How many do you really need?

I have quite a few coats bought over the years. My warmest coat is a genuine sheepskin, three-quarter length, bought in 1967! It still fits me but only comes out when it is really cold. There is also my grandmother's musquash in the loft, circa 1930s.

I got the Joe Browns parka this year, the navy one with embroidery as my previous one that I'd had for years was badly faded and torn inside lining. Apart from that I bought a short duffle coat jacket with a hood in pink from Zara to replace a similar one in grey I'd bought for £20 from Primark about 6 years ago. Great for the car, comfortable and not too bulky. Their coats are really good value and quality. Also my black smart coat with some embroidery from Zara that I treated myself to last year for my birthday.

Coolgran and Chewbacca
May I come shopping with you please?

I'd like some bargains!

Jalima1108 I was just reading Chewbacca's shopping habits and thinking how alike mine they were.
I never, ever, pay original price for any clothing. If something was half price I'd still be thinking it wasn't reduced enough..... Oh dear I do sound mean, I'm not really, just always have one eye open for a bargain.

I buy when I see it and hate to go out shopping for something because I need it - never have much success at that.

(Sorry.... full price for Bravissimo bras only)

I agree - you can never find what you want/need when you go to look for something in particular!

I was just browsing coats/jackets online

This thread reminded me of a coat I bought almost 20 years ago. A black wool and cashmere, sleeved but a loose cape-like style, calf length and light in weight. I wore it through several winters but less and less as the climate warmed up. At least one year it didn't come out at all. Once or twice it almost went to a charity shop. Fair enough - it was £10 from one around 2000, I even hesitated over the price!
It will be out of the wardrobe and in service again tomorrow! It has certainly been worth that £10!

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but I don't need another one, unless it's a full-length coat

One that always attracts admiring comment in Spring and Autumn (and milder Winters) is my 1980s £40 thick knitted Reldan casual coat. It is red and was found in a discount warehouse, now gone, named International Stock. As I was admiring it, the only one, in a mirror, swinging it casually over my jeans, a passing woman said 'You should buy that!' Her comment made me decide to spend the £40 it cost and I've never regretted it, it has lasted longer than Reldan!

That was a considerable sum in the 1980s! But obviously proved to be a good investment.

I'm too embarrassed to say how many I have. I never throw them out, as they usually come back into fashion. However, not one has ever been full price. My best bargain was a £100 Per Una coat for £9. For my daughter's Christmas this year, I managed to get her a burgundy duvet coat for £8 in last year's January sales and a matching pair of boots for £7, also at the end of the sales.
I think it's because when I was a child, my school uniform coat also served as my Sunday coat, as my mother couldn't afford to buy both. My friend, on the other hand, had a shiny, purple, maxi raincoat which I lusted after.
My first "best" Coat at 17 was a brown wool maxi coat from C&A, which cost £10. I knitted a yellow cloche hat to go with it and so began the obsession !

Jalima - I was working full time, on my own with low outgoings, that comment just tipped me into getting it. I was thinking it was gorgeous, unusual and suited me but was a bit expensive! I wonder what the original price was! The label had been cut out but there was enough left to see Reldan. The same place once had a lot of Benetton tops which teenagers fell on with delight. The Benetton labels had been removed but it was a style which had the name on the front! Only last week I went past the deserted building and wondered when it ceased trading.
I've just ordered a couple of Baby's First Christmas things from Not On The High Street! Nice though pricey but I know GD will appreciate them for her babe!

Three summer raincoat type jackets, a smart lightweight threee quarter wool coat, a smart long black wool coat I’ve had forever, a checked duffel coat type with a furry lining, four padded ones of varying lengths - but after being out all day today I definitely need a warmer one .

It's the cost per wear that matters Elrel

One smart woollen big coat. Two old walking jackets one new one. The oldest one is my gardening coat.
A great big black padded jacket. Not very elegant at all but warm. Makes me look like Michelin woman.
There are two unisex cagoule style coats in the utility room cupboard . Good to put on for getting out to the bins etc .

It’s absolutely gorgeous Shysal...but it now! Don’t think about it....just do it! Wow!

Might browse at it myself and I’ve just bought a new jacket . Shoes mean nothing to me ....but coats and jackets I’m a sucker for!

Merlotgran and I thought I was the only one who strips of their cost in arctic weather store getting on the car can't bear driving in a coat/jacket. That said I own a 3/4 quilted coat, lightweight bum covering jacket and a 3/4 black crepe smart coat. Could do with a really good waterproof that didn't make me sweat (or cost the earth) for walking the dogs though

Hmmmmm just realised and 3 of my outerwear are black

I've got a lovely dark brown tartan hacking jacket style 3/4 coat from Joe Brown's that I love, quality seems fine.
Also a black flared skirt coat, pretty but not warm. A midi length duvet coat, too warm for all but the coldest weather.
Everyday parka style, joules navy riding jacket. Black boiled wool swing jacket, wear it to death. Grey mesh summer jacket, white linen jacket, various giblets, hardly worn. Brown waxed drovers coat, hardly worn in 30 years.
Probably a few others lurking in the back of wardrobes. My coats date back about 40 years up to a couple of years and all still stylish but like everyone else I have my favourites.

I hope you mean 'gilets' not giblets HannahLL

Although that gave me a giggle

My Joe Brown coat came this morning. As I was warned, the finish is not great and it is very crumpled but it fits well. If I can't get the creases out I shall return it. It is supposed to be ironable but for the moment I have hung it over a radiator. Any suggestions, steaming perhaps?

Could you hang it on a coat hanger in a steamy bathroom shysal? Bit disappointing when you've looked forward to receiving it, isnt it?

I only have two full length coats, both of them raincoats. One is a trenchcoat style, bought in the early 80s from M&S, the other is swing-back style with a hood and a faux fur lining, bought by my neighbour when she worked away as a lecturer at Strathclyde University and donated to me when she returned to Spain for a short spell before flying out to Namibia to work a five year contract there. Other than that I prefer cover-my-bum jackets for Winter and have a few; a very warm and waterproof padded navy blue jacket with detachable hood, a lighter padded one, also navy, with detachable shorter cream padded lining that can be worn on its own, and a purple faux shearling number that comes out when I need to look a little more formal. I have a couple of tweed hacking jackets also from the 80s and an ever changing variety of coloured fleeces that come and go to the charity shop. In Spring and Autumn I usually just wear a gilet, and at the moment I have two, a thin padded pale blue one and a thicker puffy one in fuschia pink.

I bit the bullet and ironed my crumpled new coat on a low temperature with steam. Fortunately it looks fine now and I like it, apart from the large amount of fluff from inside sticking to my top! That is what you get when buying faux sheepskin instead of real, but at least no animals were killed in the making.

I posted a couple of days ago that I was going to collect a coat ordered on line. Well, it's gone back. It was more of a coatigan than a coat and it was badly made I think, as it didn't hang properly at the bottom front edge. Saved quite a bit. Shysal, has your coat lost it's creases yet?