UKC

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy a decent quality (£300-400) jacket, but having been to the high street retailers to try and try them on/ have a look it has become apparent that they don't tend to stock most of the ones I wanted to look at.

How do you try out jackets before you buy them and do you know any high street shops which would be likely to have a good selection? Maybe I'm missing somewhere.

Thanks

Joe

In reply to joe86:
Where in the world are you ?

You will need to look for a specialist retailer for that sort of thing, nearest high street will be Cotswold, Ellis Brigham, Nevisport, Tiso etc. etc.

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

Thanks for the reply. I'm in the UK, near Manchester to be precise. There are high street outdoor retailers, such as Cotswold, Ellis Brigham, Blacks etc, but the selection seems very poor. The last time I bought a jacket was ~10 years ago and it is looking pretty ropey. Now I am going to look at it seems mainly to be low end "wear-to-work" type jackets with one or two better quality ones.!

In reply to joe86:

Try a make on for size and buy online if nobody stocks them ?

In reply to joe86:

For me, almost everything ends up being bought based on reading reviews, buying online, trying on, often returned. Even in "walking mecca" towns it's difficult to find a big range.

I've gone into a flagship store of a well known outdoor manufacturer in London to be told "we don't have the full range here, have you tried ordering off our website?" ffs.

In reply to joe86:

If Ellis Brigham have them online phone your local store and ask if they can have them sent over so you can try it on in store.

In reply to joe86:

Outside in Hathersage would be a good bet. Can combine with a walk in the Peaks.

In reply to joe86:

To be honest, I don't think they make jackets as good as they used too !

I bought an original North Face Mountain jacket ( yellow) in 1997 and it gave nearly 20 years service . I only stopped wearing it when the kids I work with started calling me the tramp !

I kept a look-out on Ebay for quite a while until an almost unused original NF Mountain Jacket turned up. The guy wanted £90 and as I really wanted it I grabbed it straight away. The jacket lived up to it's description and my expectations !

In reply to climbwhenready:
.


Yes. This happened to us in Cotswold trying to buy a new jacket for mrs T. Seems absurd. We went elsewhere...

In reply to joe86:

As tjdodd says above, try Outside in Hathersage.

Also worth a look might be Alpenstock in Stockport. It's years since I've been in, but they used to have some really good kit and were extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Very basic website: http://www.alpenstock.co.uk

In reply to nikkormat:

Hitch and Hike in Bamford is also worth trying. They don't have a massive range, but generally anything that they do stock will be good.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

nice little shop that seems to slip under the radar a bit. Really rate it.

In reply to joe86:
The only way I've ever got around this problem is to research the jacket type, purpose, material weight/type I'm interested in, and find the brands that sell what you're looking for on-line.
Then visit your nearest two or three Cotswold, Ellis etc and get your hands-on with the materials, and more importantly, try all of the sizes and cuts of the brands you're interested in, even if it's not the actual jacket you want.

This then puts you in a strong position to order the right product in the right size on-line, and reduces the risk of having to send it back. I unashamedly try on every jacket in the bloody shop when doing this. Women's jackets in larges sizes too.

As my good old mum always used to say - "It's not a fashion show. Function comes over form".

In reply to joe86:

300 - 400 quid!!!!

you can buy the best for that

modern jackets dont last as long as the trend is for lightweight which is by its nature less durable than the old bombproof coats of old

i had a mera peak and its still great in terms of weather proofing but is double the weight of my NF Gully which rrp's at 389 (paid 210 tho not paying near 4ton for a bloody mac)

if its just for hiking (i take you mean walking) and you dont want something that can keep you in fine fettle for 2 days + in scottish winter conditions then dont even go near spenind 300 let alone 400

most folks really only need something for a day trip and for that gore tex isnt really necessary

personally i am a gore tex fan (lets have a gtex v parmo argument someone!!!)

but seriously

decide what and when you want it for and go to ellis or cotswold etc and let them help you narrow your options

£200 tops mate should do you right fine