To think that not all 15 year olds have a North Face jacket?

[Shinyredbicycle]

DD15 is seriously nagging us about getting a North Face jacket to the tune of £300. Apparently, everyone at school has one, they're very warm, last forever etc.

I'm a bit surprised given the decidedly non-middle class demographic of her school tbh, but I have seen a lot of teens wearing them.

My first thought was that it's an insane amount of money to spend on a jacket. Her last one was from Urban Outfitters which I bought in the sale and I suppose that given that she's not going to grow very much more, I'd feel okay spending around £100 on something she really wanted.

But £300! Am I missing something here about how vital they are to a young person's life? It's quite possible that I don't really get how desirable they are.

Would like to hear from other parents of teens about how reasonable a request this is!

TIA

Guilty of buying one for DD. Peer pressure. Got ours from Cheshire Oaks. Nowhere near £300.

Well I love this trend as it means my teens have basically worn a warm dry coat for 3 winters now before they would be reluctant to wear a coat at all. One was a main Christmas present a few years ago one was a clever daddy eBay purchase. Teens get criticised whatever they wear don’t they 🙄. Mine and their friends are far from drug dealers they are nice hard working sporty girls.

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I've just bought a second hand North Face jacket from vinted. Cost £35, looks like its never been worn!

Don’t feel guilty Hairy. In Anne of green gables she was forever banging on about a particular Muslin dress for this generation its north face coats. Harmless. And actually practical!

You must be about a thousand years old if you're old enough to remember a time when young people didn't have must haves and want to be like their friends! Branding definitley existed when you were young

I thought you could buy counterfeit NF jackets when on holidays in Turkey. Or is that a different brand ?
Just to clarify, dcs, dh and I don't have NF jackets, counterfeit or otherwise.

I bought one in a sale about 6 yrs ago- from NF A to the knee one, duckdown, very warm and breathable - but the second it rains?
Hopeless.
Gets soaked fast.
Down really is warm- But a friend who is into animal welfare said down is not very ethical .
I made mistake of googling- Poor Ducks and Geese.

I had two lightweight thermoball NF jackets
Hardly worn & I Bought them a few years ago and recently gave them to my niece who is 14
I did wonder why she was exceptionally pleased with them 😂

When my dd was 15 I couldn't get her to wear any jacket, coat or anything remotely designed to keep her warm.

You'd think I was denying her basic human rights to think she might not want to be chilly!

A ned is a chav I think?
Possibly Irish term(?)
Turkey special sounds like a fake.

North face jackets are this years Kicker boots (shows age). The “everyone has an xxxx except me” is a phrase that 99% of children say to their parents at least once in their lifetime, I know i did. DD (15) has monthly pocket money and a quarterly clothing allowance and she saves up for the overpriced must haves that I refuse to buy.

Turkey Special is a reference to Turkey being a popular place to buy counterfeit goods like
designer handbags.

I don't think that you've failed as a parent if your child has asked for a specific phone, shoes or coat. Kids are subject to even more advertising compared to us and when I was school there were specific items that were popular. I'd say it was much more common to have asked for a specific item rather than not.

The regional differences have been very interesting. I couldn't believe it when Canada Goose became a trend a couple of years ago but my kids reckon most are fake since who can afford £1000 on a coat ?

@RedToothBrush I think you’re missing my point! It’s the ‘myyy kids haven’t been seen dead in a NF since 2001’ and ‘only drug addicts wear them here’ type comments I’m talking about. It’s embarrassing. I am struggling to understand what people are gaining from these types of comments or how they help the OP.

I wholeheartedly agree a £300 coat is overboard for a teen who could probably hate it within the month but the sneering is just uncalled for and cringey.

Trends come and go in different parts of the world/country at different times and if all the kids in school are wearing this it’s irrelevant if kids 200 miles away have all thrown theirs out.

When I was a teen and wanted something my mum thought was too expensive she'd say the budget is £X so that's what I'll pay, if you wait to put money to it use your birthday money or savings it whatever.

It’s a Chinese wholesaler website but it’s known for selling fake designer goods, as well. Usually in the item’s case they’ll have blurred out the logo off the photos and the item would be described as something like “Puffer mens face jacket south” to avoid detection rather than outright saying “North Face Puffer”, if you get me?

The delivery from these websites takes forever though, easily a month to three or four months. And you don’t know what will show up. But it’s the same as other similar websites like AliBaba.

I’m not encouraging buying fakes but these websites are widely known about, just in the same way buying fakes from Turkey and such are.

I'm a sucker I'd get them it or we'll I'd try and find the best deal on one. £300 is insane amount of money for something they'll grow out of quickly.

When I was a teen it was rockport boots 🙈 they cost a fortune think it was about £180 and that's about 20+ years ago! The school I went to was very much in a working class area and plenty of folk on benefits etc. Yet there were lots of kids with rockport boots 🤷🏻‍♀️ and I did get a pair for Xmas too and my parents worked low paid jobs.

I actually think NF are really worth it and are much better than Columbia and Patagonia , don’t even think about getting one of those they are just not as nice or as good as NF.
and at 15 she won’t grow any bigger so really it could be a good buy , it’s a jacket she will always wear it ,

There have been widely coveted brands for a really long time. During my time at school in the 90s it was a Head hold-all or River Island carrier bag for your PE kit, Kickers or DM shoes, a Casio Baby-G watch, a Stüssy hoodie, DC trainers, etc etc. I didn’t have them all but I probably asked for them at some point or another.

ThanksItHasPockets True ,
Growing up I remember it was Benetton and Stefanel ? They were not cheap, I think I would class them at midrange prices nowadays ,

DS had one for school that was about £280 but it lasted him about 3 years. Before that, he had cheaper coats that I was replacing more regularly so really it worked out a similar price overall. The bonus was we bought it at a time when we could afford it rather than him coming home suddenly and announcing out of the blue that his coat was leaking, meaning we had to find £30/40 which we might not have.

Do what’s right for your family and don’t believe the nagging.

I must be in the minority but I offered to buy my DD 15 one last winter, after noticing that all her classmates seemed to have one, and she declined because she didn't want to look like everyone else.

Hugely popular amongst SOME teen groups.

I grew up in the 1980s, so not quite thousands of years old, and I honestly can't remember expensive brands being a thing.

At her age, we all wore donkey jackets from the local market and suede pixie boots. Accessories from C&A (found my navy blue fingerless gloves with red beads sewn on recently).

Can't remember brands, maybe Benetton, Pringle for certain tribes?