warm and practical children's coats- your suggestions please

[redhappy]

We don't have a car so I need to get really decent winter coats, especially for the school run at 8am when it's lterally freezing!

All the supermarkets, next etc sell such flimsy, thin coats for winter. Can anyone point me in the direction of good brands that are warm and practical, and if they look nice too that would be even better! I think they would need to be wool or feather filled.

I have dd and ds, both at primary school.

Another vote for VikingKids - my kids have had their coats for years and they're amazing. Warm, waterproof, fun colours - and they really do last forever. My eldest's first coat is now on it's 6th winter and 3rd child, and still looks/feels as new. Yes, they're pricey, but you can easily get 2-3 years wear out of them before handing them on and so I think they're worth it. It's because they've been so great that I've just bought one of their ladies' coats and I'm absolutely loving it!

We have Jack Wolfskin and Sprayway kids jackets at my work.

The Sprayway ones are good value for money I think. They do ones with zip in fleeces and ones with insulation, both with waterproof outers. Or the waterproof and fleece separately, so you can get a thicker fleece or different colour coat.

The Jack Wolfskin ones are expensive but excellent quality and being German have lots of reflective bits for walking to school in the morning. Again, waterproof with a choice of fleece or insulation. They size large when converted to ages - what their size guide says is 4-5 is more like 5-6, check the label for the height measurement.

We had Dare2be ski jackets last year. I bought my DN one for his birthday and my DS was happy with it. They do really nice bright colours. Their prices are good value too I think.

redhappy here is the link to the Nippers duffel coats. I've always found them to be warm and waterproof and they wash well.

I got this from M&S, cheap and warm, we walk everywhere, in Scotland, and no complaints.

Gap down coat here too. Washed and dried several times and absolutely fine. Very warm too. I'd recommend them but again bought with 30% voucher.

I have a bit of a coat obsession (and live in Scotland) so am well placed to comment. Ahem.

DS (7) currently has the following (ranked in order):

1 - Togz warm and dry

This is the BEST - does what it says on the tin (ie is warm AND dry) VERY generous sizing so would recomment sizing down (I usually size up for coats and bought DS the age 6-7 last year when he was 6.5 and it was HUGE so ended up ordering 5 - 6 as well and kept 6 - 7 as it may fit him when he is 9 or so!)

2 - Gap warmest (cannot see it on their UK website)

This is indeed very warm and good qaulity but is not waterproof so DS tends to wear it only on cold dry days - so would only recommend as a main winter coat if you live in a cold dry climate rather than a chilly wet one like us

3 - M and S padded

I bought this for DS to wear to school. It is ok for the price but again not waterproof so not great in heavy rain. Plus is not very hard wearing as DS managed to fall over and make a big hole in the arm of it so it is ruined (I don't think that a better quality coat would have torn in the same way but I could be wrong)

Good luck!

Second Togz warm & dry, just got another for ds3. Bit plain tho

Any Scandinavian make, including H&M. Our family favorites are Me Too (my children adore the colors) and Ticket to Heaven. Excellent hand-me-down value, the coats we have have been worn by 3 children and are still in great shape.

Ski jackets from H&M and pants too this one is good, or decathlon wed'ze brand for skying like this but for children very warm and very resistant.