Designers give their advice for picking out the season’s garments.
By: Alex Steil
Every Minnesotan’s grandmother has a phrase similar to: “It’s not bad weather, just bad clothing.”
A first Minnesota winter is difficult for anyone, especially if you haven’t encountered any of it before. What is most difficult is knowing exactly how to shop for the winter clothing you’ll need to stay warm during the season.
Are hybrid pants really useful? What about Canada Goose coats: are they really worth the price tag?
With two professional designers to help, here is a quick guide to help you buy the right winter clothes.
Remember price isn’t everything
Winter wear usually hits the racks in September and October, so you’ll want to start looking early.
But you’ll see lots of variability in price. Winter coats at Target go for roughly $60. A North Face coat is usually around $325. Canada Goose swoops in with their starting price of $750 for their winter coats.
Even for a native Minnesotan, that doesn’t make much sense.
It’s important to know price is not the final measure of a good coat.
“There are some people who make those jackets at a really affordable price,” said Sarah Jane Zahradka, an outerwear coat designer. “Sometimes you’re just paying for the name brand. You don’t have to spend all that money.”
Zahradka said Costco and Walmart have nice materials in their coats without the hefty price tag. Consumers should also be wary of companies –– The North Face, for one, she said –– that market their technology as something more expensive than warranted.
“The outerwear world has a really fun way of taking generic insulation that you would find in your couch or your jacket or your comforter and putting a trademarked name on it and making you feel like it’s much more expensive,” Zahradka said.
Shop for used outwear
If you don’t want to buy new from a store, the Twin Cities has plenty of options to buy used clothes. But before doing this, take some small steps to make sure you purchase what you can live with.
For one thing, take a whiff of the coat. “Some fibers, like acrylic, hold on to smell,” said Sarah Sheber, a fabric designer at Target. You probably would not want the cigarette or lilac perfume smells from the previous lingering on your new clothes.
Sheber also recommends looking at all of the major stress seams — in winter coats “the edges of zippers, especially at the top and at the bottom” and the underarms — when buying used clothing.
Sacrifice fashion for function
Tempted to buy something that looks really nice? During some of the really cold Minnesota days, you’ll want functionality much more than sporting a fashionable coat.
Sheber and Zahradka said designers try to make nice-looking items, but winter wear is still an area where functionality rules.
Their design process, including winter wear, incorporates broader fashion trends to make their items more appealing. That process usually takes 18 months.
A transplant from Philadelphia who moved just over a decade ago, Sheber said it took her a while to get adjusted to the winters.
“What used to be my winter coat became my fall jacket when I moved here,” Sheber said. “I grew up with winter, this is fine.”
There is a way to make winter design fashionable, but it should not be the priority. Sheber recognized ankle-length puffer coats and other accessories were necessary to get through the winter, but still realized there was more than just wearing something fashionable.
Zahradka was even more blunt: “Don’t ever sacrifice fashion for function.”
Don’t worry too much
Sheber said there are three basic rules she advises for new Minnesota residents.
First, be comfortable with what you’re going to buy — you won’t wear it if you don’t like it. Second, don’t be afraid to accessorize, including items like hats and gloves. Finally, know that (at some point) you’ll adjust to the cold.
“It may seem shocking at first, but it doesn’t actually take you that long to adjust to the extreme temperature,” Sheber said. “If you have the right gear, it’s really not a big deal.”
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