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If you are a local student, this perhaps is not something you want to think about. However, for international students like me, who have never seen snow before coming to the UK and grew up in tropical islands, winter clothing was a daunting question. How to dress in winter?
How cold is it going to be? What does winter feel like? Am I going to freeze to death???
I thankfully had great Chinese flatmates who taught me that wearing T-shirt and sandals is DEFINITELY not the right clothing to go out on an evening in December when it was 3C. They also helped me to buy a whole new winter wardrobe, which made a whole lot of difference. After 10 years, I would like to think I know one or two things about how to dress up for winter.
Important Principles
Layering
Basically, instead of wearing a T-shirt and a very warm coat, it is very much recommended to wear many different layers of thin items instead, for example T-shirt, then a jacket, then outer coat. The reason is two fold: firstly, the air layer trapped between the clothing acts as insulation, which helps to warm up. Secondly perhaps outside is quite cold, but inside building it can be quite warm. So you would want to remove the outer coat, but perhaps T-shirt is still too cold even for heated rooms in winter. So if you have a T-shirt, a jacket and outer coat, you will still have your T-shirt and jacket instead. If you are too warm, you can always remove your fleece/jacket, but you can also wear the jacket, giving you the right temperature.
To be able to layer properly, make sure you buy your coat on the bigger side, so you can fit a fluffy hoodie inside. Same with winter shoes, it’s worth getting slightly bigger size so you can fit fluffy socks underneath. If you are not sure, buy the socks/hoodies first and take them when you are shoes/coat shopping so you can try those on.
Buy Local
The local bit is quite broad – but the idea is, you don’t need to buy extremely warm Eskimo coat that can withstand -50C to travel to the UK where winter is at most, -10C. The coat will be too warm for day to day activities here, so not practical. So I’d really recommend that you don’t buy all your winter gear from a different countries with a different climate, for example buying clothes from Japan or Korea to live in the UK. Just wait until you arrive in the UK and buy it then, unless you arrive in the middle of winter. In which case it would be wise to have a coat perhaps, but don’t buy too many until you’ve arrived and buy the rest here.
Winter Essentials and Recommendations!
So here’s what you need, not in any particular order.
Coat
You do need a coat. Trust me. The best place to buy it, is to buy locally because the clothing will be adapted to the climate itself. There is not much point in bringing Canadian thick winter coat to Spain, where the winter temperature is quite mild.
I highly recommend a fully waterproof coat with a hood, because Manchester has a reputation for rain (Rainchester?). I quite like zipped pockets, as I tend to put my phones and keys in my coat pockets and I don’t want to lose them. Remember that you will use your coat a LOT, and outside that’s what people are going to see (your nice top will be covered by the coat!) so choose some colours that you can tolerate to see a lot.
Some recommendations from me if you are lost (affiliate links).
Women’s Trespass waterproof coat – I have a coat from this brand, and I still use it regularly. It’s waterproof, have a good colour selection and have a hood to save me from the rain! I wear a jacket inside so I can remove the jacket if I overheat while walking.
If you want something warmer, perhaps something like this Mountain Warehouse padded coat, which is also quite popular.
For the men – my husband has this blue Regatta coat which he claims to have lasted him 10 years so on that account alone I’d recommend it. However, he is also half German, so he withstand cold VERY well. So if you want something warmer perhaps try this Mountain Warehouse padded coat, male version.
Jacket/hoodie/sweater
A jacket is different from a coat because you wear a jacket inside coats. So let’s say it’s a snow storm outside and it’s -5C, then I would wear long sleeves top, then a jacket, then my coat on top. If I’m still cold, I might wear my thermal underwear, but I don’t tend to need thermal underwear in the UK as I don’t think it’s that cold.
This model of jacket is very popular, for male and for female. I wear them after a T-shirt but before my coat.
Hat, Gloves, Scarf
Hat is VERY helpful because humans lose a lot of our heat through our big heads. I like knitted hats for winter, which can be obtained relatively cheaply. Knitted gloves work too, but I personally prefer leather gloves because it’s waterproof (remember the rain!!).
I only tend to use a scarf when it gets very cold, but then I tend to have relatively good resistance to cold after 10 years of stingy heating. I would recommend a scarf that is not very thick because I tend to overheat, but if you do need thicker then definitely choose something that works for you.
Here’s a hat, gloves and scarf set for £27, though for the gloves I would prefer leather gloves, for example like this one.
Appropriate Shoes
Sneakers may work to a certain degree, but boots would be your best friend during winter. My favourite winter footwear option is leather shoes work quite well paired with thick socks. It’s warm and waterproof, with good sole grip so I don’t slip on ice patches. Except when it’s properly snowing, which is extremely rare in Manchester city centre, in which case some uggs or hiking boots or good winter boots are nice to have. In snow, sneakers are a definite no-no.
I currently have this Lilley Women’s ankle boots, yes this exact one, and I use it almost every day. A warmer option from that is these faux fur boots, but while a lot of people wear these, I don’t like it as it’s not waterproof. The original version of these boots is Uggs, but it is way above my budget so never tried them before. People do swear by it though. My snow boots were useful during winter storms, but honestly, if you live in Manchester I don’t think you really need them. I only use those occasionally or during ski trip to mainland Europe.
For the men, I would recommend something similar to these boots – though I don’t have experience with them as I’m not a man!
Thick Socks
I tend to rely a lot on thick socks because I tend to have cold feet. So sometimes in the cold evening, I might still use my leather boots, which are not as warm as Uggs or winter boots, but the thick socks keep my feet warm.
I have these socks (male and female), and not kidding but I have 5 pairs of them that I just cycle through and I use them everyday except in summer. I find for these socks that paying more for good quality is really worth it as the socks don’t fall apart as fast and they do keep my feet warm.
I’m a Master’s student! Do I have to spend so much money on clothes for just 1 year?
Definitely not! Firstly, charity shops will be your best friends, because they have a lot of second-hand good quality clothing. Very worth it to find coats I think.
If I were a Master’s student or exchange student for a year, these are the minimum I would buy:
- Warm, waterproof coat with hood
- Hat + gloves (they are quite cheap)
- If you run cold, scarf (they also are not expensive)
- Leather boots
- Thick socks
If you have some more spare money, a warm fleece-lined waterproof boots.
You might think, wow I hear “waterproof” a lot! Yes!!! This is essential. Do you want to be soaking wet in 5C? Not me. Even if the weather is terrible outside, there is stark difference in comfort when you are dry compared to when you are wet. Trust me!
Where to get these?
Well, you live in Manchester, which is second largest city in the UK. If you are not sure which stores, I would suggest you go to Arndale (shopping centre about 10-20 mins from University, depending on where you are as it’s a gigantic site) and have a browse there. However seems like there are not that much outdoor clothing shop in Arndale itself, so I’ve linked some and their location too.
Some stores options in Arndale and my opinion of them:
- Primark – cheap and cheerful, lower quality. There are some reports of slavery though so a lot of people avoid them for ethics reasons.
- TK Maxx, they do have a lot of discounted winter gear sometimes so worth a look. Just check the clothes very carefully that there is no defects or anything like that.
- Uniqlo: Japanese brand, they have really good winter items.
- Shoe Zone – budget shoe store, but my regular shoe store, I think they are not bad at all.
- Deichmann – slightly more expensive than shoe zone but great selection of shoes. I found some of my longest lasting boots here.
Outside Arndale
- Trespass – I have my coat from here. Not the cheapest but decent quality.
- Regatta – slightly budget outdoor clothing, quality is OK as far as I can tell.
Don’t worry about getting all these before you are coming to the UK unless you are arriving in winter.
If you are an international student, you may be interested on my post about first week in Manchester, and cost of living in Manchester as international student.
Hope all that works for you … Let me know if you have any question! Happy shopping!