Beijing and Harbin during that time is seriously cold.

For the body you may need 3-4 good layers for example a (1) thermal underwear, (2) long sleeve fleece shirt, (3) another long sleeve jumper/sweater and (4) winter jacket. Even your winter jacket need a good one like a thick down jacket - this can be expensive since good down jackets are not cheap. If you don't want to buy this, ask your tour company if can rent in Harbin.

For legs you'll also need long johns and probably insulated pants.

Thick hats and beanies for the head and of course thick gloves for the hands.

The main advantage of synthetic fibres is only that it doesn't absorb as much moisture as down. In terms of heat retention, high quality down insulates better. You can check the clo values to see the difference.

As for wind resistance, all depends on the shell fabric. You can get down jackets with wind resistance.

Down does not necessarily drop to the bottom of the jacket. The jacket has got baffles and you just need to fluff the jacket once in a while.

When it comes to down, looking at the down % doesn't tell you the full picture because you don't know the quality of the down. It is better to know the down fill power (if you look at the well known brands from the west they quote fill power). Unfortunately, most of the China made or locally available down jackets do not give you the fill power info.

Another thing to know is the down fill weight, i.e. how much down in the jacket. That is another factor which influences how warm it will be. The Uniglo superlight down jacket does use high fill power down, but fill weight is low (hence it is a superlight jacket).

Clothing Guide

The key to winter dressing is layering. Typically you will have 3-4 layers, which consists of:

A) Base layer or thermal underwear



This is the layer next to your skin. The top can be short sleeve or long sleeve (warmer).

Material can be synthetic (e.g. polyester, polypropylene) or natural like wool. There may be also different thicknesses depending on brand or manufacturer (e.g. some classify as lightweight, midweight, heavyweight).

B) Mid layer



The next layer can be a shirt or jumper/sweater, depending on the look you want. If you are going for business meeting then obviously it would be a shirt. Otherwise for just going out, can be jumper/sweater. Or you can add a vest on top of your shirt:



Again, material can be synthetic or natural and different thicknesses are available. For casual wear I find fleece tops to be comfortable and warm.

C) Outer layer

This is your main insulation layer. If you want the best, go for a down jacket:



This is a jacket filled with combination of feathers and down, so it will be puffy and traps heat. When you buy, check the label to see what is the percentage of feather vs down, e.g. 50% feather / 50% down. The more down the warmer (since down is higher grade), but also more expensive. In overseas they use a more accurate rating called fill power, e.g. 500 fill power is average quality, 600+ is better, 700+ is premium and 800+ is super premium - but jackets sold locally rarely use fill power rating. If you want cheaper then go for synthetic fill instead of down. It won't be as warm, but can still work for you.

If it's not bitterly cold, can also use a fleece jacket:



Note fleece is usually not windproof, unless you get the type with a wind resistant layer.

Of course a down jacket isn't formal enough for business meetings. So for meetings you might want to choose a coat:



For winter you'll need a heavier coat, normally made of wool. However, these can be expensive also.

D) Accessories

Don't forget things like wearing a scarf, gloves and beanie/hat to also keep you warm.

Hope this gives some basic ideas to people about winter dressing. Obviously there are many different types and combinations for you to mix and match.

This post has been edited by jchong: Dec 12 2013, 04:31 PM

Primaloft is a synthetic insulation material: http://www.primaloft.com/en/performance/co...yers-guide.html

Among the different types, Primaloft One is the warmest, but even so it is only equivalent to average grade down (500+ fill power). The higher grade down will be warmer even than Primaloft One.

There are different thickness for down coats, all depends on the environment you'll be using it in.

For 3-13 C, those ultra light down clothing from Uniqlo is ok. See: http://www.uniqlo.com/my/product/men/tops/down
The ultra light down jacket is only RM249.90

Just remember that for long johns there are different materials and different thicknesses. All depends on how warm you wanna be (and how cold a place you are going to).

You can also find them in shops like Universal Traveller, Wintertime, etc.