Background
This winter, Jan & Jul generously shared snowsuits, mittens, and boots from their winter line with us, Having already used their wonderful adjustable sun hats for several years, we were thrilled to test out some winter gear in a Pacific Northwest winter! If you’re not familiar with the brand, Jan & Jul is a female owned company based out of Vancouver, Canada, whose founder, Florence, started out by sewing for her own daughters, which led to the idea for her popular adjustable sun hats. Florence grew up working with textiles in rural China, and based on her experiences believes in supporting women in the very town she grew up in by having women there produce Jan & Jul’s products for fair wages in a positive work environment overseen by Florence’s own sister. The company also runs an annual campaign to raise money for the World Food Programme and has provided significant donations to the Canadian Red Cross. It’s important to us as a family to use products that are ethically produced from good companies and we feel that’s the case with Jan & Jul!
Snowsuits
Let’s start with the snowsuits! We got Jan & Jul’s waterproof snowsuits for each of our children, ages 2 and 4 in sizes 3T and 4T as our 2-year-old is technically 2.5-years-old and in the 90th percentile for height. Jan & Jul’s site indicates that a 3T fits children ages 3-4 and a 4T fits children ages 4-5 as they are generously sized to allow layering. That is definitely true as both snowsuits are pretty large on our kids and will be easily wearable for the next couple of years size wise. As such, my recommendation would be to not size up. When the snowsuits arrived, they looked and felt like good quality products and we love the cheery colors and patterns, which make it easy to spot your kiddo. Other features we really like are:
Generous sized hoods that would fit over a ski helmet for most kids
Waterproof fabric
Reinforced knees and rear
Built in elastic snow gaiters around the ankles
Plenty of room for layering
Easy to get in and out of since they’re not tight
Machine washable
Truly Waterproof?
My biggest question with the snowsuits was whether the fabric would truly be waterproof, so we decided to do our initial test on a day with really wet slushy snow. The kids crawled around, laid on the ground, dumped snow on each other - all the things kids their age do and when we went inside about an hour later, both kids were completely dry under their suits. We’ve used them numerous times since then and are having a very wet winter and I’m happy to report that they’ve stayed dry every time, so big bonus points for legitimately being waterproof.
Temperature Rating
My other question was how warm these snowsuits were, and unfortunately we’re having an unusually warm winter so I’m not really able to answer that question at this time. Jan & Jul advertise these suits as having a temperature rating of -22F, but I find it a little hard to believe a kid would be comfortable at that temperature in a fully synthetic suit. I think you’d need some serious layering underneath, which they don’t specify. That said, our kiddos have been warm in the 20-30F temps they’ve used these suits in. If your kid(s) have used these snowsuits in super cold temps we’d love it if you’d leave us a comment below letting us and our readers know how they performed!
Packability
Because we travel so much with our kids, we’re always thinking about packability, and as you’d expect with fully synthetic materials, these snowsuits don’t pack down small. They’re fine for a car trip or if you’re planning to check luggage, but it would be difficult for us to take them on an international winter trip with carry-on luggage only (our preferred method of travel) and would have to take something with down insulation instead. Not a big issue for most people though!
Our first time outside in head-to-toe Jan & Jul gear :)
Nice sized hoods that can fit over helmets for winter sports
Truly waterproof? Yes, from our experience!
We used these snowsuits in very wet snow conditions and the kids stayed completely dry
Burying sister in snow - another test of how waterproof these suits are :)
The snowsuits feature two side pockets and a zipped chest pocket
Velcro tab on the hood to secure goggles or perhaps to hang the snowsuit while it dries
Staying cozy on a snowier day
Mittens
We were super excited to get Jan & Jul’s waterproof mittens for both kids as we seem to always struggle to find gloves that work well for little kids. These ones looked really promising due to:
Longer length that extends up the forearm instead of just cinching around the wrist like a lot of mittens, which can help them stay on better and keep out snow more effectively
Cinches at the wrist and forearm to secure them better for active play
Cozy fleece lining, 3M Thinsulate insulation, and DWR shell with waterproof inner liner
Ability to clip them together when you take them off so you don’t end up with a lost mitten
While these mittens kept our kiddos hands dry and warm, they struggled to keep them on as the sizing is generous and supposed to fit a range of ages. We got size small for our 2.5-year-old (for ages 2-4 per Jan & Jul’s site) and a size medium for our 4.5-year-old (for ages 4-6 per Jan & Jul’s site) and they are definitely large for both kids. It’s nice that they’ll be able to grow into them, but for now, they fall off after a few minutes even when cinched on. Maybe my kids hands are just extra small? The other thing that’s a bit of a struggle is getting their thumbs into the thumb holes. We were never able to get our littlest one’s thumbs into the thumb holes and had to make multiple attempts with the older one. We have mittens from another brand that can be opened along the top to expose the thumb hole so you can guide your kids’ fingers into the right place and then close them up and that works super great. It would be awesome if Jan & Jul did something like for these mittens. If they used a waterproof taped zipper system they would still be waterproof mittens. They do make an extra small mitten without thumbs that would have been a better option for us in retrospect!
Our 4-year-old in his Jan & Jul mittens. You can see they extend nicely up the arm.
Size small mitten for our 2.5-year old. I’m holding the mitten and you can see that it’s pretty big. I’m a petite woman, but I was still surprised to find that I could fit my hand into it as an adult! As such, I would say the mitten sizing is a little oversized.
Boots
The final thing we tested was a pair of insulated kids ankle boots for our daughter since she recently outgrew her Bogs. We’ve loved our Bogs waterproof boots, so I was really curious to compare Jan & Jul’s boots to them. Right off the bat, here are some things we really like about them.
Trade marked “Me-Put-On” design that makes it super simple for very young kids to put these boots on themselves (how many times have we all heard “me do it” from our toddlers?!) with a wide opening, velcro closure, and back tab to hold onto
Very lightweight
Sole that is both grippy but flexible
Cozy fuzzy lining and insulated middle layer
You never know if kids will really be able to navigate shoes that are supposedly easy enough for them to put on themselves, so I was happy to find that our very independent 2.5-year-old can indeed put them on herself with ease. And it really is awesome how lightweight they are, because what kids wants to try running around in heavy clunky boots? I’ve always loved how lightweight Bogs are and I’d say these boots feel the same. The one thing I wasn’t certain about is the fact that these boots are advertised as water-resistant, not waterproof, so I wasn’t sure if they’d really keep her feet dry. So far, so good though, even on our very wet snow play days. I wouldn’t wade through a full on puddle in them, but they seem to be good for everything else and I’d consider them a great alternative to Bogs! They also make a taller winter boot if you’d like an option for deeper snow.
Handy Me-Put-On design. Photo credit: Jan & Jul
Nice grippy but flexible soles on these ankle boots
I like that the sole wraps up around the toe to keep feet dryer and prevent stubbed toes
Our little one had no issues with traction racing around in these wet moderately slippery conditions in her new boots
Final Thoughts
Overall, we’re really pleased with our Jan & Jul winter gear. It feels like it’s all been designed by actual parents who are aware of pain points with kids clothing (too tight, can’t put on themselves, heavy, wear out right away etc) and have worked really hard to make this gear work well for real, active kids. Plus, the gear that states that it’s waterproof is legitimately waterproof in our experience, which earns it big bonus points in our opinion since there’s nothing that ends winter play faster than wet, cold kids.
Leave us a comment below with your thoughts on your Jan & Jul winter gear, especially if you’ve used it at colder temperatures than us! We and our readers would love to hear how it performed.