How much to spend on kids skiwear?

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When shopping ski clothing for children and toddlers, there’s a number of factors to consider. It’s difficult to know what features to look for whilst finding a balance between affordable and quality.

Here’s 5 things to keep in mind when deciding how much to spend.

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1. Happiness

The single most important thing when considering children’s skiwear is happiness. Happiness is priceless. If a child is not comfortable / happy with what they are wearing then it will ruin the holiday for the whole family.

At Dinoski, it was always the plan to make more than just another ski suit. We want kids to feel like their suit is their best friend, so that when they head out to ski school, it seems like they aren’t alone. If we can empower kids with more confidence and bravery then there will be less tears and more fun.

So the first question to ask is whether the child actually wants to wear it?

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2. Waterproofing

Any decent skiwear will have a waterproof rating, usually between 5K and 20K. This relates to the volume of water (in millimetres) that fabric can withstand, without water dripping through.

If skiwear has no rating then you should avoid it!

Up to 5K is the absolute minimum you will need to stay dry. If you’re constantly sitting in snow then you might get a little damp but for casual skiing this should actually be ok as long as it doesn’t rain.

6K - 10K is where you ideally want to be looking for children’s skiwear which will keep kids dry all day rolling around in the snow. Essentially, you could stand in the shower in one of these suits and not get wet. Dinoski snow suits are 10K and we have never had a complaint.

11K - 20K is the more professional end of the spectrum, which you should only really be looking at for more extreme weather conditions or if you are a very capable skier who regularly goes off piste in waist high powder.

We have written another post on this (here) which goes into a little more detail.

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3. Price vs Features

When it comes to winterwear for kids and toddlers, there can be a huge disparity in price, making it hard to understand how much to spend.

At the top end of the market, prices can be eye-watering, with luxury brands charging up to £600+ just for a kids jacket! High price doesn’t always mean high quality and most of the time, in these cases, a large part of the price is purely based on the logo / brand name, rather than the technical features.

At the other end of the market, you see prices which seem too good to be true, but this should be a warning flag! A ski jacket which costs £30 probably gets made for less than a tenner, which isn’t going to be the most reliable thing in sub zero temperatures at the top of a mountain, where tantrums are a parent’s enemy.

So when looking at price you should actually be comparing against features.

Here’s a few essential features to look for to ensure a child’s comfort on the slopes:

Taped seams; aqua-seal zips; elasticated boot covers; zip pockets; hoods which fit helmets; inner hand cuffs / spandex thumb mitts; 6K-10K waterproofing!

Of course, Dinoski has all of the above and more!

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4. Sustainability

Cheap products mean cheap materials. Cheap materials tend to be bad for the planet.

We are at a stage where we all need to be more mindful of our environmental impact. Nobody needs reminding about the issues facing the planet and the future of our children.

Over the summer, we invested heavily in our manufacturing process, to ensure that we make our fabric from recycled plastic bottles. We have used FENC® TopGreen® Recycled PET Filament in order to retain the comfort of our Dinoski suits, embedding wicking, adaptive warming/cooling and water repellency into recycled plastic fibers.

If you want to be mindful of the environment when making your skiwear purchase then you should look for companies who either implement FENC® or REPREVE® technology and the key words to look for are ‘Recycled PET Filament’, which is when used (post consumer), plastic bottles are chopped up, melted and turned into yarn, adequate to make comfortable fabric.

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5. Customer Love

Was the product made with love? Does the brand actually care about their customers or are they just focussed on making money? This may not be something which crosses your mind when buying winter-wear, but if it does, it’s pretty easy to see which brands care and which brands don’t.

Find brands which go over and above for their customers with their communications and packaging. Usually their product and customer service will match the same standard.

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We hope that’s helped prepare you to make a decision on what to buy. If you have any other queries about skiwear in general, the video below might be useful.