Poltax
02-21-2011, 10:08 PM
I know we are coming to winters end, however now is a great time to be looking at deals for winter clothing. All retailers want to be out of seasonal merchandise before the next season starts. It costs them money to store the products till next fall. So be on the look out for great deals from your favorite retailer. With the economic climate as it is, many stores are providing deep discounts.
As a side note I am going to post some info on keeping warm in cold weather. I will stay away from naming specific brands as the information I give will work with any name brand, good quality garments. Since I am also in the Apparel & Footwear industry I dont want this to be an ad for the manufactures I am a sales rep for.
If you have a hard time keeping warm in cold weather one of the first things to check out is the fit of your apparel and footwear. If your items are too small you will not have enough air between the layers to provide insulation. Remember also that each manufacture whether its footwear or clothing uses their own patterns for manufacture. There are not standardized patterns that are in use. Sizing will very from each manufacture. If your feet are always cold then the first thing to check on is the fit of your boots with all of your socks on. Generally when you purchase insulated boots you should be around 1-2 sizes larger then your normal street shoes. The reason for this is to allow for the insulation in the boots, and also the thicker socks that you will wear. Having too small of boots will actually cut off your circulation in your feet & also compress your layers of socks. So, when you go to purchase your new boots take all the layers of socks that you will wear. This will insure proper fit. You should be wearing a polypropolene sock liner and then one or two layers of wool type socks. This will very depending on your activity level and your body chemistry.
Under no circumstances do you wear cotton undergarments or socks. This is a hard and fast rule. You will never stay warm or dry. Once cotton gets wet it will not dry out. The only fabric that has insulating value when wet is wool. I am sure all of you have been sledding or tubing with jeans. Once your pants got wet, they stayed wet for the duration. The secret to staying warm is to stay dry. This is why layering is so important to not only stay dry but also stay warm. You can take off layers if your more active, or put them back on if your stationary. Back to the wool, today's wool fabrics are much better then even 10 years ago.
Your first layer next to your skin should be silk, silk/wool blend, polypro (polyproplene), or a polypro/wool blend. Polypro is a man made fabric that wicks the moisture away from your skin and helps it travel to the next layer of clothing. The best way to descibe this is to relate it to fishing line. When you pull your line out of the water, what does the water do? It beads up and runs down the line. The moisture you build up on your skin works the same way on polypro. It beads up and travels to the next layer. Polypro should be worn as body wear and also as your sock liners. You can also have polypro/wool blend in body wear and also socks. This will wick and have insulating value at the same time. However, when you combine the two you do lose a bit of the effectiveness in a combined material. As a side note for those that have been to the Temple, polypro or winter is availble.
Your second, third, & fourth layers, (depending on how many you need) should be some type of thermal or fleece material. This aids in the continued wicking and moving the moistuer to the outer layer. It also is your insulating layers as well. If your active then you may only require one insulating layer, if your just standing around in -30 with a wind chill then you will require more layers.
Your outerlayer or top layer will be a waterproof/breathable shell. This shell should include pit zips, and back vents. These zips and vents allow you to ventalate and allow the built up warmth and moisture to escape. If the warmth and moisture can not escape then all of that turns to water droplets and starts to soak your clothing and body. Which in turn will mean cold for you. The fabric used in waterproof/breathable is usally a material that is lamenated on. Depending on the brand and manufacture it can last one season or many. This membrane can also be affected by how you wash the garment as well. The less you wash the longer the treatment will last. Also, for most treatments do not put in the dryer. There are many well known brands of waterproof/breathable fabrics. Some manufactures will contract with the leading known brand which is Gortex. Other manufactures will have thier own brand of membrane. Helly Hansen is one that uses their own called "Helly Tech". They all work very well if you stay with the well known brands. Do you home work and ask around what is working for others that you know.
Staying warm and dry is actually an experiment until your find what works for you. It is important to realize that everyones body chemistry is different. What I require for warmth will be different then what you will need. I build up a sweat very quickly. So when I go snowmobiling and we are running up and down hills, and thru the trees, I am moving around alot. What I normally wear is a base layer of polypro, then a thin insulating layer and then my outer shell for jacket and bibs. I do this even in 0 degree weather. My wife on the other hand has every piece of clothing she owns on no matter the temp! Dont be afraid to experiment with your layers.
This is not all the information that is out there, but will get you started if you have been having problems.
As a side note I am going to post some info on keeping warm in cold weather. I will stay away from naming specific brands as the information I give will work with any name brand, good quality garments. Since I am also in the Apparel & Footwear industry I dont want this to be an ad for the manufactures I am a sales rep for.
If you have a hard time keeping warm in cold weather one of the first things to check out is the fit of your apparel and footwear. If your items are too small you will not have enough air between the layers to provide insulation. Remember also that each manufacture whether its footwear or clothing uses their own patterns for manufacture. There are not standardized patterns that are in use. Sizing will very from each manufacture. If your feet are always cold then the first thing to check on is the fit of your boots with all of your socks on. Generally when you purchase insulated boots you should be around 1-2 sizes larger then your normal street shoes. The reason for this is to allow for the insulation in the boots, and also the thicker socks that you will wear. Having too small of boots will actually cut off your circulation in your feet & also compress your layers of socks. So, when you go to purchase your new boots take all the layers of socks that you will wear. This will insure proper fit. You should be wearing a polypropolene sock liner and then one or two layers of wool type socks. This will very depending on your activity level and your body chemistry.
Under no circumstances do you wear cotton undergarments or socks. This is a hard and fast rule. You will never stay warm or dry. Once cotton gets wet it will not dry out. The only fabric that has insulating value when wet is wool. I am sure all of you have been sledding or tubing with jeans. Once your pants got wet, they stayed wet for the duration. The secret to staying warm is to stay dry. This is why layering is so important to not only stay dry but also stay warm. You can take off layers if your more active, or put them back on if your stationary. Back to the wool, today's wool fabrics are much better then even 10 years ago.
Your first layer next to your skin should be silk, silk/wool blend, polypro (polyproplene), or a polypro/wool blend. Polypro is a man made fabric that wicks the moisture away from your skin and helps it travel to the next layer of clothing. The best way to descibe this is to relate it to fishing line. When you pull your line out of the water, what does the water do? It beads up and runs down the line. The moisture you build up on your skin works the same way on polypro. It beads up and travels to the next layer. Polypro should be worn as body wear and also as your sock liners. You can also have polypro/wool blend in body wear and also socks. This will wick and have insulating value at the same time. However, when you combine the two you do lose a bit of the effectiveness in a combined material. As a side note for those that have been to the Temple, polypro or winter is availble.
Your second, third, & fourth layers, (depending on how many you need) should be some type of thermal or fleece material. This aids in the continued wicking and moving the moistuer to the outer layer. It also is your insulating layers as well. If your active then you may only require one insulating layer, if your just standing around in -30 with a wind chill then you will require more layers.
Your outerlayer or top layer will be a waterproof/breathable shell. This shell should include pit zips, and back vents. These zips and vents allow you to ventalate and allow the built up warmth and moisture to escape. If the warmth and moisture can not escape then all of that turns to water droplets and starts to soak your clothing and body. Which in turn will mean cold for you. The fabric used in waterproof/breathable is usally a material that is lamenated on. Depending on the brand and manufacture it can last one season or many. This membrane can also be affected by how you wash the garment as well. The less you wash the longer the treatment will last. Also, for most treatments do not put in the dryer. There are many well known brands of waterproof/breathable fabrics. Some manufactures will contract with the leading known brand which is Gortex. Other manufactures will have thier own brand of membrane. Helly Hansen is one that uses their own called "Helly Tech". They all work very well if you stay with the well known brands. Do you home work and ask around what is working for others that you know.
Staying warm and dry is actually an experiment until your find what works for you. It is important to realize that everyones body chemistry is different. What I require for warmth will be different then what you will need. I build up a sweat very quickly. So when I go snowmobiling and we are running up and down hills, and thru the trees, I am moving around alot. What I normally wear is a base layer of polypro, then a thin insulating layer and then my outer shell for jacket and bibs. I do this even in 0 degree weather. My wife on the other hand has every piece of clothing she owns on no matter the temp! Dont be afraid to experiment with your layers.
This is not all the information that is out there, but will get you started if you have been having problems.