Canada Goose may have started out in a small warehouse in Toronto, but today you can find their coats on every continent, with one of the most unique places being the McMurdo Station in Antarctica. And let’s face it:  if it’s good enough for scientists living on the coldest place on Earth, it’s good enough for me.  The reason for the worldwide popularity of the Canada Goose brand is simple:  they’re the best at what they do. Their Arctic Collection jackets are among the warmest and most well designed coats you can find, anywhere, blending great looking style with an immensely high level of functionality.

While Canada Goose offers collections and styles for nearly any type of weather and body type, here in the Midwest where winter temperatures are regularly in the single digits or below, the Langford Parka from Canada Goose’s Arctic Line is a great choice for looking great and staying warm no matter how cold the wind and temperature gets.

Stylish enough to be at home in the city, the Langford Parka also features everything you’d expect from a coat built to visit the poles. Designed to fall around your mid-thigh, it offers added protection from the cold and the wind as well as giving you a classic, handsome silhouette. Function doesn’t stop at the length of the jacket however, it also features an insulated storm flap under the front zipper and a velcro storm flap over for additional wind protection. For added warmth and protection for your arms, the jacket features rib-knit cuffs to keep gusts of cold wind from going up your sleeves and is designed from Arctic Tech fabric.  Arctic Tech is the perfect winter fabric, as it’s water resistant, windproof and exceptionally durable, thus extending the life of your jacket.

Canada Goose Langford Parka Side

Not forgotten from the Langford Parka is a Canada Goose signature style element – a coyote fur ruff surrounding the hood that offers natural protection for the elements. Coyote fur never freezes and doesn’t hold water, so it always maintains its soft, protective texture, keeping snow and wind off your face. It also adds to the style of the coat and makes it unmistakably a Canada Goose jacket.

Inside, the key to the Langford Parka’s warmth lies in the premium white goose down that surrounds the coat. At a lighter weight than other types and grades of down, premium Canadian down traps more warm air in and keeps you at a perfect temperature in any weather. Rated on The Thermal Experience Index (a five-point system developed by Canada Goose to ensure you choose the perfect jacket for your weather), the Langford Parka is a four, meaning it can handle -15 / -25 Celsius.  If you live in temps any colder than that, you need a new place to live, not a new coat.  The parka also has plenty of room for all of your gear with two zippered interior pockets, two hand warmer pockets, and two ample storage pockets with velcro flaps, all integrated perfectly for a sleek design.

Put it all together, and you’ve got the ultimate coat to do battle with winter’s worst.  Whether you live in single digits like me or are just looking for a stylish winter jacket to keep you warm from cab to door, the Canda Goose Lanford Parka is the perfect fit.  Check it out on the Canada Goose website along with their other equally great winter gear.

It’s mid-February, which means it’s time to start thinking about your spring style.  In colder climates, February, March and even April still mean jacket weather, although not the heavier winter coats currently in use.  Instead, you need a lighter jacket that keeps you warm, but adds in some additional style that’s many times absent in your winter collection.  And that’s where the Barbour Heritage Collection comes into play.  It’s a lineup of jackets, sweaters and shirts that will help you perfectly usher in the start of the new season by not only keeping you warm, but by keeping you looking great.

Barbour Wool Fishing Jacket from the Barbour Heritage Collection walking

But before I go any further, let me tell a bit about Barbour, for those of you unfamiliar with the brand.  Based out of South Shields, England, Barbour is a fifth generation family owned business, with roots tracing back to 1894, and they describe their lineup as a marriage of “wit, grit and glamour.”  Look at their jackets, and you’ll instantly see why.  Barbour jackets exemplify cool – a combination of classic style with modern touches – and they’ve been worn by everyone from submariners in World War II to motorcycle racers in the International Six Day Trials to “The King of Cool,” Steve McQueen.  But despite their cool factor, Barbour jackets are the epitome of functional, as the brand has become synonymous with waxed cotton construction – a process pioneered by Barbour that makes their jackets waterproof, windproof, and if properly cared for, capable of lasting a lifetime.

Barbour is a marriage of “wit, grit and glamour”

I picked up my first Barbour jacket a few years ago – a waxed cotton variant that Barbour has become synonymous for in a style reminiscent of a classic 50’s biker jacket.  And ever since my first Barbour purchase, I’ve been absolutely in love with the brand.

Adding to my immense affinity for Barbour, my most recent Barbour acquisition is the Wool Fishing Jacket, a member of the Barbour Heritage Collection designed in collaboration with Tokihito Yoshida.  It’s the jacket you see pictured, but unfortunately it sold out almost immediately after I bought it.  It’s a gorgeous jacket, featuring a herringbone wool outer construction, a rollaway hood and numerous fishing details.  I’ll be honest – I don’t fish, but the jacket looked great so I bought it anyways.  As is the case with virtually all Barbour jackets, the Wool Fishing Jacket is multi-pocketed, featuring two large chest pockets (one with a fishing net bag), two Napoleon pockets and two upper pockets with side entry zips (perfect for smaller items such mobile phones).

Barbour Wool Fishing Jacket from the Barbour Heritage Collection in snow

As I came to learn, no matter which piece of Barbour style you’re looking at, you need to act quick.  Barbour pieces sell out remarkably quickly, so whatever jacket you’re considering, decide quick before they disappear, as my wool fishing jacket did.

To learn more about Barbour and their full lineup of jackets and spring fashion, head over to the official Barbour website, or you can check out my Barbour Wool Fishing Jacket in the gallery below to see what makes Barbour’s style so special.

At first glance, the Helly Hansen ASK Duffel Coat matches the same impeccable design as other duffel coats. It looks great, it’s stylish, and it’s cut beautifully. But because it’s from Helly Hansen – one of the world’s greatest performance outerwear makers – the ASK Duffel differs significantly from other duffel coats, in that it combines a duffel style with world-class technology.  In short, it’s the perfect blend of style and performance.

What do we love about the Helly Hansen Ask Duffel Coat?  There’s a couple key things.  Unlike other similarly sized men’s dress coats that tend to be a tad bloated and overweight, the ASK duffel is lightweight and gives you great freedom of movement. Despite it’s light weight, however, the ASK Duffel Coat is incredibly warm and virtually windproof, yet it still allows your body to breath and maintain a steady temperature. These are all features we’ve come to expect from our outdoor performance gear, but with Helly, you’re getting bleeding edge outdoor performance in a style that’s as much at home in the city as it is in the country.

So how did Helly Hansen do it?  As is the case with much of their other performance gear, PrimaLoft is a key component in the ASK Duffel Coat.  For those of you unfamiliar with PrimaLoft, it’s been tested and proven to be warmer, drier and softer than any other synthetic insulation on the market.  Another element that makes PrimaLoft so great is that it’s also the most compressible insulation of it’s kind which is, in part, why you never feel restricted when wearing a Helly Hansen jacket. With the ASK Duffel Coat, you retain your full range of movement and don’t get the bulky, puffy look.

The Ask Duffel Coat also takes advantage of Helly Hansen’s two-way stretch Helly Tech waterproof fabric. I live in the city and don’t have room to carry an umbrella with me everywhere I go, nor do I have the patience to dry it off and fold it up everytime I go into a building. The Helly Tech Protection in the ASK Duffel Coat keeps everything that is covered completely dry. The same Helly Tech Protection also protects against the wind, keeping cool air and chills out. By keeping the wind at bay, the Ask Duffel Coat adds an additional level of protection, ensuring warmth in nearly any weather condition.

Design wise, Helly’s ASK Duffel Coat has a more structured design, with clean lines for a dressier and slightly more formal look. It offers two weaterproofed zipper pockets that integrate seamlessly into the front of the coat – perfect for cell phones or your wallet. In addition, the ASK Duffel notes two deep hooded pockets with ample room to hold nearly anything you could conceivably want to put in your pockets and two additional hidden pockets perfect for keeping your hands warm and dry.  Additional styling elements added to the ASK Duffel are the trademark toggle buttons, a reflective detail on the front of the collar and the ASK emblem and Helly Hansen logo on the arm.

Overall, there is little in the city that the ASK Duffel jacket can’t handle. It’s built to handle pretty much any weather the city can throw at it.  Whether it’s the cool fall weather, the cold winds and snow in winter or the unending rain in the spring, all are easily handled by the ASK Duffel. Assuming I didn’t have such an affinity for collecting new coats, it could easily be the only city jacket I needed this winter.

You can see more of the Helly Hansen ASK Duffel Coat in the photo gallery below, or head over to the official Helly Hansen website for ordering info.

As a parent, it goes without saying that keeping my kids protected is one of my top priorities. And right now, with winter finally hitting here in the Midwest (complete with a good share of freezing cold temps and a dumping of snow), that means keeping them protected from the elements.

With that said, buying a children’s winter jacket is not an easy task. As the proud owner of his first snowboard, my son is at an age where he’s can’t get outside enough to enjoy it. And anything my son does my daughter has to do, so she’s outside constantly as well chasing him and trying to steal his ride. Together, they’re outside far more than I ever anticipated them being, and plain winter coats just weren’t cutting it. They both owned multiple normal winter coats, but they all were doing a terrible job keeping my kids warm and keeping the winter elements out.

That’s when I decided to check into my favorite performance winter gear brand – Helly Hansen – to see what they offered for kids. Thankfully, not only do they offer kids gear, they offer kids gear that has all the features that made me fall in love with Helly’s larger adult versions. This means your kids are protected with a combination of Helly Tech PERFORMANCE fabric (that’s waterproof, breathable and windproof) as well as PrimaLoft’s Warmcore insulation, which together form the most advanced cold weather protection on the planet.

Helly Hansen K Riders INS Jacket ($130)

In picking jackets for my kids, I went with the Helly Hansen K Riders INS Jacket for both (green for my son, purple for my daughter). It’s a fantastic coat, and it features all the technology you’ll find in Helly’s adult gear.

Construction wise, the K Riders INS Jacket notes an insulated 2-layer construction with Helly Tech PERFORMANCE fabric and PrimaLoft’s Warmcore insulation. As an owner of multiple coats noting the same construction, I know firsthand that Helly Hansen coats excel at keeping you warm irregardless of conditions, but also allow excessive body heat to escape, meaning you don’t have to worry about overheating. For kids, it’s exactly the construction you want.

From there, Helly added a powder skirt, preventing snow from getting up under the jacket during falls or snow dives; fully sealed seams to keep water out; and adjustable cuffs with reflective elements that fit easily over gloves, then tighten to prevent snow from getting in. The smallest jacket available is a size 1 for the smallest of snow lovers, while the highest size is a size 16 for juniors that aren’t quite ready for adult sizes.

Here’s the full list of Helly Hansen’s K Riders INS Jacket features:

• Helly Tech® PERFORMANCE
• Waterproof and breathable fabric
• Insulated 2-layer construction
• Articulated arms and elbows
• Powder skirt
• Warmcore by PrimaLoft®
• Fully seam sealed
• Detachable, adjustable hood
• Reflective elements
• YKK zippers
• Internal pockets
• Multiple exterior pockets
• Adjustable cuffs

You can learn more about the Helly Hansen K Riders INS Jacket or pick up your own at the official Helly Hansen website.

Helly Hansen HH Warm Kid Set ($70)

Underneath their K Riders INS Jackets I decided to add another level of protection from the cold, employing Helly Hansen’s layering system in the form of the HH Warm Sets for kids. Again, Helly uses the same great fabrics and technology used in the adult HH Warm Sets – a combination of Merino Wool combined with LIFA Stay Dry Technology. It’s so great, in fact, it’s the same combination used by the U.S. ski team. It works by insulating the body and keeping you warm, but as activity increases and sweat is produced, it then wicks moisture away from your body, ensuring you stay dry irregardless of activity level. For kids with nonstop energy, it’s a must.

Sizing starts at a size 2, fitting my very large 18 month old girl perfectly, and it goes all the way up to a juniors size 14, ensuring kids of all sizes can take advantage of the HH Warm Sets. My kids love them, they’re super simple to wash and keep clean, and most importantly, I know my kids have the ultimate in cold weather protection.

You can learn more about Helly Hansen’s HH Warm Kid Set or pick up your own at the official Helly Hansen website.