kids who started shopping over the summer). We boxed up most of this and shipped it UPS to campus – made flying in much easier. We still picked up some items locally, but shopping this early really made it easier.
Yes, you can absolutely buy online and have things shipped to school. We do it all the time for my kids. You should wait until she has a mailbox number at school, though. You can check with admissions and they can help you figure out when she gets that. She might want to wait until she gets to campus to shop. While us parents are fine with Lands End or LL Bean, not all college students find them hip enough. Except for LL Besn boots, which are crazy back ordered now, she should have no trouble getting items if she orders by the end of September .
^And I don’t mean to imply that she needs LL Bean boots, there are plenty of others that would be fine. Just that they have had a recent surge in popularity and are hard to get right now.
So many great tips! Thank you!
Another question. Does she need a water-proof backpack? I used to live in Calgary some 20 years ago and I don’t recall what I used to carry my books…
Water resistant is good. Waterproof may be hard to find. Most of the kids do carry backpacks.
Thanks! @intparent I meant water-resistant 
If you have not done so, and your daughter has been accepted (early decision, I assume at this point), I’d recommend joining the parent email list. They are a GREAT resource for all things related to Carleton & MN. Typically there’s a request once a year (at least) for suggestions for winter apparel, when to bring it, etc, especially for people coming from climates very different than MN.
I will be the minority voice. I think it’s a fine idea to get stuff at end-of-winter sales, but we sent ds up there in the fall with the regular heavy coat he already had. We figured that would be enough to get him through mid-November, when he’d be home for six weeks. He bought a heavy coat over the break after getting advice from friends who were from MN and neighboring states (he ended up with North Face) and took it back for the winter trimester.
@wantcaramel yes she is accepted ED. How do I join the list? Btw, thanks for bringing it up.
@Youdon’tsay That’s some awesome idea! I am planning to visit her in Nov to watch the final playoff of her sports.Then I can bring her stuff with my empty bags! I really like this idea! Thank you so much!