What's the Warmest Kids Outerwear?

We spent the morning researching the various brands of children's outerwear we carry at montkid.com to determine what we'll recommend when customers email or call us. Since we recommend all brands we carry for certain situations, we'll focus on the question we get the most: What brand of children's outerwear is the warmest? The best way to answer this question is to look at how many grams of insulation an item of children's outerwear has.

Children's Obermeyer
The top rated brand of children's outerwear for warmth is Obermeyer. The warmest kids winter coat for the season is the Girls Posey Jacket at 240 grams and the Boys Sport Jacket also at 240 grams. Both of these jackets are under $100 which is an incredible deal! Most of the other Obermeyer Kids Jackets are roughly 220-240 grams. Obermeyer Kids Snowpants are roughly 100 grams which seems to be the industry average. When we move up into the larger sizes of Children's Obermeyer Jackets (6-18) the insulation drops down to 140 grams.

Children's Patagonia
Patagonia ties for the top spot in our review of warm children's outerwear (Obermeyer gets a tiny edge in terms of number of choices, but we're not allowed to talk about style choices in this article). Patagonia's excellent construction, quality use of materials and strong environmental messages appeal to bajillions of parents. The Puff Rider Jacket features 200 grams of insulation plus a durable water repellent finish to keep them dry when the skies unload.
The good news here, is that this jacket, with all of it's warmth, is available from size 3 months to 14 years! Patagonia edges out Obermeyer in the snow pant department. The Puff Rider Pant features that same 200 grams of insulation but are only available in size 3 months to 3 years old. After that, the kids have to tough it out in the 100 gram Snow Bum Pant.

Children's Spyder
Rounding out our group of brands at the top is Spyder. Spyder's Mini and Bitsy kids jackets in sizes 2-7 feature 160 grams of insulation. The Spyder Girls and Boys Jackets are at 140 grams. Spyder's kids snowpants are between 60 and 80 grams. The warmest little girls and toddler coat from Spyder is the Noatak Down Jacket with 600 fill power goose down. Even though the Noatak is a kids down jacket, it has a water repellent finish.

Reima, Deux Par Deux & Bogner
Of course, we also love Reima for the babies with about 140 grams of insulation in their one piece snowsuits and sets. Deux Par Deux is extremely warm, but doesn't list grams of insulation so we couldn't compare them. Just based on the number of years we've been in the business and our uncanny ability to judge insulation based on touch, we're guessing they have about 140-160 grams for their snowsuits and sets. Bogner is another brand that we love, but does not list their grams of insulation. I think they think they are above such a thing because when we ask, they roll their eyes at us and tell us their outerwear is made of the finest quality materials in the world. The down from the underbelly of the Eider Duck (superior to the goose)! We agree it is awesome. Eiderdown tests at approximately 700 fill power so that's all we can really say about that.

Children's Columbia
Winter wouldn't be winter without a mention of Columbia. Columbia is a wonderful value brand. And warm, too - we think! Columbia is another brand that does not list insulation in grams. It varies piece by piece but we believe it has roughly 100 - 120 grams of insulation. Perfect for most climates -especially toddlers or babies who are not exposed for hours and hours. We especially like their sets, like the Arctic Andrea and the Whoosh.

Did you make it through all that? Has the wave of cold weather hit your area yet? Let's try another private sale. Enter coupon code: warm at checkout for 25% off all regular priced merchandise. Sale runs through November 20th. At which point, we will probably kick off our very public annual Thanksgiving sale (same discount). So, we're giving you the chance to shop early and get the best selection.

Farewell to Reima

Reima was founded in 1944 in Kankaanpää Finland. Reima is the Nordic region’s leading manufacturer of children’s clothes. They have been a personal favorite at Montkid.com for several years. Reima's development of it's Reimatec™ product family was a breakthrough for babies, toddler and children's outerwear that protects in all weather conditions.
All Reima garments are made of waterproof, windproof and breathable Reimatec™ material. Reimatec™ shoes – with the same qualities – protect feet against the wet and cold.

Some of our favorites and best sellers have been the Fivel one piece snowsuit for infants. The Liro one piece snowsuit for toddlers and the Reima Footwear such as the Frozen Flower and Panda. The single item that is always on our list of winter essentials, however, is the Reima Balaclava. Made from a super soft wool, the balaclavas protect those super soft, super kissable cheeks!

Sadly, Reima will no longer be distributing to the US market. Montkid.com bought up the remainder of inventory available for the season, but it won't last long. And once it's gone, it really, truly is gone.

So, we find ourselves on the hunt for a replacement brand. Something that is of equal quality and style. If anyone has any suggestions, let us know!

Trick or Treat - I'm guessing you'd prefer Treat

I think I've eaten too much candy corn. I'm having a hard time sitting still and I'm feeling extra joyous. You should make sure I have candy corn more often, because it makes me feel like having another one of my extremely spontaneous, keep-it-on-the-down-low montkid.com sales! After my last blog (a week ago or so??) I truly thought we were done with sales for a while. We're selling out and can't get more in stock! Then came the Candy Corn.

Why not use your savings to get something Orange? One of this seasons hottest colors - the ever optimistic and bright, Orange! The perfect antidote to winter blues and economic woes. Available from number of manufacturers including Reima, Spyder, Obermeyer (Obermeyer calls it Honeysuckle) and Bogner.

Now, on to your Halloween spooky savings. Try out coupon code: Treat for a 20% discount. It's only good until October 31st at the stroke of midnight. Well, that seems a little harsh. How about November 2nd?

Now Orange you glad you read this blog? Happy Shopping!

Disclaimer: If this coupon code doesn't work, I guess this was a trick.

Sold Out Children's Outerwear - Except at Montkid.com

People are snatching up children's outerwear like crazy this year. Preparing for the "numbing cold"?? More and more customers are calling and asking, "Do you have this in stock? This item is sold out everywhere! "

The answer is, unless we have made a human error (like miscounting our inventory which has happened from time to time), Yes! We stock all of our inventory.

This year, just like last year, we have been raving about the Patagonia Baby Down Sweater and as a result, we are selling them quickly. The most popular color choice has been Tender Greens, which we are just about out of. I think I can stuff the remainder of them in my pockets! Sadly, Patagonia is sold out of this item, so if you are debating a Baby Down Sweater, get it now! Tomorrow, it may not be available.

We are also selling out of our high end, luxury brand, Deux Par Deux and we are unable to order more! The Hot Couture Jacket in gorgeous violet purple, and the Baby Bear snowsuits are almost gone. It's easy to see why with their fun mix of color and style combined with outstanding quality materials and construction.

Happy shopping, and don't delay! Oh, and a side note, because we are selling out so quickly, we will not be having another sale for quite a while. Sorry to the faithful. We'll have to think of another way to reward you. Free shipping perhaps? I'll work on it!

They were right, it's snowing

Not only is it snowing in Bozeman, the snow is sticking. There was a pole at the coffee shop this morning, love it or hate it? Since I'm a Libra, I had mixed emotions. It's hard to take a nose dive from 75 and sunny, to 32 and snowy, but it is also exciting.

Since we are in our snow clothes for so long up here in the mountains, we make an extra effort to make sure they are fabulous. At Montkid.com we stock not only high quality children's outerwear, but also the best selection of fashionable children's outerwear anywhere (we spend a lot of time looking).

October is the best time of year to shop for children's outerwear. All of our inventory is in stock and there are still some hot items left over from last year that are now on sale. For instance, I can't believe we still have a great selection of the Bogner Sale-D girls winter coats in red or crisp white or the gorgeous Bogner Lotti sweater in stock.

Snow in September

It's supposed to snow on Wednesday September 30th here in Bozeman.

We're hoping it will just be a dusting! But, Farmers' Almanac is forecasting a “numbing” winter, with below-average temperatures for at least two-thirds of the country! Yikes.

As the first cold weather and snow starts to hit more areas in the states, we are predicting increased sales of kids outerwear and accessories. Which means, if you want the best selection, you'd really better be getting ready. We can rarely get our hands on more Deux par Deux, Patagonia, Bogner & Obermeyer if we sell out mid-season.

For boys (including baby boys), this season, we love this Navy Telegraph coat from Deux Par Deux with the preppy striped accessories. Warm and super stylish! This outfit is so new, the hat and scarf aren't even on the web site yet (they are, however, sitting next to me in a giant box of "to do" items so if you really want them, just call us!)

And, by the way, you might be happy to know that our coupon has been extended to Monday, October 5th due to a glitch known as "owner error." Sorry about that!

Sneak Peek and Pre-Season Savings

If you're starting to think about getting your child outfitted for winter, you'd better get a move on. As quickly as we can get items loaded onto the web site, they are selling. Some of the best sizes, colors and styles are already sold out! I hate it when that happens.

I wanted to make sure that those who have stuck with us during our months and months of non-activity on the blog, are rewarded for their loyalty. How does a hush, hush private coupon sound? Good for anything not on sale, which means all of the brand new items from Patagonia, Columbia, Deux Par Deux, Spyder, Obermeyer, Smartwool, etc. etc!

Also, please ignore the very cute, very fashionable summer models still residing on our home page, montkid.com (well, actually, maybe you shouldn't ignore them completely, because there are killer deals on kids clothing right now).

Happy Shopping! Enjoy the use of coupon code: fall09 for 25% off all regularly priced items! This coupon expires Monday Sept. 28th and we don't have any other sales planned at this point.