ritchieee

Hi folks, I suppose this is aimed at those who are experienced in Canadian winters!

I'll be in Ontario probably til the end of this year, so I guess I'll experience some temperatures in the minus figures.

Where and what is the best place and time to buy a winter coat? At the moment the usual UK online stores have decent deals on warm North Face gear as it's out of season. I'm headed to Canada next week, would it work out cheaper to buy one there?

Cheers

Former Lancastrian

Depends how much that North Face jacket is going to cost in Canada.
There are other brands and you need to compare apples to apples.
If its a really good deal then buy it.

Piff Poff

You will only find winter coats in specialist stores this time of year. The end of August will see 'cold' stores getting coats, deals will start in late September imo.

scrubbedexpat091

And in some provinces may not even see winter coats til end of September/Early October, and good sales closer to December/January depending on how cold the winter has been.

We had some good deals in BC last winter as it wasn't very cold and stores seemed to have too much stock and not enough cold weather, so lots of sales.

MountainHiker

Depends on how great the deal is, usually get my winter gear from the US in April/May or October/November when you can get crazy deals on winter gear as they are trying to unload all the out of season clothing.

ritchieee

Thanks for the messages guys.

550 down TNF coats for like £150 from a very reputable store in the UK. Reckon it's worth waiting for the sales in Canada?

MillieF

Knowing that I was coming to the country of 'the great white lawn' two years before I came, I was on the lookout for all sorts of warm things....it's a great deal colder where I am than in Vancouver I might stress. I have a down filled jacket in practically every hue and shade and style known to man, but will probably never really wear them....when it gets really cold, I don't give a damn what I look like, so I could have just bought 'one'. Living where I did, lots of people went skiing and there were lots of bargains to be had at the end of season.

Piff Poff

I personally would wait and buy an Eddie Bauer down jacket, I have a BC 200 microtherm jacket which is one of their pricier ones but worth it. A microtherm 800 fill will do you just as well, I also have yhe prelude to that, they come in at around $150 regular prices, uou just need to watch for a 40% off day. But it all deprnds wether your worried about having a designer label or not.

Piff Poff

Thats why I mentioned 'cold' stores, they start getting winter coats when its plus 30 outside, just when your fogetting the hell thats about to descend

MillieF

What are you talking about?? I have pansies blooming in my pots in the garden...it won't ever change will it

MarkG

Think I paid $99 three or four years ago for my coat that I've worn in temperatures as low as -44C (into the -50s with wind chill) and, if anything, it's too hot rather than too cold. The only thing that might make me pay for a more expensive coat is more breathability when I'm sweating while shovelling snow.

JamesM

You'll have more range and styles of winter coat in Canada.

My advice would be for winter gear to buy here. Sometimes the weather can be reasonably mild till Christmas.

I did head out to try and buy a hard core Canada Goose jacket in mid-January this year but the brutality of the winter meant that the design I wanted had gone.

I got a pretty hard core North Face coat though for $250 on sale at Sporting Life.

This is what they currently have:

Sporting Life Online Store - Canada Goose, The North Face, Arcteryx, Nike, Lacoste

Piff Poff

It's hard to believe the changes that happen isn't it

iaink

If you are coming to Ontario and dont plan doing anything especially adventurous then you dont really need expensive technical gear. $100 at Walmart will get you something to get from your accomodation to the car to the office and back again. If you want something nicer then places like Winners will have a selection in the fall at well below MSRP.

If it were winter I would say buy in the UK and bring with you, bizarrely its sometimes really hard to get winter gear here in season at the cheaper stores. Dont wait till its cold to go looking in the stores here, there wont be anything left!

If you plan to use transit and catch the bus, then its going to be worth getting something to keep the worst of the weather out, but frankly most of the time all I wear for outerwear is either a shell or a fleece. Canada has heating and its more of a problem not to be too hot once the car has warmed up. Layers is the key.

BristolUK

My 3-in-1 works fine, even for standing at the bus stop or out on the bicycle.