Winter Clothing

[soilman]

I need help keeping warm in winter, when the temperature goes below freezing, and I'm waiting for the bus or walking to-from the bus stop. I already have a pretty good balaclava (http://www.mountaingear.com/pages/product/product.asp/imanf/Outdoor+Research/idesc/WindStopper+Gorilla+Balaclava/Store/MG/item/201770/N/0) and a pair of ski goggles. The balaclava doesn't quite keep my lips and nose warm but otherwise it is fairly protective. My lips get wet from my breath condensing, and then cold. I need outerwear. My legs get cold even with cotton long underwear and heavy cotton denim carpenter pants. I am concerned that polyester long underwear my irritate my skin. The polyester balaclava seems ok on my head skin, tho I only wear it for a max of about 2 hours at a stretch. I want light weight and high warmth without wool fabric or bird feather stuffing. I need office wear: casual but no jeans or sneakers - shirt, no tie. I already have shoes (from Vegetarian Shoes). I need long underwear. I already have a couple of cotton turtle neck shirts, tho they get uncomfortable indoors after a couple of hours. So I don't know how to work that. Some kind of removable neck thing? Plus I need good gloves. But I have a low-income job so I can't afford expensive stuff. But I am not entirely broke either. I like quality.

So what should I buy? Any ideas? I don't buy much clothes. My last jacket lasted about 30 years. How much stuff do I need to keep warm in 30 deg F weather? 20 degree? 0 deg? -10 (that's the lowest it goes here, only occ goes below +10 - maybe 5 days a year. Maybe 20 days at 20 or below.

I should say that when it reaches about 40 degrees out, I start putting long underwear bottoms. 20 deg or below, I wear 2 pairs, and am still cold.

Can you send me to some web sites, and point to things? I plan to buy as much on-line, as possible.

I don't see any full-length coats on the Mountain Gear site. So I'm confused as to what to wear to and from the office, that will keep my butt warm, my knees warm, and my whole legs warm, but that are an outside layer that I can take off once I get to the office, so that I don't overheat once I'm indoors, without having to take my pants off and then take my long underwear bottoms off and then put my pants back on. I'm puzzled. I don't get it. All the jackets look like they reach just about only half-way down your butt-crack. How do you keep your "leg-pit" warm? Your calves?

[rabid_child]

I've done well with Lands End stuff. Granted, it isn't inexpensive, but they have non-animal coats and outwear, they rate it according to temperature, and they have lifetime guarantees on all their products. I've heard that you can call them 10 years down the line and they'll STILL replace the product, so that might be a good investment, even if it's a little more up front than you might otherwise spend. And they'll take it back if you order it and try it out and don't like it.

www.landsend.com

I also get very cold outside in the winter. I layer well, and change out of extra things in the bathroom when I get where I'm going... then put them back on before I leave.

Something like this maybe -> http://www.landsend.com/pp/InsulatedSquallParka-56919_171741_59.html&CM_MERCH=PAGE_56919

[soilman]

Thanks Rabid_child. Looks good. I wish they would show the clothing on a model tho (on a person). Both lands end and mountain gear show all their outwear in a weird Frankensteinian "self-animation" state.

I'm having trouble tho believing Land's End temperature claims. For example this item (http://www.landsend.com/pp/3in1SquallJacket-68641_174711_59.html?CM_MERCH=PAGE_62). It says to minus 5 deg or plus 15 degs F. But it doesn't include a hood. I know that at 15 degrees I will be freezing and very uncomfortable, with any outfit that doesn't include an attached hood. If the jacket and headwear aren't in one piece, cold air will be getting inside the jacket and inside my balaclava, via the neck area.

[soilman]

I also need pants. Warm but not wool. I like cotton. I have shirts.

Does that polyester long underwear not itch after awhile? It is supposed to be warmer than cotton. My legs are cold with the heaviest cotton long underwear bottoms, and heavy-duty (14 oz plus) cotton denim pants - as soon as the temp dips below 25 deg F or so. But I don't really have time to start taking off my pants after I get to work, taking off my long underwear, and putting them back on again. There is really no room to do this in the bathroom. where do you put the outers while you are taking off the unders? There is no place to hang them. Drop them on the (filthy or chemically treated) floor? An OUTER pair of pants that I could take off might be better.

[rabid_child]

I think I've got these fleece lined long john pants:
http://www.sockcompany.com/bigmorsuplon1.html

They are cotton/poly and EXTREMELY soft and warm. I have very sensitive skin that gets easily itchy/irritated especially in the winter, and the fleece lined long johns didn't bother me a bit. They do run a little short in the legs though.

The handicapped stall tends to be best for changing. Granted you do end up standing on the bathroom floor in your socks, then slip off the outerpants and toss 'em over your shoulder (or hang them from the hook on the back of the door), take off the long johns and stick them in your bag, then back on with the outer pants. Admittedly, I don't know how much different this process would be in a men's room, since I tend to stick to the lady's room. I suppose you could pack a small towel with you to stand on, keep it in a plastic bag in your bag, unfold it and sit it on the bathroom floor to stand on, change, then fold it back up and back into the plastic bag.

[soilman]

rabid_child the long underwear you linked to are cotton-polyester on the outside, but the part that touches your skin is 100% "fleeced" acrylic.

I've found that cotton-poly clothing is sort of tolerable, and my polyester "fleece" balaclava is tolerable, but I get a nasty headache from watch caps or ski masks made of acrylic yarn. First my scalp gets all crazy-itchy, aft4er about 20 minutes, then in 40 minutes it starts to hurt, then 10 minutes later I get a full-blown whole-head headache. Acrylic knit socks (Orlon) make my feet itch something awful, and cause much more foot-smell than cotton. Maybe you got some other kind of long underwear? If found polyester to be much more tolerable than acrylic, but I don't know about wearing it for long hours.

I don't know what the term fleece really means in the commerce of clothing. In real english, it refers to sheep fur. But in clothing commerce it seems to refer any of various fibers that are made into a kind of matted, pressed felt, rather than woven or or knitted fibers.

[rabid_child]

Well, I bought them some years back, and I know I got it from that website, but I don't know exactly what they were, or what they were made of. They are, however, still functional and have never irritated my skin. Might just be a lead on something to look for. "Fleece" now generally refers to some sort of man-made microfiber that is very warm. It's typically also quite soft. Obviously if you find it irritating, keep looking until you find something comfortable.

[soilman]

Perhaps the long underwear you got was a different model, with cotton-poly contacting the skin rather than acrylic fibers. The term "fleece" as currently used in the clothing trades means very little. It is applied to all sorts of materials, that are unrelated to each other. One sort of fleece might be very irritating to me, another sort, made of an entirely different fiber, might be just fine.