Ski Clothing

blue note

I went on my fist ski trip last year (and loved it, you might have guessed by the number of posts I've had in this forum since without ever really having anything to say). I borrowed the jacket and trousers and they were fine, but a bit old looking and big for me. Anyway, I reckon this is going to be a regular thing for me now so I might as well get my own gear.

Before I make the purchase - have people any strong opinions on any brands or items? I was looking online and sports direct seem to have great value. I think soloman and spyder are good brands? I'm guessing you can't really go wrong with them. What about that nevica brand? All their stiff seems to be 70% off, I'm always suspicious that the full price is essentially not real and the 70% off price is actually closer to the worth of the jacket.

But do you find much of a difference in the brands? I hear people say that the lidl stuff is brilliant, am I throwing money away spending €276 on a jacket?

Rew

Solomon and Spyder are good brands and are also premium brands so to some extent you pay for the label (would have said esp with Spyder). You can confirm the original value of their gear else where to compare the saving. Spyder heavily discount their stuff after each season to clear out stock. TK Maxx had loads of both brands last year so you could wait a month or so and see what turns up in there. They had better prices then Sports Direct but no guarantee there will be any this year.

Nevica as far as I'm aware Sports Directs own brand (they have bought a few sports clothing companies) and would be considered budget.

Big thing with clothes is waterproof and breathability rating followed by features. Features will be the quality of the insulation, weight, vents, pockets, hoods (detachable), scuff guards on the pants, built in RECCO etc. Also quality of fabric and construction, the higher end ones have some stretch built in and are more durable.

When choosing a colour consider wear and tear (dirt and stains) and visibility on the mountain. I went from a Black to a Red jacket and my friends found it great as I was much easier to spot and follow.

irlirishkev

Rew wrote: »

When choosing a colour consider wear and tear (dirt and stains) and visibility on the mountain. I went from a Black to a Red jacket and my friends found it great as I was much easier to spot and follow.

This!

It's very tempting to go all black - "Sure black against white will be easy to spot". How quickly you disappear amongst all the other all-blacks!

I did similar and now wear red pants, and my OH finds it much easier to find me on the slopes.

blue note

I noticed the colour thing last year alright. One of the guys had orange pants and one of the girls canary yellow. You'd spot them anywhere and it was very handy! To be honest I like the more colourful ones anyway and will probably veer towards Green / Yellow / Orange.

Hmmm, I think I might try the online stuff. It seems very good value. And if they don't fit / look nice when they arrive I can return them and go into TKMaxx as I'd originally planned.

Rew

TK Maxx will peak Oct Nov for ski gear, prob same time that Sports Direct does. Sport Pursuit is worth a look as well.

olaola

Kildare Village is pretty good for ski stuff - I got a fab new North Face jacket last year. Really light & very warm. There's a few shops that offer jackets & trousers. And then there's a good few shops that do base layers, Falke really have some fantastic stuff.

maddness

TK Maxx is brilliant for ski gear, I've bought jackets and ski trousers there for years. The thing is that you have to put a lot of effort in to getting what you want there as every branch has different stock. The other big advantage over mail order is that you can try the stuff on, I've found that a medium in one brand is not a medium in another brand.
Also buy bright gear, your friends will thank you.

olaola

maddness wrote: »

Also buy bright gear, your friends will thank you.

But not red!

blue note

olaola wrote:

But not red!

Because everyone has red? I like the greens and yellows anyway!

olaola

blue note wrote: »

Because everyone has red? I like the greens and yellows anyway!

Most of the ski school instructors have red uniforms Hard to pick you out in a crowd!

blue note

olaola wrote:

Most of the ski school instructors have red uniforms Hard to pick you out in a crowd!

Trust me, no-one is going to mistake me for a ski instructor!

Scarlet42

some nice Salomon gear up on sports direct at the moment .. what do people think of that stuff?

http://ie.sportsdirect.com/salomon-rise-ski-pants-mens-408058?colcode=40805818

Rew

Scarlet42 wrote: »

some nice Salomon gear up on sports direct at the moment .. what do people think of that stuff?

http://ie.sportsdirect.com/salomon-rise-ski-pants-mens-408058?colcode=40805818

There isn't much detail on them and a quick google didnt turn up much so you would want to research them to make sure they are a good deal.

blue note

Rew wrote:

There isn't much detail on them and a quick google didnt turn up much so you would want to research them to make sure they are a good deal.

Could you not assume from the brand that they will be at a minimum good quality? I'd have thought that anything soloman would be good although not top quality if they're not charging high prices.

Scarlet42

blue note wrote: »

Could you not assume from the brand that they will be at a minimum good quality? I'd have thought that anything soloman would be good although not top quality if they're not charging high prices.

yeah .. that's what I was thinking .. was also looking at decathlon

this jacket look good .. but its down feathers .. which may get heavy when they are wet.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/slide-300-warm-mens-ski-jacket-blue-id_8345567.html

blue note

I'd be concerned about that product description. Recommending only using it for 1-2 weeks per year just screams "it's going to fall apart" to me.

Now maybe they're just being honest and you'd get 10 years out of them if you're just wearing it for the one week every year. But I'd probably get something for a but extra that I'd at least hope would last.

Rew

I wouldn't buy anything based on just a brand, id evaluate it it on the features.

blue note

Rew wrote: »

I wouldn't buy anything based on just a brand, id evaluate it it on the features.

Without a brand I'm confident in I would be skeptical of whether it would live up to it's features. For example, the Nevica brand on sports direct have apparently high spec jackets which seem to be on sale for €108-€144. But I'm wondering if they're permanently on sale at that price are they really similar in quality to the top Soloman or Helly Hansen jackets? I reckon they're not.

Whereas if you were to go with the entry level Soloman gear, I'd assume there's a minimum standard they'd want to maintain to not damage their brand reputation.

a148pro

In my experience buying other Lidl stuff, its always crap and ends up in the bin, false economy, though I've no experience with ski gear

I find 53 degrees North very good and they usually do a St Stephen's day sale of ex sample gear where you can pick up some bargains, if you can bring yourself to shop on St Stephens day

One thing I would say is don't fall into trap of buying a heavy ski coat. People presume because it may be cold you need a big heavy jacket. Bear in mind it may also be very warm, particularly in Spring. Ideally you want to be layering. Base layer (thermals, highly breathable), fleece, then thin jacket. That way if you're too hot you can take off the fleece and just ski with the base layer and think jacket. You will almost always be warm enough with that set up but if you're too cold you can always add on a thin down jacket which folds up into its own pocket. I think I've needed that once in about 20 ski trips, but it was worth carrying it the other 19 for this one time I needed it!

stecleary

Personal choice but I always make sure my trousers have the suspenders on them. just makes sure they are staying up and not fixing hem all day

blue note

a148pro wrote:

In my experience buying other Lidl stuff, its always crap and ends up in the bin, false economy, though I've no experience with ski gear

I've heard nothing but good stuff about the lidl snow great by the way. A girl in our group had it last year and it looked nice, kept her warm and dry and was in perfect condition at the end of the year. I had lidl socks which were every bit as good as the great outdoors ones. And base layers which were grand.

I'm intending to get better stuff myself because I think I'll get the use out of it. But I haven't heard anyone complain about the lidl stuff.

Rew

blue note wrote: »

Without a brand I'm confident in I would be skeptical of whether it would live up to it's features. For example, the Nevica brand on sports direct have apparently high spec jackets which seem to be on sale for €108-€144. But I'm wondering if they're permanently on sale at that price are they really similar in quality to the top Soloman or Helly Hansen jackets? I reckon they're not.

Whereas if you were to go with the entry level Soloman gear, I'd assume there's a minimum standard they'd want to maintain to not damage their brand reputation.

Sure but you need to know is this the entry level from 2013 or 2016 for example. I have also seen some brands stuff tun up in T Maxx and couldn't find any reference to it anywhere and I can only assume it was made for cheaper markets or some other special reason. Def wasn't as good quality as other stuff form the same brand.

What I'm getting at is do the research on any of the stuff you find online or in TK Maxx and make sure you understand what it is and what its specs and features are otherwise you cant know if its a good price or not.

Scarlet42

blue note wrote: »

I've heard nothing but good stuff about the lidl snow great by the way. A girl in our group had it last year and it looked nice, kept her warm and dry and was in perfect condition at the end of the year. I had lidl socks which were every bit as good as the great outdoors ones. And base layers which were grand.

I'm intending to get better stuff myself because I think I'll get the use out of it. But I haven't heard anyone complain about the lidl stuff.

I've used the Lidl stuff that I bought two years ago the past two years and have had no problems with it.. but not as "fitted" as I would have liked .. got the same for my two kids and it was great for them, the young lad got two years out of his jacket (7-9yrs old) .. they never seemed cold in them.
I want to get a better fit this time!

olaola

stecleary wrote: »

Personal choice but I always make sure my trousers have the suspenders on them. just makes sure they are staying up and not fixing hem all day

THIS. Also stops snow going down your arse IF you take a tumble.

stevire

I think looking at the materials is the best thing you can do, I do on occasion buy based on brand but in general I'll weigh up the materials in terms of waterproofness and breathability.

Kildare Village occasionally has something, particularly on the bargain rail in North Face shop but do your research they use their own 'technology' and don't release waterproofness/breathabillity values. You would need to go every two weeks or so to find a bargain here though in my opinion. I use to swing by every couple of weeks just to drop in and look at what was on the rail, in all that time I've only bought a Summit Series with Hyvent jacket for €80 (retailed at 300+), a pair of Goretex runners for €65. Was very tempted by pants they had on the rail for about €80 for one of their summit series pants but didn't fit right. They generally just have one or two left in stock on this rail though.

One of the best bargain I got was in TK Maxx Carrickmines about two years ago, it was after all the snow gear was gone there was a reduced pair of pants on the bargain rail. May have been a return or something but was down to 40 euro for 10K/10K pants, by far the best pair of pants I have (and I've had expensive ones throughout the years). I've found a lot of TK Maxx have different stock, I find Sligo and Newbridge the best for a good selection. Carrickmines and Stephen's Green get too many customers looking for snow gear imo!

A final note, apart from Icebreaker socks from TK Maxx the Aldi ski socks I find really good and have lasted well. I really don't like Salomon or similar socks, find a lot of them too thick and the elasticity doesn't last.

Rew

The flip side of the various TK Maxx outlets is I think (purely my own observational opinion) they send the best stock to the shops they think they will sell it in and Carrickmines was out the door the with high end snow gear last winter. There were no absolute rock bottom bargains though, stuff was typically 40-60% of retail prices.

Scarlet42

I bit the bullet and got myself a jacket from sports direct ... its a Helly Hansen Roc, on Amazon its

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HMJHAUE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2KVF7QXNCLV8H&th=1&psc=1

http://ie.sportsdirect.com/helly-hansen-roc-ski-jacket-mens-403056?colcode=40305664

I was hoping to get it on Amazon as I have a voucher .. but they only have the black in Medium at 165 .. and I want the red! .. its 170 sterling on sportsdirect.

Other colours go up as far as 450 on Amazon for the Medium!

Jacket on their website - going for 475 euros there!

https://www.hellyhansen.com/en_ie/roc-jacket-65520

"Waterproofness and breathability ratings typically above 20.000 mm and 20.000 g/24h/m2 respectively."

blue note

Scarlet42 wrote: »

I bit the bullet and got myself a jacket from sports direct ... its a Helly Hansen Roc,

I was hoping to get it on Amazon as I have a voucher .. but they only have the black in Medium at 165 .. and I want the red! ..

Everyone's going to think you're an instructor now Scarlet. You'll look gorgeous!

Scarlet42

not when they see me ski! - I'll get yellow pants!

blue note

Picked up the solomon rise gear on sports direct - jacket and pants for Judy under €200. Don't think I can go too far wrong for that price.

Rew

Plenty of stuff appearing in TK Maxx of the last week or two