Outdoor clothing for Women

[emrock]

Hi all,
I am looking for some clothing for wearing while walking, camping and doing outdoorsy bushcrafty things. Ideally I'd like to find some stuff that's tailored for women as I find mens stuff is either too big or tight around the chest, plus I am a little vain even when it comes to outdoorsy stuff and want to still look like a woman despite being in the outdoors. I really do not want bright pink or flowery stuff or man made fibres if possible. Browsing the web I can find lots of expensive cotton/wax and wool clothing for men but little for women.

Most important is a jacket and a jumper, any idea where I can get these? Thick wool jumpers seem to be hard to find. Also I am reasonably experienced at sewing, so patterns would also be welcome.

Emma

 

[treadlightly]

Have you tried vintage markets or charity shops? You can find a lot of stuff that isn't specifically designed for the modern outdoors market which still works very well, or better, than expensive modern stuff.

 

[peaks]

Hi, I'm sure there be others along shortly with more suggestions - but how about these for starters ( appreciate that you aren't keen on synthetics)
http://www.rohan.co.uk/Category/Detail/Womens - try their Souk pages for bargains

http://www.countryinnovation.com/ - see ladies range of ventile jackets

http://freespace.virgin.net/peter.marrow1/ - wool jumpers

 

[Johnnyboy1971]

If you fancy traditional gear why not look at tweeds. Quite a range of colours and shades and hard wearing.

 

[Toddy]

Edinburgh Woollen Mill

Seriously, it's a bit of a 'granny' concept but they sell beautiful pure wool jumpers, in good colours and shapes. It's the shape you put into it that makes it you, and not your Gran however
They also do good plain pure wool trousers, and ladies wax jackets too if they're one of the larger stores that do the franchises for the outdoor clothing folks.

I admit I made my own wax jacket, but for ordinary waterproofs the lady berghaus stuff is good, well it was, I haven't bought a new waterproof for a while. I think the last one I bought was a ladies Trespass jacket from a garden centre

Army surplus, the Danish have some lovely woollen jackets for their female army members.

Underpinnings, good merino (surprisingly Lidl's has proved to be both comfortable and long lasting ) Damart, or better yet, Patra, who sell lovely knitted silk stuff

If your budget will stretch then the greenfibres folks sell really nice clothing too. Linen, wool, bamboo, soya, etc., and so do House of Bruar for tweeds and such like.

DIY Pointnorth sell patterns, but our own John Fenna has a book of diy kit available.
I draft patterns for myself so I'm not really the best person to give advice on commercial ones otherwise.
Depends what you're looking for tbh.

If you do diy, and want heavy weight green zips for a jacket, let me know ? I got a bargain bundle recently

cheers,
Toddy

 

[cbr6fs]

craghoppers have a massive sale on right now and a lot of women's stuff as well

http://www.craghoppers.com/buy/women/?DisplayProductList=false

 

[Toddy]

Craghopper's ladies trousers come with 13 pockets
I have *no* idea what I'd ever need 13 pockets for and they're so wide around the tummy that even very slim ladies look hefty in them.
It's a shame, just a little tweaking and they'd be brilliant but to alter them looks like being a nightmare
Several ladies had a discussion about them at the Moot and we all complained.

I don't know about the jackets though, they might be brilliant

Thank you for the link my husband and sons like the men's trousers though


cheers,
Toddy

 

[emrock]

Any idea where I can find Danish Army women's stuff? I've searched the net and not found anything. Though in general I prefer to avoid military stuff/camo. Will check out Edinburgh woolen mill for jumpers, though it's surprising how difficult it is to find coarse wool jumpers (i.e. not merino or lambswool), I've had vintage 1930s/40s wool jumpers before and they were better than anything I've seen on in shops recently.

I'm also a reenactor, so I really like traditional/old fashioned style clothing. I may have a go at making a wool or wax cotton double breasted coat, or buy a duffle coat.

 

[calibanzwei]

I have *no* idea what I'd ever need 13 pockets for

After 2 years of ownership, my mate noticed that zipped pocket that runs the height of the map pocket on the leg!

 

[spandit]

My wife bought some very flattering Regatta trousers the other day. Berghaus stuff is often quite fitted

 

[Toddy]

After 2 years of ownership, my mate noticed that zipped pocket that runs the height of the map pocket on the leg!

Has he found the wee one that's hidden behind that one yet ?

Honestly, their pocket policy totally baffles me

M

 

[calibanzwei]

Er... probably not! So you have the big map pocket, the stretchy one inside that where I put my mobile, the zipped one up the length of the map pocket AND ANOTHER ONE? With all these pockets filled... where did I see the link for the suspenders thread?

 

[rik_uk3]

Craghoppers, Regatta, Trespass, RAB, Berghaus all do woman's clothing. I bought the wife a RAB Latok xmas and she's happy with it