Where to shop for winter clothes in the midwest for big and tall, plus size men

Parent Cafe
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<p>There’s also a price point issue to consider. For example, in the Patagonia brand, the Capilene 2 Base layer pants (Polartec Power Dry) are $49. </p>

<p><a href=“Men's Baselayers, Thermal & Long Underwear by Patagonia”>Men's Baselayers, Thermal & Long Underwear by Patagonia;

<p>The same thing in merino wool blend (77% wool, 18% capilene, 5% spandex) are $90:</p>

<p><a href=“Men's Baselayers, Thermal & Long Underwear by Patagonia”>Men's Baselayers, Thermal & Long Underwear by Patagonia;

<p>So, you are looking at $100 for a set of top and bottoms versus $180. The 100% synthetic Power Dry will typically last a bit longer and wick moisture/dry a little better. The Merino wool is generally a bit warmer, but my experience has been that even the lightweight base layers are too hot more than they aren’t warm enough.</p>

<p>Here’s REI’s comparison chart, PowerDry vs Merino wool:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/underwear.html”>http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/underwear.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For my purposes, the synthetic is better because I get wet (from sweat) while hiking or snow shovelling, even with temps in the teens. The PowerDry wicks moisture and dries quicker.</p>

<p>If you want to spend some serious coin on long underwear, I can’t sing the praises of the Capilene 4 enough…PowerDry High Efficiency. It’s a shear gridded fleece. Little thin grids of ultralight fleece held together by nearly shear fabric. You get warmth and very high breath abilty. I wear hoodies of the stuff (Patagonia and Marmot) as my only top layer, I mean, literally my only shirt (no jacket) or over a polyester t-shirt while snowshoeing with temps in the 20s. And, I wear it as camping PJs with temps in the 50s and as winter PJs at home with the temp set to 60 at night. It’s insane the range of temps it covers. </p>

<p><a href=“Men's Baselayers, Thermal & Long Underwear by Patagonia”>Men's Baselayers, Thermal & Long Underwear by Patagonia;
<a href=“http://marmot.com/products/details/thermo-hoody”>http://marmot.com/products/details/thermo-hoody&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Not for big guys, though. It’s skin tight.</p>

<hr>

<p>I just don’t think the average guy is going to wear long johns very often, no matter what. One set of lightweight baselayers is OK, but I wouldn’t count them as winter essentials unless the guy is doing winter sports or going to winter football games or something. They are only going to be worn on the coldest days. I do think one set worn under jeans is a more flexible combination than the fleece lined jeans.</p>

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<p>The weather will not be truly cold until after winter break. By Thanksgiving he will have had time to learn what the locals think is desirable and be able to let you know (tell him to ask around!). He will also have adjusted to falling temps gradually. Every local store selling clothing will have appropriate gear in season (fall). As a public flagship there will be students from many economic backgrounds and your son can choose which level of pricing he feels comfortable with. That will depend on who he hangs out with by then. If his circle tends to have more expensive clothing, then top brands. If many of them are on a budget and wearing stuff their moms got them in HS he may downscale somewhat. Warmth is more important than fashion. One trick (learned when son was small) is to put your arm up the sleeve of a jacket- good ones will feel warmer than under insulated ones. He will be spending most of his time in heated buildings- regular clothes (long sleeved) will work fine. He will also acclimate to the weather and not feel the cold as much at the end of winter. Twenties can feel balmy after bitter cold while 40’s can feel cold in the fall.</p>

<p>4" of snow is plowable but not that much- you can probably drive in it before the plows come through. In our WI city they did not plow for snowfalls under 2"- which was a problem after several <2" snowfalls that didn’t melt. I presume Minn takes care of its campus as well as UW does. This means sidewalks will get cleared quickly after enough snow. It also meant complaints in Madison because they used more environmentally friendly salt-sand mixes which left a lot of sand over time.</p>

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<p>OP, I posted in the UMN site as well, but there is a Target, Macys and Marshall’s in downtown Mpls plus stores like JCPenney, Sears at some of the nearby malls (both are at Ridgedale). The closest large malls are Ridgedale Center in Minnetonka, west of Mpls; Rosedale Center in Roseville, a northern suburb of St Paul and east of the Mpls campus, and Southdale Center in Edina, south of Mpls, all are just minutes away by car from the Mpls campus, and there are several other big name retail stores close to each of the “Dales” (oh and ignore my reference to Brookdale in my other post, I forgot, that mall is pretty much dead, I think even Kohls finally closed)</p>