Once your core — not your abdominals but the center of your large bones — gets cold, everything… I mean EVERYTHING becomes an uphill battle. It’s not only that movement becomes restricted. It’s also the pain, and the obvious: you’re freezing.
Cold to the core is the kind of chill that makes you wonder if you will EVER feel warm again? You may even wonder if you were ever warm in the past. It’s like the cold has consumed your whole life, past, and future. You think of nothing else when you get that cold.
It may take days of hot soup and coffee for you to thaw out from a deep core freeze. That’s no exaggeration.
There are many external factors which can lead to chilling the bones, and the playing field is not level. Taller people tend to get cold faster than shorter people. Aging adults and the sick struggle more to stay warm, whereas nuns in Tibet have figured out how to raise their body temperature through meditation.
For the rest of us, we need a little help from our friends. By friends, I mean the heavy-duck shells, the quilted linings, and the plush interiors of workwear jackets.
We need these tough winter tools so we can beat back the cold and get things done. The question is which of them fight the cold best? If every time you grab your current coat to go outside a chill zips down your spine, any of these six options will serve you well.
(Ladies, jump to the barn coat section unless you prefer a man’s fit.)
Avoid stylized jackets like the Mr. Robot Jacket
While we’re big fans of the show Mr. Robot — mostly because the show generated a bunch of fans looking for the jacket worn by the title character, Mr. Robot — but, trendy jackets don’t always the warm body make.
That’s not really a saying, but it should be because it’s true.
Anyway, we wrote a whole blog about the Mr. Robot jacket if you’re interested, but don’t let the persuasive language of the blog convince you that a jacket such as that can take on Jack Frost.
Also, don’t believe that you have to give up style just to stay warm. Brands like Dickies and Carhartt have been at this too long to ignore fashion outright.
In fact, many people are surprised to learn how subtly fashionable modern workwear can be. Take for example the traditional barn coat…
It’s a timeless design, made popular again recently, and included on this list because it’s a darn warm coat. It just so happens to wear well too.
Consider classics like the Carhartt Duck Detroit Jacket
Named after one of the hardest working towns in the history of the United States, the city that brought the world automobiles faster than we could buy them, Detroit. Rock. City.
Carhartt coat named after Detroit is so tough, it can assemble Model-Ts without help and clean the warehouse floor with Chuck Norris before punching out for the day. It’s that 12-ounce ring-spun duck shell, designed to take almost anything you can throw at it.
Underneath, layers of quilted nylon keep in the heat, and a blanketed lining makes this jacket a sheep in wolf’s clothing.
Fans like it because not only does it take bites outta the cold, the Detroit Jacket also has enough pockets to eliminate any need for a man-purse. You can even snap a hood to this jacket to see your head warm if it gets really cold.
Go with a Barn Coat because barns get cold
This is another jacket we wrote a whole blog about because people want to know about barn coats. We had to stop the endless train of barn coat fans turning to designer versions when we have so many great options right here in our catalog.
The women’s barn coat from Berne is easily a top seller in this category, but we also carry men’s versions from Berne, and from Walls too.
If Carhartt is your preferred brand, and if you want a barn coat from Carhartt, you’re looking for the Carhartt chore coat. Dickies also swaps in this word chore for some of their barn coats, but it’s the same concept.
These are tough coats designed for early morning farm work, which makes them toasty enough for your daily commute.
If it has the words Carhartt and Arctic? Yes
It’s a marketing thing, really. Carhartt might just as well have branded their most wintery coats Alaskan or Antarctic, but they went with the coldest and most familiar land mass on the planet: the home of Santa Claus.
Brilliant.
There’s a circle north of a latitude line where the planet gets so cold, not even the salty ocean moves. That’s the Arctic, everything north of the Arctic circle. Enter that sphere of Earth and you may only have minutes to live without provisions.
Even the jackets made by Carhartt would struggle to keep you warm in such a place, what with their quilt-linings, duck exteriors, and Carhartt’s attention to quality. Hard to believe, since they do such a smashing job below the Arctic.
The best example of this is the straightforward Arctic Traditional Coat.
On top of or rather underneath the heavy duck shell of the Detroit jacket, Carhartt added an Arctic-weight insulation. It’s so heavy this jacket has stress points to allow easier movement.
You’ll never be more comfortable in this much coverage with another brand.
Because Dickies: Dickies Denim Chore Coat
This is the Dickies chore coat style mentioned a couple of paragraphs back.
Taking the traditional idea of workwear head-on, Dickies crafted the shell of their best winter coat from a heavy (11.75 ounce) cotton denim.
They lined both the sleeves and the body of this coat with a quilted insulation, and then covered it in soft blanketed surface against your skin or thermal underwear as the case may be.
Like many of these jackets, the Dickies version is not shy for pockets. There are four on the exterior, and an interior pocket for your phone so you have plenty of places to stash your stuff.
It’s really a great coat for someone who wants to stay comfortable and warm all winter long, but it’s ideal for those of us who always need to carry a bunch of stuff but don’t like bags.
But for absolute comfort go Berne High Country Hooded Jacket
Whereas most workwear coats carry that chore or barn coat look, Berne’s High Country Jacket earns double-10s for warmth and comfort.
With a sanded duck exterior that feels like a plushy toy it’s so soft, and a sherpa-lined interior, you may choose to sleep in this coat.
Most coats have to sacrifice durability to be so comfortable, but that’s a 12-ounce duck shell covering this hoodie, from waist to crown. It’s durable, triple stitched, with a heavy-duty brass zipper, and reinforced rioting where needed.
Bottom line: The cold stays out in this coat from Berne because of elastic wrist cuffs and the elastic waistband. Pull up that hood, and it’s lookout Jack Frost.
Don’t tolerate another day of discomfort when you have so many options from so many reputable companies. These are the brands that have been keeping hard-working folks warm for the last century.
Updated for the modern laborer, you can bet these are the brands that will continue to keep folks warm long after you’ve retired.
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About the Author
Nick Warrick
Nick Warrick is the Sales Manager at All Seasons Uniforms. With over 15 years of experience in the work uniform business, he has worked with hundreds of clients across 20 different industries. Holding bachelor’s degrees in both Business Administration and Information Technology, Nick revamped the company’s online presence, offering its customers a new uniform shopping experience.