 Poster: A snowHead
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First of all, hello to everybody!
Here am I guys, a little bit embarassed but there is always a beggining!
I have booked our first ski holiday (in France), for myself, my wife and our two kids (4 and 6).
We are planning to take ski lessons in advance.
However, being our first time, I would not like to jump in and spend a lot of money for the equipment...
Therefore I was wondering if you could kindly provide me some advices about what and where to buy some ski jackets and trousers.
My budget is around £200 for myself and mywife(so £100 for each) and for the kids I hope to be able to stay in £60 for each of them.
I would be very grateful if you could give me some suggestion and tell me if I can buy the equipment with this amount of money.
Just to be clear, these money are allocated only for jacket and trousers.
Any advise is more than welcome (where to buy from, what brand, what I need to consider) etc.
Thank you very much in advance,
marius
PS: I am interested only in good quality (something which is really waterproof and keeps you warm). It does not have to be/look cool/posh.
I am saying this becasue I have seen some ski jackets which cost a huge amount of money!!! I am sure there is a reason behind this, but honestly I can not aford it.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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TK Maxx is usually a pretty good bet!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Thank you for your fast answer mate!
To be honest I have already looked at TK-Maxx...but for me is confusing...for most of the jackets is not mentioned if they are waterproof/windproof.
Please do not get me wrong...but I have read quite a lot about this subject in the last few days and it seems it is a very complicated choice...different technologies used to make the material breathable, waterproof, if it has a snowskirt or not...
If the product is not described in terms of features, how am I supposed to choose one?
Thanks,
Marius
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marius_sirbu, welcome to snowheads. I was in decathlon today and they had all their ski clothing in stock and at a good price. It's not a fancy label but it should still do the job.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hi, Mrs Snow_Dog here. H&M is great for kids ski wear, hard wearing, warm and waterproof (Jackets c. £30, trousers £20). Plus Trespass for thermals and worth checking out their skiwear for all of you. If you have a Decathlon near you they have some really good adult and childrens jackets and trousers, plus socks, thermals, gloves, hats etc.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Snow_Dog,
+1 for the H&M kids stuff, -100 for their customer service though.
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+1 for TK maxx, Dare2Be although budget end of the scale is good enough for a couple of seasons at least, jackets 40-60 quid trousers 30-40 quid. I got jacket and trousers one year from aldi or lidl, they were not gorgeous but they did the job in January temps 2 seasons running.
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skiwear4less.com do some good deals, Lidl's ski deals are coming up next Thurs and no doubt Aldi's (usually a little better quality than Lidl) will be along in a week or two, my Aldi soft shell trousers will be going strong into their 4th year this winter and softshell jacket into its 3rd both easily as good as big name equivalents costing several times the price. The kids have been fine in their jackets and trousers from both Aldi and Lidl.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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TK Maxx is amazing - especially if your wife would prefer a girlier jacket than the basic ones tend to be. Though if you possibly can, it's good to get to a shop.
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Thank you very much for your answers!
I will start having a look in the shops you told me about...
Enjoy your ski!
Marius
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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You could always try ebay, though be wary of fakes etc.
As a guide regarding quality, most snow kit is now rated for waterproofness & breathability.
Each of these ratings is per 1000 (mm for waterproofness, not sure about breathability), but if you take the general assumption that the higher the number the more "technical" the kit....usually ratings go from about 3k (cheaper / less tech) up to 20-25k, this'll give you some sort of guide as to what sort of kit you're buying....hope this helps!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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+1 Ebay kids grow so fast, I always get my daughters kit after selling last years!!!
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Hello again guys,
I have tried to have a look online on the stores that you mentioned...
However I am facing the following issue: for most of the products it is not specified any technical detail, like water-proof, water -breathability. As I said before I tried to familiarize myself a little bit with the technical bits (like what does it mean to be 5k mm water proof, Vapor Transfer Rate, seam taping).
I think is totally unfair not to include these details in the online description of the items....just few of them are mentioning the water-proof number, but that is all.
So would you think is better to go and literally visit the shop instead of just shopping online?
Are all the technical characteristics usually written on the garment's label, so at least I can see them if I go to the shop?
Now maybe some of you will say: look at this guy, first he said he is an absolute novice and now he talks about all this stuff....without even seeing a slope! 
Well, it is true, but I am a technical person and I like to learn what is "behind the curtains" no matter what I studying....
regards,
marius
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You know it makes sense.
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marius_sirbu, when most of us started skiing, nobody had heard of X thousand waterproof or Y thousand breathability. We bought cheap stuff in C & A and - guess what? We didn't just survive, we enjoyed ourselves.
I vote for T K Maxx too. I was in my local one yesterday. They had plenty of Helly Hansen, Trespass and Dare2Be jackets, around £50, all would be fine.
I had a T K Maxx Trespass jacket, cost £50, which I wore for 2 entire seasons - around 30 weeks of skiing.
You can also get gloves there - I got a good Goretex pair of beautiful mitts for £20.
If you insist on going for all the top technical specifications you will spend your entire budget on yourself. Leave the wife and kids at home and - off to go!
For skiing, breathability is more important than waterproofing. If it's absolutely pouring with rain when you have your lessons (which would be very bad luck but is not entirely impossible) you might get a bit wet, but you won't get cold - because it doesn't rain when it's cold and beginner ski lessons are quite energetic. You need flexible layering (base layers are cheap too - I got good ones for my grandchildren in Sports Direct yesterday, reduced to 2 for £ . A cheap fleece middle layer (you probably have fleeces already) and a £50 Helly Hansen or Trespass jacket from T K Maxx.
Get two pairs of gloves for the kids - they get them wet, fast.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Decathlon is also v good if there's one where you live.
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Poster: A snowHead
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TK Maxx is good if you see something you fancy but beware of salesmens ex samples, sometimes they're not the same spec as the production run of the same garment.
Try you local independant ski shop as well, everything will be ski specific, the staff will have much better product knowledge and you'll still get a bargin if they've got some of last seasons gear that they want to get rid of.
Buy local if you can.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Quote: |
We bought cheap stuff in C & A and - guess what? We didn't just survive, we enjoyed ourselves.
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C&A stuf was rubbish though, admit it. I was almost always if not actually wet, then at least damp. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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If I needed to kit myself out from scratch on a budget I'd just wait for Aldi or the like (e.g. Lidl in a few weeks) to have their ski-gear-week and stock up then. It probably doesn't have all the technical features of some other gear but it's good enough and a good price and will certainly do you well for a week or two skiing.
At other times I've used Mountain Warehouse and been pleased with their stuff too.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Fri 26-10-12 15:06; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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My local store....www.rivingtonalpine.co.uk/
Always helpful and had plenty sale stuff available last time I was in, would have thought it'd be on their website too.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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just had a look at rivington alpine - all pretty pricey, even the clearance items way over the OP's budget (£169 jackets!). Also, maybe it's just my computer, but the models all tall and thin?
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| Quote: |
C&A stuf was rubbish though, admit it. I was almost always if not actually wet, then at least damp.
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We were well'ard though! None of these boot heaters, fleece neck buffs and covered chairlifts.
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You'll look like a loser shopping at TJ Maxx.
Spend a bit more on the old creditcard and look like the Fonz.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Whitegold wrote: |
You'll look like a loser shopping at TJ Maxx.
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Should've gone to Specsavers? 
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Hello again guys,
You were very kind I and appreciate a lot your answers!)
That is why I thought that it would be nice to give you an update....in the meantime my wife went to TK-Maxx and she managed to buy a Regatta jacket in £60 (5k mm water proof) and a pair of Trespass trousers (same, 5k mm) in £30...so it seems you were right and we can stay in the budget.
The nice thing about her jacket is that it comes with a detachable fleece!
On the label it is written it is using ISOTEX 5000. It has under arm zip ventilations, integrated hood and also it is written it has hydrophilic breathable system ( I have not had the time to read what it means... )
Tomorrow hopefully it will be my go...
Kind regards,
Marius
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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marius_sirbu, if you haven't already found something for yourself, you could do a lot worse than what kieranm says:
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I'd just wait for Aldi
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I bought myself a jacket and trousers set from them for £40 several seasons back, not really expecting too much. In fact it's been fantastic, still waterproof seven or eight weeks' skiing later, and it kept me warm down to -25C last year. It's certainly exceeded expectations by a long way. The thing is to find out what day they're getting their stuff in (end of November last year) and get there as early as you can.
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You know it makes sense.
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snowmum123, i was tempted by the set deal...just too good to miss.
How are they with regards to breathability? My current jacket is useless (becomes wet on the inside), so I'm looking for a cheap, breathable, replacement.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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ALQ, I'm sorry, I don't know about breathability as such. I don't remember mine making any claims about that (though I do remember Thinsulate). I've never been soaking wet inside it, though - possibly because the jacket has zipped underarm vents which I've used on occasion. As I liked the colour and style that year (and still do), I reckon Aldi have done me proud. We've bought assorted other ski stuff from them since, and - for our needs anyway - it's seemed as good as other brands you'd pay a lot more for.
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FAQ
). It's much better to go personally and try them on than to shop online. Jackets, or trousers, supposedly the same size can feel very different - you need to be sure they are comfortable, and you can move easily in them. Some sad people are more concerned about whether they look like The Fonz. 
