Rain on: New grey puffy jacket keeps students warm

By Thea Leimone, Features Editor|February 24, 2019

Freshmen London Sinclair and Chloe Fidler sit in the shade in the courtyard during x-block. ‘The lavender grey color of the jacket really compliments our uniform colors.’ Sinclair said.

At least four rainfall records have been set across Southern California after recent storms, according to abc7. Rain and clouds have been covering the Archer campus for the past few weeks. As a result, students have been layering up.

The gray puffy jacket, which was added to the uniform this year, is among the articles of clothing that students are using to stay warm. An online survey with 124 respondents showed that 88.4 percent of jacket-owners have generally positive feelings about it.

The jacket is water-resistant, insulated and has a small pocket on the inside that the entire jacket can be stuffed into for easy carrying. A dark gray puffy jacket is the women’s style and the light gray puffy jacket is the children’s style.

“If it’s a cool day, [the jacket is] really warm, but if it’s a really cold day, then I wear [it] with other layers to stay warm,” Ruby Williams ’22 said.

The Land’s End gray puffy jacket in children’s sizes.

With the recent rain, sophomore Francesca Capello has found the light gray puffy jacket to be helpful and prefers the children’s style.

‘The girls’ size versus the women’s are different styles, so I’m wearing a kid’s extra large,” Capello said.

Students in lower and upper school can be seen wearing both the light and dark gray jackets around campus. However, students expressed some concern about the sizing.

‘The size was a little difficult,” sophomore Ella Roark said. “The adult sizes are really really big, like not the way Land’s End [sizing] usually is.”

Freshman London Sinclair said she has found the jacket to be very comfortable and enjoys the smooth insulated material.

The gray puffy jacket in the adult sizes.

“The Archer puffy jacket is definitely very insulated, and you stay warm all the time,” Sinclair said. “[One day] I even found myself sweating, and I thought that was impossible.”

Roark is also interested in having a new style of fleece in addition to the quarter-zip and full zip-up fleece that Land’s End offers.

“I feel like there needs to be a fleece that’s a zip up, but [the current jacket] is really fitted, so if there was a bigger, heavier [jacket] too that would be really nice,” Roark said.

Sinclair also mentioned that she wished the jacket had a hood to protect her more from the rain, but that the jacket has still been very helpful for her.

“Overall, I really like the coat. I like how warm it keeps me,” Sinclair said,  “I like the color; the fit is very nice. I would definitely give it a five-star rating.”