I have about £400 to spend and I'm in a place with real winter from November to March. Tempted to buy one proper wool coat at the top of the budget, but I also wear very different things on different days — office, dog walking, evenings out — and one coat won't cover all three. Which way does this usually go for people who have actually done it?
Secondhand changes this maths completely. Wool coats are one of the few garments where the used market is genuinely good, because people buy them, wear them six times and give up. £400 buys one excellent used coat and one decent used coat with money left for a tailor.
Second this. Check the lining and the underarms before buying though — that's where old coats die, and relining costs more than most used coats are worth.
Five months is a long season. Whatever you buy, make sure it fits over a chunky knit — try it on wearing the thickest thing you actually own, not a t-shirt in a warm shop. Half of coat regret is buying a coat that fits beautifully over nothing.
Contrary opinion: three cheap coats means three coats you don't love and none that keep you warm. I did the one-good-coat thing six years ago and it's still going. But I don't have a dog.
Whichever way you go, budget £15 for a decent clothes brush and use it. Wool coats look tired mostly from surface fuzz and dust, not wear.
@ines_marchetti · 7mo ago · 3 replies
Split it, but not three ways. Two coats: one proper wool for office and evenings, one genuinely weatherproof thing for dog walking. Wool and rain and mud are enemies, and the fastest way to ruin a £300 coat is to wear it on a wet field twice a day.
My actual split would be around £280 on the wool and the rest on a used technical shell. The shell doesn't need to be nice, it needs to be waterproof and washable.
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@ines_marchetti · 7mo ago
80% wool and up is where it starts feeling substantially warmer and drapes properly. Below about 60% you're mostly buying polyester with a wool label. Also weigh it in your hands — a coat that feels light for its size is usually thin cloth, and thin cloth is cold and creases badly.
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@streak_sol · 7mo ago
That's more sensible than what I had planned. Any rule for how much wool content is worth paying for?
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