I normally would never pay that much for a jacket, but I work for an authorized retailer that allows me to buy one for 50-60% off. It’ll still be about $700, but that brings it down to other brands (even though I get those discounted too). Having the warranty/repair is a nice peace of mind, and I live somewhere where it can easily get negative double digits.

At $700, would it still be worth it?

So I needed a new winter parka and being as neurotic as I am when I'm going to spend a considerable amount of money on something, I decided to settle for only the best based on some research. A decade ago this meant purchasing my (now, old and tattered) Canada Goose Chilliwack bomber which is an extremely high quality jacket and has served me quite well in the Canadian fall and spring. For the wicked cold months I use a Sorel Caribou parka which is an absolute behemoth of a parka that is sometimes even too hot for -30c (nothing beats pure 800 goose down!).

I was in between 2 parka's that are kind of around the same price range and had the same type of design and down fill (625 duck down): the Canada Goose (abbreviated as CG) Langford parka ($1,550 CAD) & the Moose Knuckles (abbreviated as MK) Stirling Parka ($1,190). The Canada goose one is $360 more but it is a Canada Goose after all... right?

The first red flag was when I went to go check out the CG's parka's in-person in multiple different stores. I noticed some of the CG parka's had considerably more down fill in them than others (I made a post about this recently). Like, the difference was MASSIVE. So much so that a number of the salespeople told me that they too noticed a difference but weren't sure why... except for one retailer who informed me that the coats with less down fill in them were the NEW coats from CG. I messaged a CG representative on their site and they informed me that all their new coats have the same quantity of down fill in them due to strict quality control on their assembly line (this is debatable as the XS CG Langford parka I ordered weighed almost a full oz more than it's size small counterpart... lol). They wouldn't comment on whether or not they had changed the quantity/type of materials in newly produced parkas in comparison to parkas of previous years. I noticed the same thing with the CG Chilliwack bombers too, the brand new ones had considerably less fill in them in comparison to one's that had been on the shelf since 2021 (I was made aware of this by a store owner of a smaller store in my city that sells CG jackets. Today I managed to snag up a brand new CG Chilliwack Bomber from him that was manufactured in 2020-2021 and I am very happy with it).

The second red flag was when I started receiving the parka's in the mail from both CG and MK. The box containing the two CG parkas were suuuper light. This is not what you want in a high quality parka - you want a heavy high quality zipper, thick heavy and durable fabric, and a solid amount of down fill. One can make the argument that lighter is better but this is only the case with high end gear aimed for hiking where they're using insanely high quality down (e.g., Arcteryx) not when you're using 625 duck down. The box for the MK jackets was almost double twice as heavy.

and now for the weights: the small CG Parka weighs 3 pounds 2 oz

while the small MK Stirling parka comes in at almost double, weighing 5 pounds 0.5oz

This is a MASSIVE difference, especially considering the moose knuckles parka is considerably cheaper. Of course, this difference is easily felt when you put on the jackets. While the Canada Goose Langford Parka has a thin outer material, plane jane design, limited pockets, and a quantity of down fill that would leave you cold in anything colder than -5c, the MK Stirling Parka has a super thick outer material, about twice as much down as the CG Langford parka which makes you feel like your being hugged by a down blanket, and pockets for your hands in both the chest and waist area (style tip for the gents: it's a more masculine appearance to have your hands resting down low so those waist pockets are much appreciated). There's also no denying that the MK jacket is infinitely more stylish - the CG Langford parka gave me the dreaded (for men) pear shape look while the MK Stirling parka accentuated my chest nicely. If it weren't for the CG logo the CG Langford Parka could be easily mistaken for a cheap bargain store parka. When tried on, the MK had me sweating while the CG did not.

Best of luck to new CG Parka shoppers and maybe if you're lucky you can still find an older model still on the shelves (check smaller stores!). Failing that, you honestly might get better quality from a knockoff. and for the record, I also bough the MK Stirling parka... such a beautiful coat.

What are your opinions on Canada Goose? Premium price aside, are Canada Goose coats really the best winter jackets out there? I am looking for unbiased opinions about the brand and any comparable alternatives from a quality of goods perspective (rather than value/price).

What brand do you guys prefer and why? I am moving from southern California to Minnesota and need to start rebuilding my winter wardrobe.