winter coats would you really spend £100 on a 4 year old?

[pombears22]

Was talking about this with a mum friend this morning - around us most kids wear coats that cost around 100 quid. To me that just seems a bit mad for a pre-schooler when others are so much cheaper. I mean how much technology does a pre-schooler need for a British winter. Same with waterproofs etc etc - somehow I just thought that kids dont really need this stuff but I've only just moved back to the UK so unsure whether am totally off the mark here

@3WildOnes

OP you can often get Polarn O Pyret coats for less than £50 in the sale, I know because I have bought one recently. Also they often pop up in charity shops in nice areas of London. I would assume most are buying them in the sales or second hand.

Aah yes, there’s a very active market for second hand PoP stuff, even PoP is in on it - they’re starting a buy back and second hand scheme at some point this year I think, I had an email about it a while ago.

We're in SE London, don't need tech gear unless skiing. If you're in the north of Scotland I'd assume you need proper 'cold' gear. Mine never even wore their snowsuits as babies, just too hot for them.

I always bought coats from next for something waterproof and warm and bright so you could pick them out on the climbing frame etc. At 4yo £40. Probably get another £20 sainsburys one for nursery/school /rough wear.

I recommend also a light down filled coat from Mountain warehouse. Really practical to keep them warm but not too heavy to carry when they ditch it on you.

Occasionally Would buy Joules more for summer coats. Bit pricier.

Would easily spent £100 buying a next winter cost, a cheap second coat, a summer waterproof coat and also waterproof trousers As well at 4yo.

We are fairly comfortably off, and wouldn’t spend that on a four year old’s coat. They’re just so hard on their clothes, it doesn’t seem worth it.

We tend to buy Frugi coats which I think are around £45/50, and try to buy styles for DD that we can hand down to DS too.

I wouldnt even spend that much on a coat for me let alone a child who will grow out of it in five mins

There must be a thriving second hand market for high end clothes for small children as they'll grow out of things before they're anywhere near worn out.

Look on FB marketplace, eBay, local nearly new sales or charity shops.

Plus once you've finished you'll be able to sell on again, so the cost is probably far cheaper and comparable with high street/supermarket clothes if you can find what you need.

Got DD a Lands End coat when she started nursery aged 3. We got her a bigger size I think age 5-6. It still fits her now age 6.5 and still in great condition. I think it cost maybe £80. They have some nice coats for kids, nice and warm.

I don't think a child deserves to be less warm than me. My son has considerably less body fat. The real issue is that I can get many years out of a coat, my son only one or two.

I tend to buy coats that originally are in that sort of price range but when they are in the sales a year in advance. They last well and can be passed on when finished with. Don’t pay anywhere near £100 for them though!

I also think it totally depends on your child. I wouldn't ever spend that much on DS as he hardly wears a coat. Whereas DD is out in the garden or out playing, in her coat, come rain hail or shine so I would spend more on a good quality coat for her.

Ugh, I’m so sick of the trends in ‘socially acceptable’ brands such as Polarn O Pyret for kids’ outerwear and Baby-sodding-zen Yo-yo for prams, which leaves the kid rolling along an inch off the ground. I live in an area that sounds very much like yours OP. I do not adhere to it. My kid is in nursery and I’ve had another mother enquire as to where my kid’s coat was from. It’s a lovely thick waterproof Parker (he’s only one). I’m pretty sure she actually blanched when I said it was £14 from Tesco.

90% of my children's clothes come from M&S, so personally probably not. However £100 isn't a lot for some people so why wouldn't they spend it on a coat they like for their child?

I accept cheap coats might not be brilliant for skiing or a trip to the arctic but a supermarket coat is perfectly warm enough for a winter in London

I’ve bought one reduced from £100 to £50 in the sale. I bought it as it was 3 in 1, so a puffa jacket and long rain coat that can be worn separately or all together (I find most rain coats aren’t warm enough for winter). I thought this would get me through an entire year as the rain coat bit can be worn alone in spring/autumn. What I hadn’t accounted for was my 4 year old absolutely trashing it. So defo wouldn’t spend that much again and defo never £100!

You do need a warm coat, British winters may be milder than some but it can still be bitterly cold. This year has been very (worryingly) mild.

£100 is crazy but you can always re-sell on Ebay. I buy most of my son's clothes on there, good quality clothes for a few pounds.

Fuck no. You can get really good thermal waterproof coats for 4 year olds for less than £50 that's what I get my 4 year old DSS.

PoP coats aren’t normally £100, I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than £60 or so on one for my boys and both kids have them. They’re really decent quality although the bloody hoods fall of and get lost within days every time.

My 4yo's nursery has them outside constantly - even more so than usual since the pandemic. They spend the bulk of the day in the woods or on the beach, year round. We are in the north of Scotland, so I do make sure he has a decent winter jacket. I got a regatta ski style jacket for less than £50, but it would have been easy to spend more.

No, only had a sheepskin coat once from , ex soon became too fitted, coats need to be washable now.
Only a best coat about £40 years ago, no washing it

Boden do a really warm waterproof one that's around £100 full price. I did ds one when he was about 6 or 7, but for £40 in the sale! I bought it big and got 2 or 3 winters out of it. It was a lovely coat, but £100's of lovely!!

I was a bit funny about coats as I've always been a working mum so the dc's have been with a childminder and I had terrible guilt about them walking to and from school in the cold and wet.

But as pre-schoolers had they had waterproof ones with a zip-in fleece layer from Mountain Warehouse!

No, that’s a stupid amount. I’d understand it if we lived in a freezing snowy climate where the coat would be used potentially all year round but we don’t do it will get 5-6 months of use max then it will be outgrown. Total waste of money. I spend about £40 on mine max, usually from Frugi.

No, and never seen it round here. My dd 8 and 10 have good quality coats as they wear them every day in the winter. They are from Next and Boden - about £40-50 each. Shoes are about the same and seems more expensive as they don't last long! At least you can often get 2 winters out of a coat!

I usually get mountain warehouse jackets, they are around £40 which feels expensive but are very warm and can be passed on to DS2.

It's all relative isn't it? It depends what you can afford.

I wouldn't have spent that on a 4yr old personally as I wouldn't have thought it necessary (ie a 4yo doesn't give a shit what he/she is wearing) but now mine are teens they all have £250 puffa jackets!

Well I wouldn’t, but I might buy it second hand

We need to stop buying crap clothes, so if these are well made and can be passed on for years, great. I got fancy clothes off my American cousin and I swear they were circulating round my town 29 years later..