by Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 29/97) - What people will be wearing this winter is largely determined by their age.

These days in the North, the older people are likely to be the ones in the heavy down-filled winter coats or in many smaller communities, hand-made parkas, while younger people are the ones in the designer cold-weather gear -- or in many cases, very little snow gear at all.

"The younger crowd is one that wears the name brands, the Adidas and B.U.M., and some of them wear sneakers all year round, at least in town," says Rod Murdoch of the Northern Store in Fort Good Hope.

"The older people mostly wear the heavy, long parkas, and a lot of them still make their own. They come in here and buy the fabric and the thread to make them."

In the East, it is the same story: in Arctic Bay, for instance, the uniform of choice is a heavy Snowgoose parka and cold-weather Sorels, but older people often wear hand-made parkas and youngsters are more likely to be seen in brand-name snow gear, says Gordon Courage, manager of the hamlet's Northern Store.

The temperature there has already dipped below freezing.

"Arctic Bay is a very stylish community and we sell a lot of fashionable clothing, especially to young women," he said.

"A lot of it has to do with television and what people see on it. We're getting away from the basics in our store and getting more of the fashionable names."

But he says the store does not sell a lot of high-tech fabrics like Gore-Tex at this time of year as customers go for more basic and less pricey cold-weather gear.

In Iqaluit, people who buy their outdoor gear will spend as much as $500 on one of the good parkas, with perennial favorites being the Snowgoose and shorter Expedition models, but younger people still prefer name brands to traditionally made, according to Joanne Fraser of the Northern Store there.

"They want to look like people they see on TV," she said. "But most of the them have jobs, at least part-time jobs, so they can buy things themselves."

At Overlander Sports in Yellowknife, a store that caters to a more sports-oriented crowd, concepts like layering and high-tech fabrics and fills are the way to go in winter.

Co-owner Sandra Stirling says down is still one of the best parka fillings available but synthetics are coming on strong, and at least one parka uses a sandwich of real and synthetic down, topped with a windproof fabric for added protection.

"Down is still used in high-tech clothes because it has the most loft and it is the lightest fill," she says.

People in the North still prefer three-quarter-length outerwear to either jacket or knee-length coats she says, and what they wear is often determined by what winter activities they are doing.

"Here, I find most people request something that will at least cover their derriere," she says with a laugh.

In addition, people who are active in the outdoors lean more towards layers of clothes which can be taken off or added on as the person gets warmer or colder.

Wool or thermal socks, a hat and good gloves complete a winter outfit, she says, as do a pair of boots, which can be heavyweight, heavy-duty Sorels or a pair of newer, lighter insulated hiking boots.

She says the store also sees newcomers to the North coming by to exchange the survival gear they bought for their first winter for something less confining.

"People who have just moved here and haven't been through a winter really worry about it and they do tend to buy those arctic parkas," she said.

"They sweat through it for a winter and then the next year, they buy something more sensible."