I personally find a good water-proof ski jacket to be a much more useful investment than one of those puffy designer parkas that cost $700. It is a lot less bulky, and 1/3 the price and it will keep you warm. My current ski jacket did just fine going through 4 winters in Toronto and 2 in Montreal.
Canada Goose is particularly expensive because it is such a name-brand at the moment, so you pay extra because of the cachet. Indeed those bulky parkas are all the rage now with Italian fashion designers now produces even more expensive ones that are in the thousands of dollars. Unless you are going on on a trek to the North Pole you really don’t need a $1000+ coat for winter.
Yeah, you’re not climbing Mt. Everest here. I’ve lived in upstate New York for 21 years and no one here wears those ridiculously overpriced coats. Somehow we’ve all survived.
My daughter has a Northface down jacket, not bulky. It covers to her mid thigh which is nice and also has a detachable hood. No regrets. It cost $249 I think.
Back again. I bought DD a Columbia three-layer coat; I can’t remember the name, but it came below her hips and has the omniheat technology. It’s not for Ithaca, but because she’s hoping to go to Harbin next fall. It worked perfectly fine for Ithaca and we’re hoping with extra layers underneath (I bought it a little large) it’ll even be warm enough for Harbin in December.
