Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Original poster

Can you get hi-viz winter coats (for children)?

52 replies

AdventCaroline · 03/12/2014 13:15

DD(7) walks to school, and she wears a high viz vest over her winter coat - under duress.

She doesn't like it because nobody else wears one, and it takes her longer to get changed because she is taking off two things, and it falls of her peg bacause it hasn't a hook and .

So I was thinking it would be be great if I could get her a fluorescent yellow or orange winter coat with big reflective stripes- sort of like the people that mend the railways wear.

She likes yellow and orange, so I think she would be happy to wear it - it's the fact that the vest makes her different rather than the colour of it that she doesn't like.

I have actually seen some fluorecent yellow down jacket type things, but DD needs a fully waterproof warm coat for the walk to school, not just showerproof, and also they don't have reflective strips (another thing I am totally anal about).

Has anyone ever seen anything?

Or failing that, a really, really bright winter coat, with reflective piping?

(I would quite like a high viz hat for her as well...)

OP posts:
mausmaus · 03/12/2014 13:16

look up polarn/pyret, didriksons, jakoo

mausmaus · 03/12/2014 13:17

maybe even north face or the hiking departments of sports stores

Original poster
AdventCaroline · 03/12/2014 13:30

Wow, thank you! Just looked and Didriksons have fantastic orange jackets with big reflective strips, they look absolutely perfect!
Now just have to find a website or shop that sells them.

OP posts:
FrauHelgaMissMarpleandaChuckle · 03/12/2014 13:32

Could you (totally heath robinson but ...) get some of that sticky on velcro and somehow stick the hi-viz vest on to the coat so she only has one thing to take off?

saintsandpoets · 03/12/2014 13:33

Wouldn't a reflector on her bag do the same job?

I think it's a bit mean to make a kid wear something she obviously doesn't want to.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 03/12/2014 13:34

Vikingkids sell lots of Didriksons...

Original poster
AdventCaroline · 03/12/2014 13:44

She does have a reflector on her bag saints. But she is so much more visible in the dark mornings when she wears the high viz too.

Lol at the Heath Robinson idea. I might look into that in the interim. But she will need a new coat by next year anyway, so I just thought, if these things exist, then it would kill two birds with one stone, and I could get it for next term and she could grow into it.

Thank you for the Viking Kids recommendation, looks like they have it Grin.

OP posts:
iseenodust · 03/12/2014 14:26

Lots of kids snow jackets are garish bright and have hi-vis strips at the wrist / back of the neck etc. I would check out sports shops or TKMaxx if looking for good value.

BoftheP · 03/12/2014 15:26

H&M do "padded functional jackets" in bright colours with reflective trims....... Will try to link

museumum · 03/12/2014 15:27

try decathlon too - they have lots and are v. cheap yet warm.

gymboywalton · 03/12/2014 15:29

does she walk alone??

do you walk with her?

yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 03/12/2014 15:36

I presume at 7 she doesn't walk alone?
Making her wear a hi vis vest is really cruel. Would you have been happy wearing one when you were 7?

H&m, sports direct all have ski type jackets with reflective bits, even asda.
Ds has an orange jacket from there but not sure what size it goes up to as his is 1 1/2 -2.

yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 03/12/2014 15:48

sadly you can buy them

MeanwhileHighAboveTheField · 03/12/2014 16:14

Trying to remember where I saw it, but it was a new company and the high vis bits were like flowers on the girls jackets etc.

MeanwhileHighAboveTheField · 03/12/2014 16:16

Pretty sure it was www.sansooz.co.uk/ so maybe not quite there yet!

Original poster
AdventCaroline · 03/12/2014 17:03

She does walk (part of the way) alone.

I am not in the UK and it is absolutely normal here - in fact she is unusual in that she doesn't walk the whole way alone.

She will walk the whole way alone next year.

I don't think it is "cruel" to want her to be safe Confused.

She currently has an H&M pink coat with reflective bits, which I bought because I thought it was nice and bright. They had a walk-to-school week last month and all the children were given high viz vests by the school, and they all wore them just that week, then stopped.

I was really surprised at how much brighter it made her - I currently walk her part way and then watch her walk the rest of the way, and I could see her so much more clearly in the distance.

So I wanted a really bright coat, because I know she doesn't want the high viz and I so am trying to find a way of her not having to wear it but still be just as visible. Be safe be seen and all that.

OP posts:
5madthings · 03/12/2014 17:09

Like fuck is it cruel, the madthings aged almost 10 and 6 wear a high vis jacket/vest over their coat to and from school ad does my almost four year old. Even with those on a d reflective bright coats an idiot in a van reversing along the pavement nearly ran us over today.

I don't care how uncool it is, it's dark when going to and from school now and a two mile walk with roads to cross etc they will wear high vis vests.

Even ds2 12 at high school wears a bright jacket to and from school, technically against school uinform but his blazer ans trousers a're black! He has to cross busy roads, he needs to be visible!

5madthings · 03/12/2014 17:16

Ds3 needs a new coat, he often cycles to School on his own I ma going to get him a didriksons coat I think, the Vikings kids site is good.

Original poster
AdventCaroline · 03/12/2014 18:08

Thanks FiveMad I was having that Mumsnet Parallel Universe feeling and starting to think maybe I was actually guilty of child cruelty!

DD likes the look of the Didriksons coat, so we are going with it. Thanks for the recommendations everyone.

Kudos to the woman starting up her business and trying to make High Viz clothing cool and acceptable. (By the looks of this thread she will have her work cut out Grin.)

OP posts:
5madthings · 03/12/2014 18:12

Sorry but safety trumps 'coolnes' everytime! Mine have moaned a bit about wearing them but they don't get a choice. Evil mother!

gymboywalton · 03/12/2014 19:37

i have just been in h and m and they have got a super coat in the boys department-bright orange with loads of reflectors on it-super duooper weatherproof jobby-reduced from 60£ to 15!!

unfortunately my son said he didn't want ti because it would make him look like rowley in the wimpy kid filmsGrin

MeanwhileHighAboveTheField · 03/12/2014 19:51

btw my 8 year old cycles to school and back by himself. I make him wear a reflective vest, and bike lights. I also bought reflective tape and plastered his bike, helmet and schoolbag with it.

Pelicangiraffe · 03/12/2014 19:57

All my under 10's wear high viz and no one blinks. The 12 year old wears reflective arm bands on both arms

Pelicangiraffe · 03/12/2014 19:58

All mine also wear florecent reflective bibs when cycling

Swipe left for the next trending thread